Assessing the impact of the funding environment on researchers’ risk aversion: the use of citation statistics

The funding environment has a profound impact on researchers’ behavior. In particular, it influences their freedom and readiness to conduct research ventures with highly uncertain outcomes. In this conceptual paper, we propose a concise new methodology to evaluate researchers’ risk aversion based on citation statistics. The derived single-number criterion P_R is sensitive to the ratio of high impact versus average impact work, based on citation counts. We demonstrate the usefulness of P_R on a micro and meso level in the field of chemistry. P_R is a potentially valuable tool for managers in higher education, to control for the impact of their funding instruments. The conducted testing may, in addition, contribute to the literature stream dealing with the effects of peer review in the allocation of research funding. Our results support the view that peer review fosters mainstream research. However, faculties with the highest percentages of third-party funding may find ways to avoid the restrictive effects. We also find evidence that permanent positions back risky research endeavors.     

Transferral of Business Management Concepts to Universities as Ambidextrous Organisations

Tertiary Education and Management - In the context of new public management reforms, many business management concepts were transferred to universities. Most studies on the transfer of business...     

Electronic customs innovation: An improvement of governmental infrastructures

This article examines the diffusion of an e-government innovation, a common e-customs standardized solution, which is currently subject of research in the European Union. One of the goals of the European Union is to achieve trade facilitation as well as to secure import and export. In order to achieve this goal, the European Government aims to have a common e-customs standardized solution. For this reason, the European Government provided an e-government model. However, while the e-government model regulates the boundaries of the e-government elements and provides high-level functional and technical specifications, the adoption part is in the hands of the individual EU member states. Procurement of information technology and implementation of e-customs solutions are not specified. The main goal of this study is, therefore, to identify facilitators and barriers that can influence the adoption of standardized e-customs solutions. The research is based on Rogers' theory of innovation considering the technological, organizational, and environmental context. Within the framework of a European funded project, we conducted our study collecting data from interviews and workshops involving an inhomogeneous group of participants, i.e. stakeholders coming from academy, industry, and governmental institutions. By demonstrating the existence of four generic facilitators (benefits potential of the public sector; procedural improvements and streamlined business processes; avoidance of misinterpretations of standardized regulations; and standardization of processes, messages and data models) and three barriers (slowdown in regulation execution due to missing procedural templates, increased complexity in the standardization process itself, electronification of operations) related to customs management, the article contributes towards the research in diffusion and adoption of e-government standards and in particular of standardized e-customs solutions as well as political and societal impact of e-customs policies.