Developing Usability and Utility: A Comparative Study of the Users of New IT

The paper, based on a major comparative study of the introduction of management information systems in retailing, health and higher education, argues for a broader and more differentiated account of users in studies of technological innovation. End-users must incorporate new systems into their working lives and in so doing play a crucial and active part in embedding new systems into organizations. The particular focus of this paper is the interplay of two key aspects of the varied and developing relationships between users and new systems-usability and utility. By classifying discussions of usability into six distinct components, the paper recasts it as a multifaceted phenomenon that is as much social as it is technological. The development of utility is explored through a discussion of three different groups of users-one drawn from each research site. Each group is taken to exemplify different locations in and stances towards processes of techno-organizational change.     

Does strategic involvement of mental health service users and carers in the planning,design and commissioning of mental health services lead to better outcomes?

There is an assumption, explicit in the current government policy, that involvement of mental health service users and carers in the planning, design and commissioning of mental health services will lead to better outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine evidence from board‐level participation of service users and carers that might support this assumption. A thematic analysis of documents generated by a strategic Lancashire Mental Health and Social Care Partnership during 2007 was undertaken. Themes for the analysis were generated from priorities identified from a postal survey of mental health services users from across Lancashire. The findings indicate that whilst service user and carer involvement is a high priority, the Lancashire Partnership spent most of its time discussing process and actions. Where service user involvement resulted in better outcomes, these improved outcomes were limited to the individual service users involved, rather than better outcomes for all service users. Whilst the membership of mental health service users and carers on the Lancashire Partnership Board presents a visible commitment from senior officers and may confer greater legitimacy to the decisions made by the Lancashire Partnership, service users and carers do not appear to play the desired instrumental role. Rather, their presence may be largely symbolic. This sends out the message across the health and social care system that partnership with service users and carers and their empowerment is important and has the potential to evolve further.     

Oust the Louse: Does Political Pressure Discipline Regulators?

Remaining in office is a potential motivator for regulatory decisions by public utility commissioners. We examine regulatory exit, where a regulator leaves a U.S. state commission during a term or is not re‐appointed/re‐elected. We find that higher electricity prices lead to ousting, ousting is less common where it is more costly for the principal to whom the regulator reports, and ousting is more likely where regulators are more accountable or are more likely to share the principal's preferences. Regulatory exit does not appear to be due mainly to the revolving door. Ousting also appears to lower future electricity prices.     

Culture, caution, and trust

Trust is an important determinant of economic development. Understanding its origins is therefore critical. We develop a principal-agent model with heterogeneous players to determine the aggregate amount of trustworthiness and trust in a society. People are distributed according to their preference toward caution, which we model as loss aversion. The first two moments of the distribution across principals and agents—along with institutional quality—are critical to the process by which trustworthiness and trust are formed. A direct effect suggests that more caution leads to less societal trust. An indirect effect of greater caution, working through trustworthiness, leads to more trust. Paradoxically, the net effect is almost always positive. The results are similar when we use expected utility theory. Different distributional assumptions can influence the results.