Technology Use: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Atlantic Economic Journal - There is growing evidence of risks associated with excessive technology use, especially among teens and young adults. However, little is known about the characteristics...     

Building an Alliance for Biotechnology in Africa

Scholars and activists working from within a political economy perspective often fail to explore the distinct motives, interests and behaviours of powerful actors who appear to be working ‘as one’ on a common agenda. Such is the case in recent analyses of efforts to promote the use of biotechnology in Africa. While the critical literature largely focuses on the attempt to create what Peter Newell calls ‘bio‐hegemony’, the present paper explores the diverse interests and tensions that have to be worked out in order to build such pro‐biotechnology coalitions. I analyse the formation of an organization called the African Agricultural Technology Foundation to show how differences between two major pro‐biotech actors – the Rockefeller Foundation and the agricultural biotechnology industry – were negotiated, so that these actors could work together towards the goal of getting GM technologies used and accepted in Africa. In the process, I reveal the inward projection of power that occurred as the biotech companies effectively determined the structure and terms of this alliance.     

Glocalization of accounting standards: Observations on neo-institutionalism of IPSAS

This paper defines and then observes processes of glocalization surrounding the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) for public sector financial reporting. Glocalization can be best understood using sociological institutionalism, because this theory focuses on the retention of identity, and processes of legitimacy, during adaptation (diffusion) of standards. The paper discusses the history of standard-setting for the public sector in New Zealand to explain why this theory has value.

IMPACT

This paper defines and describes the utility of the concept of glocalization in analysing the implementation of IPSAS, with a New Zealand focus. The value of the paper is in its combination of a jurisdiction-specific experience with an understanding of the broader issues of ‘global versus local’ and processes of sociological institutionalism. Such studies of IPSAS adoption can offer distinctive perspectives on global processes of isomorphism within neo-institutional theory. This paper explains the advantages of flexible strategies to standard-setters.     

Can Vehicle Maintenance Records Predict Automobile Accidents?

This article proposes that vehicle maintenance records can provide useful information for predicting the probability that an owner will have an automobile accident. To test the hypothesis, we use a unique data set that is merged from an insurance company and a vehicle manufacturer in Taiwan. We find weak evidence to support our hypothesis. Among all the proxies for proper maintenance, we indicate that proper maintenance defined by the recommended kilometers is significantly negatively correlated with the loss probability in compulsory automobile liability insurance. The average loss probability decreases by 0.23 percent when the insured vehicle is properly maintained according to the recommended number of kilometers in the previous years, whereas the average loss probability for the overall sample is 0.49 percent. We further find that proper maintenance is insignificantly correlated with loss severity.     

Making the Processes of Designing Explicit Within an Information Technology Environment

In this paper, technology is described as involving processes whereby resources are utilised to satisfy human needs or to take advantage of opportunities, to develop practical solutions to problems. This study, set within one type of technology context, information technology, investigated how, through a one semester undergraduate university course, elements of technological processes were made explicit to students. While it was acknowledged in the development and implementation of this course that students needed to learn technical skills, technological skills and knowledge, including design, were seen as vital also, to enable students to think about information technology from a perspective that was not confined and limited to `technology as hardware and software'. This paper describes how the course, set within a three year program of study, was aimed at helping students to develop their thinking and their knowledge about design processes in an explicit way. An interpretive research approach was used and data sources included a repertory grid `survey'; student interviews; video recordings of classroom interactions, audio recordings of lectures, observations of classroom interactions made by researchers; and artefacts which included students' journals and portfolios. The development of students' knowledge about design practices is discussed and reflections upon student knowledge development in conjunction with their learning experiences are made. Implications for ensuring explicitness of design practice within information technology contexts are presented, and the need to identify what constitutes design knowledge is argued.     

The 'NZ' in 'NZ IFRS': Public Benefit Entity Amendments

In 1992, New Zealand adopted a sector-neutral approach to standard setting – where the difference in accounting treatment is driven by differences in the nature of transactions and not by ownership or the objectives of the reporting entity. This study reviews the impact of adaptations of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to ensure their successful application in a sector-neural environment. A fundamental question of the move to IFRS is whether the public benefit entity amendments in NZ IFRS have contaminated the IFRS for profit-orientated entities or diluted the available guidance for public benefit entities. This suggests that it is worthwhile for Australia and New Zealand to monitor and reconsider their sector-neutral approach to adopting IFRS.