Die Wirkung „guter“ Argumente

Starting from a discursive perspective on public communication, we ask whether the deliberative quality of journalistic articles on policy topics influences the amount of user participation on news websites. The theory of deliberative democracy often serves as a source of normatively desirable discursive requirements. Here, however, we present empirically verifiable assumptions that we combine with explanations about media content from the spiral of silence theory and explanations of user behavior from the civic voluntarism model and the construct of self-efficacy. The spiral of silence theory assumes that people do not express their opinions in public when they feel their opinions belong to the minority, because they fear to be socially isolated. The media play a crucial role in this process, as their depiction of public discourses influences the perception of public opinion. Furthermore, the theory assumes that mass media form a media tenor, presenting similar representations of opinion distributions. In online contexts, we argue, we can no longer expect to observe a single media tenor, but we must define more individually perceived, selection-based media tenors. Thus, users are only to be expected to fear isolation in cases where a majority opinion is presented in online contents they selected which stand against their opinions. Based on the civic voluntarism model and previous literature, we understand writing comments as a form of participation that is most likely to be carried out by persons who are interested in politics, have a high level of self-efficacy and feel stimulated to participate by the immediate environment, i.?e., the journalistic article and the comment section.We therefore assume that the more representatives of the opposition, civil society and ordinary citizens are presented in the media, the more users will participate in the comment section (H1). Furthermore, we also expect articles containing conflicting and counterarguing utterances to lead to more participants than articles without this kind of utterances (H2). Regarding the rationality of the discourse, we suppose that the presence of justifications of arguments also increases users’ participation (H3). Articles often report on current debates that aim to lead to a decision. Considering self-efficacy assumptions and the relatability of a debate for the users, we assume that participation rates will be higher when decisions are discussed that lie in the future (H4a), whereas decisions that have already been taken are expected to reduce participation rates (H4b). Furthermore, we also expect articles with a reference to German domestic politics to attract higher participation rates (H5).In order to test our hypotheses, we conducted a content analysis of 400 online newspaper articles. We selected two national (WELT Online and ZEIT Online) and two regional (Rheinische Post Online and Tagesspiegel Online) online newspaper outlets, one of each belonging to the left-wing liberal and one to the conservative journalism spectrum. From the politics news feeds of the four online newspaper outlets between January 1, and March 31, 2016, we selected a systematic random sample of articles with enabled comment sections. The deliberative criteria were measured either on the level of a value-based utterance made by a representative of the government, the opposition, civil society or an ordinary citizen or on the level of the news article. Utterance-based criteria were then aggregated to the news article level. Furthermore, we measured the number of users that participated in the discussion in the comment section. We then estimated a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model in order to predict the number of participating users.Results show that the majority of deliberative criteria serve to increase the amount of user participation. The more opposition politicians are cited in a news article, the more users participate in the comment section which hints to the conclusion that discursive equality triggers participation. Regarding the reciprocity of discourses, conflicting and counterarguing utterances also increase the number of users who participate in a discussion. Another explanation of a higher number of commentators is the presence of justified arguments, i.?e., when the discourse can be classified as rational. While future decisions did not show any effect on user participation, past decisions in fact reduced the amount of participation. Furthermore, if the topic was related to domestic German politics, participation rates also increased, which represents relatability for people’s lives.All in all, we conclude that discourse-related criteria should be integrated more often into the analysis of the conditions of user participation, as they can add to explaining when people feel motivated to write comments. They are connected to considerations about opinion climates both as depicted by the journalistic article and as present in the comment section itself as discussed in the spiral of silence theory. The more opinions journalists present in an article and the better the underlying discourse, the more we can expect users to participate in the discussion. We have also seen that articles on decisions that have already been taken are not as frequently commented on, and that a relation to domestic topics leads to a more active participation. Taken together, we argue that user comments can be a meaningful addition to deliberation research, because they can serve as a measure of the effects of deliberative content, e.?g., in the news.This study focused on the contents of the journalistic articles, while the contents of user comments were not integrated into the analysis. In future studies, this gap should be closed with content analyses of user comments. Furthermore, the assumptions we made about users’ motivations and behavior also need to be confirmed in experimental designs and surveys.     

Small firm networks: a successful approach to innovation?

This paper considers the increasing trend of inter–working among small firms. Networks of small firms co–operate in certain activities, such as marketing, purchasing, R&D, training or manufacturing. But does co–operation lead to innovation? To answer this question published evaluations of small firms co–operating for mutual benefit are reappraised. Inter–working among small firms is then investigated further by interviewing three network brokers. The brokers were funded by regional governments and they facilitated co–operation between small firms. These semi–structured discussions explored the key characteristics of successful networks, the responsibilities of the broker and the level of innovation occurring. Networking is primarily a competitive response. It needs to evolve into a mechanism to enable small firms to develop innovative products and processes jointly. Small firms may have to rethink their approach to co–operation, and their motives for initiating inter–working if they are to benefit fully from co–operation.     

Eco‐innovation motivations and ecodesign tool implementation in companies in the Nordic textile and information technology sectors

The current sustainability challenges and the required systemic transformation highlight the need for innovations on multiple levels. Ecodesign integrates environmental aspects into product and process design to reduce environmental impacts, whereas eco‐innovation also concerns nontechnological solutions. In this paper, we formulate a model that combines eco‐innovation targets ad mechanisms with sustainability maturity, which also concerns stimuli and barriers faced by companies and ecodesign tools used. The results are based on a questionnaire sent to 902 textile and information technology (IT) companies (N = 104) in the Nordic countries. The tools that Nordic textile and IT companies use in particular are life cycle assessment, type I ecolabel, and carbon footprint. Internal stimuli, especially general willingness, were important for eco‐innovativeness, while legislation and customer demand also pushed companies forward. Specific no‐go barriers were not identified, although increase in costs was a common barrier. The respondents focus often on technological product innovations, but rarely on functional innovation, renting of products, and so forth. This highlights the need to address the availability of the right kind of tools to support a broader suite of innovation that can drive toward the circular economy.     

Writing Across Contexts: Urban Informality and the State in Tallinn,Bafatá and Berlin

Urban research has long related informality to a lack of state capacity or a failure of institutions. This assumption not only fails to account for the heterogeneous institutional relations in which informality is embedded, but has also created a dividing line between states. Whereas some states are understood to manage urban development through functioning institutions, others, in this view, fail to regulate. To deconstruct such understandings, this article explores informal practices through a multi‐sited individualizing comparison between three case studies of water governance, parking regulation and dwelling regimes in Bafatá (Guinea‐Bissau), Tallinn (Estonia) and Berlin (Germany), respectively. Our approach to understanding informality starts from the negotiation and contestation of order between differently positioned actors in the continuous making of states. From this point of view, informality is inherent in the architecture of states––emerging through legal systems, embedded in negotiations between and within institutions, and based on conflicts between state regulations and prevailing norms. Tracing how order takes shape though negotiation, improvisation, co‐production and translation not only highlights how informality constitutes a modus operandi in the everyday workings of the state in all three cases, but also provides a way to talk across these cases, i.e. to bring them together in one frame of analysis and overcome their presumed incommensurability.     

When Does a Platform Create Value by Limiting Choice?

We present a theory for why it might be rational for a platform to limit the number of applications available on it. Our model is based on the observation that even if users prefer application variety, applications often also exhibit direct network effects. When there are direct network effects, users prefer to consume the same applications to benefit from consumption complementarities. We show that the combination of preference for variety and consumption complementarities gives rise to (i) a commons problem (to better satisfy their individual preference for variety, users have an incentive to consume more applications than the number that maximizes joint utility); (ii) an equilibrium selection problem (consumption complementarities often lead to multiple equilibria, which result in different utility levels for the users); and (iii) a coordination problem (lacking perfect foresight, it is unlikely that users will end up buying the same set of applications). The analysis shows that the platform can resolve these problems and create value by limiting the number of applications available. By limiting choice, the platform may create new equilibria (including the allocation that maximizes users' utility); eliminate equilibria that give lower utility to the users; and reduce the severity of the coordination problem faced by users.     

Intra-tourism trade,income distribution and tourism endowment: an econometric investigation

Empirical investigation (Nowak et al., 2012) points out that vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT) in Europe is the dominant type of intra-industry trade (IIT) in the tourism sector. This article is the first in tourism literature to test separately the determinants of vertically and horizontally differentiated services, using the most recent models in the theory of IIT. We examine bilateral trade among all trading partners of the sample of European countries, covering the period from 2000 to 2008. We show that differences in gross domestic product per capita and the income-distribution overlap, as well as cultural proximity, are the most significant driving forces behind VIIT for European countries. Geographic distance has a negative effect, whereas specific tourism endowments and relative size of the economies are less conclusive. These results confirm theory predictions and most of the empirical findings related to the pattern of VIIT for the manufacturing sector. As expected, we find that determinants of VIIT cannot explain horizontal intra-industry trade in tourism. We suggest two alternative methods of estimation: generalized least squares logistic function and the fractional logit estimator. We conclude that there are common factors explaining IIT in the manufacturing and tourism trades.     

Preferences for improvements in attributes associated with basal insulin: a time trade-off and willingness-to-pay survey of a diabetic and non-diabetic population in Sweden

Objective: Apart from improved health outcomes, treatment convenience per se may have a value to individuals. This is sometimes referred to as process utility and can be estimated in terms of willingness-to-pay (WTP) or quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Previous research has produced multiple studies on QALY gains and WTP estimates of insulin-related attributes. There are, however, significant variations between studies, and it is not clear to what extent the value is a reflection of the true preferences or a consequence of the methodological approach. The aim of this study is to estimate the preferences for treatment attributes associated with basal insulin (administration frequency, administration flexibility, and treatment-induced weight gain) using both QALYs—elicited using time trade-off (TTO) and WTP—among a sample of the Swedish general population and among a sample of the Swedish diabetes population.

Methods: Data was collected using web-based surveys which were distributed to members of internet panels. The WTP survey presented five hypothetical scenarios with an offer to pay the incremental cost to receive basal insulin with improved attributes. The TTO survey presented six hypothetical scenarios where the respondent could choose between living for the rest of his/her life with diabetes and receiving treatment with a basal insulin with certain attributes or live for a shorter time with full health. The scenarios were combined with either a basal or a basal–bolus treatment regimen. Results from the TTO analysis were translated into monetary estimates using a threshold value of SEK500,000 per QALY.

Results: In total, 2012 responses were included. The ratings of the attributes were almost identical, irrespective of method for the general population, while it differed to some extent for the diabetes population. The methods produced the same value for flexibility, but the estimates generated with the TTO approach were higher for one less injection and avoided weight gain. The general population assigned a higher utility gain to convenience attributes, while the diabetes population assigned a higher utility gain to avoiding weight gain.

Limitations: About a quarter of the respondents did not accept the scenario in the WTP survey, i.e. protesters.

Conclusions: The ranking of the attributes was generally independent of evaluation method, but the TTO method resulted in similar or higher values compared to the WTP method.     

A Diagnostic Tool for Assessing the Relative Importance of Information in Impression Formation: Application in Order Effects

This paper describes a diagnostic tool for assessing relative impact weights of time-dependent information on an impression or judgment and illustrates its use in the area of order effects. A novel and somewhat counterintuitive finding, based on applying this tool, is that the bit of information associated with the greatest impact weight is not necessarily the bit of information associated with the greatest relative impact weight. At the heart of this tool is the ability to compute precisely the relative impact weights associated with each piece of information, which are, in general, different from the actual impact weights associated with each piece of information. This provides the opportunity to determine relative impact weights under various assumptions about, and theories of, or related to, impression formation. In turn, this diagnostic information may be used to deepen understanding of a particular theory or, perhaps, to propose or define new theory.     

Do organizational life-cycle and venture capital investors affect the management control systems used by the firm?

This paper investigates how the organizational life-cycle stage of the firm and the existence of venture capital investors affect the use of management control systems. The study consists of three types of management control systems, i.e. business planning, budgeting and management control techniques. Our empirical analyses are based on a survey questionnaire of 105 Finnish firms operating in all industries at different life-cycle stages. The results indicate that the business planning and use of management control techniques differ between the organizational life-cycle stage of the firm and the existence of venture capital investors. However, the existence of venture capital investors is also essential in maturity and revival firms while the earlier literature emphasizes their role in start-up and growth firms. Our results remain the same after conducting various robustness checks.