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Nunes, Monica Maria, Ming-tak Kalwan Kwan, Rajvinder Singh, Wai-shun Wilson Tam, 羅嘉雯, and 譚威信. "Explaining money laundering with rational choice theory." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10722/205834.
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This research aims to explore if rational choice theory can be applied to explain money laundering in Hong Kong by drawing on the characteristics of stooges and their motives for colluding in money laundering activities and the effectiveness of imprisonment or other forms of punishments as a means of deterrence. An actor has limited cognitive capacity, makes decisions based on incomplete information and his actions reflect personal optimal beliefs (Piquero and Tibbetts, 2002; Hindmoor, 2006). Findings from the seven in-depth interviews conducted as part of the research and documentary reviews of local court cases support that financial reward is the major reason “why” offenders engage in money laundering activities at both the individual and institutional level. The findings also show that, in addition to ignorant and vulnerable individuals being chosen as stooges, well-regarded individuals and charitable organizations are also possible candidates. The research highlights a luring process experienced by the stooges which supports the psychosocial dynamics of rational choice. The research findings also challenge one of the cornerstones of classical criminology that maximum penalty is an effective means of deterrence.published_or_final_version
Criminology
Master
Master of Social Sciences
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Madiraju, Santhosh Kumar. "Discourse on rationality : rational choice and critical theory." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1996. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6102/.
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The thesis contrasts two hostile and divergent intellectual paradigms in social sciences: rational choice and critical theory. Both rational choice and critical theory offer contrasting perspectives on the structures of social interaction. However, both critical theory and rational choice theory share overlapping concerns ie., both are preoccupied with determining what rational can mean in the realm of social and political interaction. In the case of rational choice paradigm, instrumental reason forms the cornerstone of the theoretical edifice. Ever since the publication of Jurgen Habermas' The lhemy qf Communicative Action Vol. / (1984) and Vol. II (1986) instrumental reason has come under severe attack. His critique anchors on a theory of communicative reason. What makes Habermas' work distinctive is that he does not regard instrumental reason as the single inevitable concomitant of modernity. Habermas sees in modernity an alternative way of conceptualising social interaction in terms of communication rather than strategy. So in a way, his work is a challenge to the defenders of modernity aiming to build a unified social science Jurgen Habermas advances the notion of communicative reason as the centerpiece of a social theory as opposed to instrumental reason. By providing a systematic grounding of the concept of reason in human language, he hopes to establish normative basis of critical theory. This model of reaching agreement or consent constitutes a process of dialogue in which reasons are exchanged between participants. This process is perceived to be a joint search for consensus. Such a dialogic concept of collective choice would necessarily work not with fixed preferences to be amalgamated (as rational choice theories do) but with preferences that are altered or modified as competing reasons are advanced in the course of discussion. In rational discussion, the only thing supposed to count is the power of better argument. Both rational choice and critical theory conceptualise politics in different ways. Rational choice theories critique democratic mechanisms failing to generate general will. Consequently, the political prescriptions offered are limited government or market. On the contrary, the political implications of Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy is anchored in the notion of liberal public sphere envisaging a cognitivist, rationalist vision in which discourse forms a critical normative basis for evaluating the political and moral principles.
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Hern, Richard. "Rational choice theory when tastes are changing through time." Thesis, University of Bristol, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264091.
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Smith, Barry Vaughan. "A Rational Choice Theory of Bureaucratic Responsiveness in Democracies." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1991. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279171/.
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Höijer, Rolf. "A rational choice theory of state-formation : with empirical applications." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.270076.
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Engelen, Bart. "Rationality and institutions on the normative implications of rational choice theory." Saarbrücken VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, 2007. http://d-nb.info/989561313/04.
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Brege, Nicholas John. "Rational Choice Theory for Financial Strategy in Rural Michigan Community Colleges." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/7123.
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Since 2011, drastic declines in tuition revenue for many rural community colleges have hindered institutional budgets and have been the primary driver for the financial strategy decisions made by college leaders. Recent declines in revenue for rural community colleges have created a constrained fiscal environment causing college leaders to increase focus on internal operations. The aim of this research was to expand the understanding of how management decisions influence tuition revenue when demand fluctuates. Data from multiple archival sources including several national and state statistical databases were used. This study used a multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationships between tuition revenue and (a) tuition rate setting strategy, (b) the management of institutional funds, (c) local economic conditions, and (d) age demographics. It was found that tuition rate setting strategy had the largest influence on tuition revenue among the internally controlled factors. Age demographics and economic conditions were found to be significant external factors that influence the tuition revenue at rural community colleges. This study promotes positive social change by providing financial leaders at community colleges greater insight into budgeting strategies that may help protect the financial viability of rural community colleges. The financial strength of community colleges is important for positive social change in rural communities because it assures that these institutions can continue to offer and expand solutions that meet the educational needs of the local communities they serve at a price affordable by all.
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Bryan, Lona. "A Limited Rational Choice Theory in Local Public Health Decision Making." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5542.
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The threat and occurrence of terrorist attacks have increased in the United States since September 2011, heightening concerns for weaponized anthrax, other biological pathogens, and epidemics and pandemics. Early decisions and funding levels in local public health agencies can be the first line of defense or first point of failure; yet little is understood about how decisions are made when there are budget cuts before a biological event happens. Using Lindblom's conceptualization of limited rational choice theory, the purpose of this single case study was to understand how a local public health official made decisions after budget cuts in a single public health entity in the mid-Atlantic area of the United States. Data were collected through an interview with 1 public health official and publicly available plans, procedures, and funding documents. These data were inductively coded and then subjected to Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis procedure. Findings indicated that the public health agency's ability to make the best decisions were negatively impacted by limited resources, though adequate planning before a catastrophic event, active and continual communication with stakeholders, and clarity about financial and resource needs can partially offset the impact of budgetary reductions. The implications for social change include recommendations to anticipate and address the needs of the public health system through decision making to protect the health care community and the reduction or elimination of the spread of disease in the wake of a biological incident.
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Kong, Yuek-man Josephine, and 江若雯. "Marxist critique of capitalist democracy: theperspective of rational choice Marxism." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2004. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31228239.
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Sinha, Ashish Kumar. "Towards a positive theory of rational choice, from substantive to procedural rationality." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq21637.pdf.
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Cao, Cung Economics Australian School of Business UNSW. "Asymmetric and imperfect knowledge: a proposal to replace unbounded rationality with bounded rationality." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Economics, 2007. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/27025.
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The purpose of this thesis is to illustrate how the role of knowledge may be the missing link in economics and to argue that the assumption of unbounded rationality, which underpinned neoclassical economics, should be replaced by bounded rationality and that bounded rationality should be redefined as people are rational, but are constrained by asymmetric and imperfect knowledge. This decomposition of bounded rationality makes it possible for us to operationalize bounded rationality, which was founded by Herbert Simon in the 1950s, but has not been widely adopted in economics because the concept was considered too difficult to formalize. The inclusion of asymmetric and imperfect knowledge considerations in microeconomics provides new insights into the existence and boundaries of firms, the role and nature of institutions, financial market inefficiency and political choices. The inclusion of asymmetric knowledge considerations in macroeconomics can help explain the unequal distribution of wealth between individuals, firms and nations. A lack of knowledge, and the difficulties in overcoming a lack of knowledge, can help to explain aspects of economic fluctuations, prices rigidities, monetary non-neutrality and unemployment. Most importantly, when the role of knowledge is considered, it provides better explanations to various anomalies in economics, helps reconciles differences between various theories and may opens up the possibility of unifying various schools of economic thought.
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Hindmoor, Andrew. "Socialism and entrepreneurship : a rational choice approach to an issue of compatibility." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 1997. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1463/.
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A theoretical study of the feasibility of socialism. Politically, socialism is characterised by equality, democracy and liberty. Economically, it is assumed (i) that the feasibility of socialism depends upon its ability to generate growth, and (ii) that growth is secured through entrepreneurial activity. Economic theory is used to delineate the concept of entrepreneurship and to explore the nature and limitations of capitalist entrepreneurship and political theory is used to identify possible incompatibilities between socialism and entrepreneurship. Underlying many of these arguments is a claim for the existence of a trade-off between efficiency and equality. The capacity of market socialism to either transcend or minimise this trade-off is considered. Three forms of market socialism are examined. The first is drawn from Joseph Carens' work on moral incentives, the second from theories of the labour-managed firm and the third from new public management. The socialist credentials and capacity of each to generate entrepreneurial activity are appraised. Examples drawn upon include Israeli Kibbutzim, the Spanish Mondragon cooperative, British nationalised industries and the Japanese computer industry. Economic new institutionalism, welfare economics and Austrian economic theory are all on occasions used but the principle methodology is rational choice. Specifically, theory principle agent analysis and William Niskanen's of the budget - using bureaucracy shown capable, illuminating discussion. Given even the assumption of egoism it is argued that through careful institutional and organisational design, tensions between socialism and entrepreneurship can be alleviated.
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Berndtsson, Jonn. "Den torftiga ekonomismen : En kritik av rational choice theory utifrån Weber och Habermas." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Sociologiska institutionen, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-256763.
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Uppsatsen handlar om huruvida sociologin fortfarande är relevant när ekonomivetenskapen breddar sitt studiefält till att inte längre vara självklart ekonomisk utan också ställa frågor som traditionellt legat på sociologins bord. Genom en teoretisk analys av statistiska resultat angående användandet av inköpslista i samband med matvaruinköp undersöker uppsatsen huruvida ekonomins klassiska handlingsteori, rational choice, och dess antaganden om homo economicus är tillräckligt för att förklara de resultat som uppkommer. Jürgen Habermas teori om kommunikativt handlande, och Webers handlingsteori används som exempel på utpräglat sociologiska handlingsteorier vars förklaringsförmåga av de uppkomna resultaten jämförs med rational choice theory. Arbetet visar hur ekonomivetenskapen i sin strävan att bredda sitt studiefält behöver ifrågasätta vissa klassiska antaganden, något som under senare årtionden har inträffat, och att sociologin kan ge förklaringar där klassisk ekonomisk teori faller kort.
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Tong, Ching Hua. "Social networks and dynamic interaction among imperfectly rational agents /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p9812498.
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Li, Y. (Ying). "Users’ information systems (IS) security behavior in different contexts." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2015. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526209395.
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Abstract Users’ information systems (IS) security behavior continuously draws attentions from scholars and practitioners. While previous studies usually focused on one context (e.g., employees’ compliance with IS security policies in an organizational context), little research has focused on the possible explanations for users’ IS security behavior if the context changes. To address this gap, this dissertation discusses the role of context in IS security behavior research. An analysis of the differences between the organizational context and the home context suggests a need to study users’ IS security behavior solely in a specific context, such as home. This study provides guidelines for applying and developing contextualized theories in IS security behavior research. Based on the guidelines, this dissertation includes two empirical studies. First, drawing on rational choice theory, it compares specific IS security behavior in two contexts: the work context (N = 210) and the personal context (N = 202). Second, drawing on stewardship theory, this dissertation develops a contextualized theory explaining employees’ IS security risk-taking behavior in the organizational context (N = 170). The findings of this dissertation show different explanations for users’ IS security behavior in different contexts and highlight the importance of taking context into account when doing IS security behavior research. The results of each empirical study provide both theoretical contributions to research as well as actionable advice to practiceTiivistelmä Tietokoneenkäyttäjien tietoturvakäyttäytyminen on jatkuvan kiinnostuksen kohteena niin tutkijoiden kuin käytännön ammatinharjoittajienkin keskuudessa. Aiempi tutkimus on keskittynyt tarkastelemaan tietoturvakäyttäytymistä yleensä yhdessä kontekstissa (esim. työntekijöiden tietoturvaohjeiden noudattaminen organisaatiokontekstissa), kun taas vähemmälle huomiolle on jäänyt se, kuinka kontekstin muuttuminen selittää tietoturvakäyttäytymistä. Tämä väitöskirja vastaa kyseiseen ongelmaan, sillä se käsittelee kontekstin roolia tietoturvakäyttäytymistutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksessa analysoidaan organisaatiokontekstin ja kotikontekstin eroja. Analyysi osoittaa, että on tarpeellista tutkia tietokoneen käyttäjien tietoturvakäyttäytymistä tietyissä konteksteissa, kuten esimerkiksi kotikontekstissa. Tutkimus tarjoaa ohjeita siihen, kuinka kontekstisidonnaisia teorioita sovelletaan ja kehitetään tietoturvakäyttäytymistutkimuksessa. Väitöskirja sisältää 2 empiiristä tutkimusta, jotka pohjautuvat edellä mainittuihin ohjeisiin. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa tutkimuksessa sovelletaan rational choice -teoriaa, jonka pohjalta vertaillaan tiettyä tietoturvakäyttäytymistyyppiä 2 kontekstissa: työkonteksti (N = 210) ja henkilökohtaisen käytön konteksti (N = 202). Toiseksi, tutkimus soveltaa stewardship -teoriaa ja kehittää siihen pohjautuen kontekstisidonnaisen teorian, joka selittää organisaation työntekijöiden käyttäytymistä liittyen tietoturvariskin ottamiseen (N = 170). Väitöskirjan tutkimustulokset esittävät erilaisia selityksiä tietokoneen käyttäjien tie-toturvakäyttäytymiselle eri konteksteissa. Tutkimus korostaa sitä, kuinka tärkeää on ottaa konteksti huomioon tutkittaessa tietoturvakäyttäytymistä. Kummankin empiirisen tutkimuksen tulokset tarjoavat teoreettisen kontribuution lisäksi käytännöllisiä neuvoja tietoturvan toteuttamiseen
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Lundkvist, Jakob, and Nyman Robert Helmeus. "Vilka faktorer och tankesätt ligger till grund för att en stor andel av svenska premiepensionssparare är passiva? : Forskning och statistik visar att kontinuerlig aktiv placering i genomsnitt ger högst avkastning, ändå är en stor andel av premiepensionsspararna passiva." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskaper, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-24345.
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Denna studie undersöker hur premiepensionssparare tar beslut och vad som ligger till grund för valet att vara aktiv eller passiv i syfte att skapa ökad förståelse och underlätta utformningen av ett ökat beslutsstöd för premiepensionsspararna. Tidigare studier har visat att premiepensionssparare som är kontinuerligt aktiva i sin placering är de som får högst avkastning på sin premiepension, ändå är en stor andel av svenska premiepensionssparare passiva. Studien undersöker några av de faktorer och tankesätt som ligger till grund för att en stor andel av svenska premiepensionssparare inte tar beslut som förväntas enligt teoretiska beslutsteorier som förutsätter rationalitet. Som verktyg för att undersöka och öka förståelsen för premiepensionssparares beslutsfattande används prospect theory som är en alternativ teori till den klassiska ekonomiska teorin om ekonomiskt beslutsfattande. Studien grundar sig i problematiken som uppstår när samhällsutvecklingen allt mer skapar större informationsflöde samtidigt som allt mer beslut och risk läggs på individen. Mängden information ökar samtidigt som det blir allt svårare att filtrera vilken information som är viktig. Genom enkätundersökning visar studien att informationsöverflöd och kunskapsbrist är de främsta orsakerna till valet av passivitet. Studien visar också att en högre kvalitet på den information som ges om fonder och premiepensionsystemet skulle kunna få fler premiepensionssparare att bli aktiva. Studien ger även indikationer om att svenska premiepensionssparare tar beslut enligt prospect theory.
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Edwards, Miriam Ruth Germaine. "An application of rational choice theory to petroleum policies in Canada, Britain, and Norway." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18858.
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Rorie, Melissa Lynn. "Communicating through violence an application of rational choice theory to terrorist claims of responsibility /." College Park, Md.: University of Maryland, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/8600.
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Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2008.Thesis research directed by: Dept. of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.
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Krabuanrat, Tanasak. "Electronic communication and manager's media choice : a structural equation modelling from rational and social perspectives." Thesis, City University London, 2000. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/7586/.
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This exploratory study examines the communication media choice of managers. Despite a substantial body of theories on media choice, inadequacies are apparent in the literature particularly in relation to modem communication technologies. A field study approach was adopted to explore some of these inadequacies and to study the media choice of subject from a manager background. Overall, within the limitations and confines of this exploratory study, this thesis has made the following contributions. First, this thesis identifies and has demonstrate at the unduly narrow focus on task equivocality in prior media choice studies has undermined the study's ability to explain the observed media choice. There is a need to consider the full range of task characteristics in explaining the communication media choice process. Second, Information Richness Theory( IRT) has enjoyed acceptance information systems researchers throughout the last decade,b ut recent unfavourable empirical evidence has precipitated a shift away from it and a search for a new theory. The application of social interaction theories responded to the problem of media richness/social presence by postulating that media selection, like most tasks in organisations, is influenced by a combination of social forces. This means that , while the media richness/social presence scale matching tasks with media would apply in most cases, it is perfectly predictable that some groups or individuals will define either tasks or media traits differently, thus explaining the problems with media richness/social presence theories. Third, drawing together ideas in the literature a broad overview of the media choice process is developed into a comprehensive framework model. A novel aspect of this framework is, to find whether Information richness and Social interaction theories directly influence media choice; or the Social interaction theories influence media choice indirectly through the Information richness theory.
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Wholl, Douglas J. "A rational choice approach to professional crime using a meta-synthesis of the qualitative literature." [Tampa, Fla] : University of South Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/usf/dc/et/SFE0002890.
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NISHIMOTO, Kazumi. "Rational Choice Theory in Political Science and Sociology as a Microeconomic Approach: a Historical Perspective." 名古屋大学大学院経済学研究科, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2237/10320.
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Bryant, Monica Raye. "Decision Making and the Adoption Process for American Families of Chinese Children: An Application of Rational Choice Theory." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/32411.
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Interviews were conducted with 20 parents in the US who have adopted one or more children from China. The study focuses on the motivation to adopt, decision making regarding adoption and the process in relation to rational choice theory. The interviews also inquired about their required adoption trip to China and the post-adoption adjustment phase including bonding and developmental delays, as well as about why families chose to adopt from China, how they learned about the adoption agency they used and whether or not they knew families that had adopted internationally and more specifically from China. This information provided insight into the way that families obtained information that helped them reach important decisions throughout the adoption process.Master of Science
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Li, Ji. "Essays on discrete choice under social interaction methodology and applications /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1180499711.
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Lu, Lei 1975. "Essays on asset pricing with heterogeneous beliefs and bounded rational investor." Thesis, McGill University, 2007. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=103267.
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The thesis includes two essays on asset pricing. In the first essay, "Asset Pricing in a Monetary Economy with Heterogeneous Beliefs", we shed new light on the role of monetary policy in asset pricing by focusing on the case where investors have heterogeneous expectations about future monetary policy. Under heterogeneity in beliefs, investors place bets against each other on the evolution of money supply, and as a result, the sharing of wealth in the economy evolves stochastically over time, making money non-neutral. Employing a continuous-time, general equilibrium model, we establish these fluctuations to be rich in implications, in that they majorly affect the equilibrium prices of all assets, as well as inflation. In particular, we find that the stock market volatility may be significantly increased by the heterogeneity in beliefs, a conclusion supported by our empirical analysis. The second essay is titled with " Asset Pricing and Welfare Analysis with Bounded Rational Investors". Motivated by the fact that investors have limited ability and insufficient knowledge to process information, I model investors' bounded-rational behavior in processing information and study its implications on asset pricing. Bounded rational investors perceive "correlated" information (which consists of news that is correlated with fundamentals, but provides no information on them) as "fundamental" information. This generates "bounded rational risk". Asset prices and volatilities of asset returns are derived. Specially, the equity premium and the stock volatility are raised under some conditions. I also analyze the welfare impact of bounded rationality.
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Berger, Roger, and Thomas Gautschi. "Drogenkonsum als rationale Wahl." Universität Leipzig, 2017. https://ul.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A17015.
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Hall, Robert M. "PARENTAL CHOICE OF NONDENOMINATIONAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION: REASONS FOR CHOICE, EXIT, AND THE TYPES AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION USED." Lexington, Ky. : [University of Kentucky Libraries], 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10225/1011.
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Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Kentucky, 2009.Title from document title page (viewed on July 27, 2009). Document formatted into pages; contains: iii, 214 p. : ill. Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-212).
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Lee, Jongho. "Following one's heart : emotions and voting /." Digital version accessible at:, 2000. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Altikriti, Sultan. "The Effects of Individual Differences on the Perceived Risks and Rewards of Offending: A Meta-analysis." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1627667272602079.
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Warne, Tara R. "Comparing theories of the policy process and state tuition policy critical theory, institutional rational choice, and advocacy coalitions /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/5563.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on June 17, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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Castillo, Valencia María del Pilar. "Economics theory of political kidnapping : theory and evidency for the case of the FARC in Colombia." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/132922.
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O objetivo desta tese é explicar a redução nas taxas de sequestros políticos na Colômbia nos últimos anos a partir da análise do comportamento estratégico dos criminosos. Pontos de vista convencionais explicam a diminuição dos sequestros como o resultado exitoso da política de segurança democrática do presidente Álvaro Uribe Vélez. No entanto, até agora, tem sido desconsiderada a busca de explicações alternativas à já existente, que bem poderiam ser encontradas a partir da perspectiva de análise dos dilemas organizacionais produzidos pelos sequestros nas FARC – Forças Armadas Revolucionárias da Colômbia –, da sua interação estratégica com o governo e, em particular, de seus efeitos sobre sua atividade global e na decisão de pôr fim a essa ação criminosa. O interesse dos três ensaios que compõem esta tese é estudar as motivações deste grupo rebelde, sob o enfoque da teoria da agência, dividindo sua estrutura organizativa entre líderes (principal), que tomam as decisões estratégicas, e os combatentes (agentes), que as realizam, em um contexto de informação assimétrica, para tomar decisões racionais. Cada ensaio desenvolve a partir de diferentes perspectivas, mas tendo como base o enfoque racional de principal-agente, as razões que levaram a organização a renunciar a uma de suas atividades criminosas, considerada no princípio como uma ação estratégica eficiente que obrigaria o governo colombiano a negociar. O primeiro ensaio está focado em mostrar os custos de transação que gerou essa estratégia para os agentes e o principal. Esta análise faz uso dos mesmos instrumentos analíticos empregados para analisar os custos de qualquer transação econômica que leva a cabo uma organização legal. Mostrando que os custos dessa atividade foram altos, expressados, primeiro, em um conflito de interesses entre o líder, encarregado de esquematizar e designar tarefas, e os agentes, responsáveis por sua execução. A divergência entre estas duas partes teve origem em uma mudança nas expectativas dos agentes, que preferiam mais atividades de combate às relacionadas com o sequestro, em um contexto de perseguição constante do exército colombiano. O segundo ensaio estuda como essa mesma estratégia afetou o contexto no qual os agentes definem suas preferências. Através do uso de três enfoques diferentes da teoria econômica se expõem três interpretações diversas da mudança nas preferências dos agentes: a) uma mudança no risco; b) uma divergência entre as preferências subjacentes e induzidas; c) a presença de dimensões motivacionalmente salientes. E o terceiro ensaio apresenta um modelo formal para estabelecer um sistema de compensações eficiente que o principal oferece ao agente para atenuar o que sobre seu comportamento gerou o sequestro. Os resultados mostram que, considerando que os recursos das organizações armadas ilegais são escassos, quanto maiores são os incentivos oferecidos aos agentes para evitar que desertem, menor é a capacidade da organização para penalizar os desertores e menor a utilidade do principal. Simulando o modelo para um conjunto específico de parâmetros se conclui que a incorporação do mecanismo de autocumprimento (self-enforcing) dentro da função de utilidade do principal aumenta seus custos e propicia o baixo esforço do agente e seu comportamento oportunista.The objective of this thesis is to explain the reduction in the rate of political kidnapping in Colombia in recent years by means of analyzing the strategic behavior of its perpetrators. This is the basic question addressed in this thesis. Conventional views interpret the fall in the kidnapping rate as an outcome of President Álvaro Uribe’s democratic security policy. I will argue, however, that this is not the whole story, since political kidnapping led Farc [for its acronym in Spanish, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia] into an unprecedented strategic situation that induced a breach between leader (principal) and combatant (agent) concerns with strong effects on its overall activity and its decision to stop that criminal action. The focus of three essays making up this thesis is on studying FARC’s motivations from the perspective of agency theory, by splitting its organizational structure into principals and agents who are acting on a setting of asymmetrical information. Each essay develops, from different perspectives, the reasons that led the organization to give up that criminal activity due to the substantial political and organizational risks involved. The first essay is focused on the transactions costs generated by the kidnapping strategy both for agents and principals. This analysis is based on the same theoretical tools used to study the costs held by any legal organization. I found that the costs of kidnapping were high, expressed first in a conflict of interest between the leader –responsible for designing and assigning tasks—and the agents in charge of its implementation. The divergence was due to a shift in the expectations of agents who preferred combat activities over the menial tasks associated with kidnapping, in a context of heavy pressure by the Colombian Army. In contradistinction to legal organizations in which such type of divergence can be solved, in part, by paying higher wages to agents in order to extract their best effort, this alternative is not feasible for FARC, for those who joined the organization are supposed to have an ideological and political commitment. The second essay studies how the kidnapping strategy affected the preferences of agents and their behavior by means of using three different approaches from economic theory: (a) a change in risk, (b) a divergence between underlying and induced preferences and, (c) the presence of salient motivational dimensions. The third essay examines, through a principal-agent model, the nature of the trade-off between incentives and enforcing mechanisms that the leadership of an Armed illegal organization offers to its agents. Using a MATLAB’s optimization tool-box, I computed the optimal transfer system for a given parameterization of the model, and analyzed its properties. The numerical analysis shows that the inclusion of a self-enforcing mechanism on the leader’s objective function increases the costs for the principal and could lead agents to choose low efforts and engage in opportunistic behavior.
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Stendahl, Elin. "New Perspectives on the Paradox of Participation : A Theoretical Evaluation of Rational Choice Theory as it Applies to Political Participation." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-431756.
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Theory is vital for our scientific understanding of the social world. Building, developing, and evaluating theory are therefore central practices within the social sciences. This study performs an evaluation of rational choice theory within the field of political participation. This is a theoretical framework that has had significant problems reconciling theoretical prediction with empirical findings, causing what is called the paradox of participation. For more than sixty years rational choice theorists have tried to develop new formulations of the theory to avoid this paradox. The purpose of this study is to forward this debate by providing a new perspective on rational choice theory that is purely theoretical. Using the evaluative criteria of falsifiability and leverage, the study finds that a theory using both collective and selective incentives, while also allowing the formulation of the theory to change depending on the form of political participation one wants to explain provides the most promising approach. However, the evaluation does reveal some issues in connection to selective incentives. A potential alternative solution to the paradox is therefore briefly discussed, yet a more thorough exploration of this venue is left to future research.
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Kodatt, Zachary Hayes. "Afraid to lose: The fear of falling's effect on white-collar crime." OpenSIUC, 2016. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1972.
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This study examined the potential moderating effects that the fear of falling may have on potential white-collar crime perpetrators using rational choice and differential association theory perspectives. A self-report, factorial survey measurement tool utilizing three hypothetical vignettes placing respondents in a business situation with the potential to commit insider trading was given to 612 students at a Midwestern university. Results indicate that the fear of falling had no moderating effects, differential association theory was partially supported in Vignette 1, and rational choice theory was partially supported across all three vignettes.
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Contegiacomo, Nicole Marks Gary. "Rational choice theory and the crime-terror nexus how and why terrorist and organized criminal groups are working together /." Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007. http://dc.lib.unc.edu/u?/etd,1283.
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Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.Title from electronic title page (viewed Apr. 25, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of a Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science." Discipline: Political Science; Department/School: Political Science.
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Gounari, Zoe. "Establishing a new legal model for the governance of contractual joint ventures through the application of rational choice theory." Thesis, Durham University, 2018. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12921/.
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The purpose of this thesis is to rationalise the law on contractual joint ventures, in the sense of rendering it consistent with its own fundamental tenets and declared objectives. The declared objective of contract law is to give effect to the intentions of reasonable persons, whom the law presumes to be self-interested by default. To this end, this thesis argues for a new legal model to govern the contractual (project-specific) joint venture, which centres on the joint venture contract but is fundamentally augmented through the application of default, mutually binding, fiduciary duties. By applying David Gauthier’s take on rational choice theory in the context of cooperation, the thesis demonstrates that submitting to default duties of this type is the long-term utility maximising strategy for self-interested commercial parties who have chosen to cooperate. For this reason, it argues that English law should imply fiduciary duties into the joint venture contract by default on the basis that this is what the co-venturers would have intended had they properly reflected on what their long-term self-interest requires.
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Wikström, Jonas, and Jonas Jons. "Varför väljer studenter Uppsala universitet? : En studie om vad som påverkat studenters val av universitet." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Kulturgeografiska institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-413738.
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Denna studie ämnar belysa vad det är som fick studenter att välja just Uppsala universitet för vidarestudier och vad studenterna prioriterade i sin valprocess. Individernas prioriteringar kategoriseras in i olika faktorer, där faktorerna ämnar förklara de olika konsekvenserna av valet, exempelvis de geografiska avståndet till universitetet eller universitetets akademiska rykte. För att identifiera detta har studien använt sig av en kvantitativ metod, nämligen en enkät. Enkäten riktade sig till individer som studerar eller har studerat på Uppsala universitet och var ämnad att identifiera hur en större mängd individer resonerade kring sin valprocess, exempelvis vad de prioriterade i valet eller hur informerade de ansåg sig själva vara om sina valmöjligheter. Resultaten påvisade med stor likhet till tidigare studier att Akademiskt Rykte, Universitetsstadens Atmosfär och tillgängligheten till studentaktiviteter är de tre mest inflytelserika faktorerna. För att vidare identifiera hur valprocessen kan beskrivas tillämpades de teoretiska ramverken sociologiska modeller samt rational choice theory vilket ämnar att identifiera ifall en rationell beslutsprocess har tagit form. En rationell beslutsprocess identifieras av att faktorer som förbättrar ens framtida möjligheter och vinst maximeras, medans temporära bekvämligheter som är mindre värda ur samma perspektiv förminskas. Studien har dock funnit att valprocessen uppvisar tendenser på både rationella beslutstaganden samt icke-rationella så som de geografiska faktorerna. Vad detta innebär är således att om man vill förstå hur valprocessen sker kan man inte göra de utifrån antagandet att individ agerar rent rationellt.
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Chad, Bretton. "Compounding the Sacred and the Profane: How Economic Theory Brings New Insight to the Growth and Decline of American Protestantism." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2016. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1263.
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In this thesis, economic theory and models will be used to analyze trends of religious growth and decline within the United States. These theories and models, such as Rational Choice Theory, will be applied in order to better understand and gain new insight into shifts and changes within the religious landscape of the United States. Recent trends of growth and decline within Protestantism, the most prominent Christian tradition in America, will be the focus of the investigation. As its main focus, this thesis will ultimately demonstrate that the trends of decline in the mainline Protestant tradition opposed to the trends of growth in the evangelical Protestant tradition can be best understood by focusing on the unique relationship between a religious organization’s degree of tension with society and that organization’s congregational attendance.
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Shen, Fei. "An economic theory of political communication effects how the economy conditions political learning /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view.cgi?acc%5Fnum=osu1243880056.
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Dray, James Daniel. "Voter turnout in Sub-Saharan Africa." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2010. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b4889265-1bae-45cc-b12a-4fa92d441800.
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This thesis addresses the question of who votes in Africa and why. It uses three sets of quantitative data at three different levels to test its claims: an original compilation of national level institutional and socioeconomic indicators for over 700 elections from independence until 2006 compiled by the author; the Afrobarometer survey of almost 50 000 voters in 17 multiparty African regimes; and the first ever purpose-built survey aimed at testing rational choice turnout models in an African case study, which was designed, administered and analysed by the author in 2005 in Durban, South Africa. It uses a mixture of statistical methods to test comprehensively the determinants of voting in pooled and multilevel, logistic and linear, individual and national level models. It finds that the central claims of the rational choice model do not generally apply in African elections. Both the closeness of the election and the costs of participation are not found to be central to the voting calculus of African voters. Instead those citizens who face the highest barriers to participation in the West: the rural, poor and minimally educated, are the citizens who vote most in Africa. The thesis argues that this is because turnout in Africa is mobilised turnout and these are the groups of people targeted by mobilising agents. It further finds that three central institutions of African politics; ethnicity, clientelism and regime type further structure patterns of mobilisation in ways that have been entirely neglected in studies of turnout until now. Finally, it confirms that voting is habitual and that voters are socialised by formative experiences in their youth, especially the nature of the regime that they grow up in and how democratic they think the country is.
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Kerr, William Fraser. "Darwinian social evolution as a theory of social change." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31066.
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This thesis investigates the use of a reconceptualised social evolutionary theory for understanding and explaining how and why societies change, specifically looking at this question through the frame of nationalism. The thesis is split into three parts: in the first part I first examine older forms of social evolutionary theory (conceptions from Marx, Spencer and generalized evolutionary accounts) and critique them on the grounds that they are too ‘progressive’ in character, suffer from teleology and have a notion that all societies change linearly, i.e. pass through the same set of stages. After this I elaborate on a reconstructed version of social evolutionary theory, taking it along more Darwinian lines: that the process should be understood as contingent and non-linear, where cultural variants and social intuitions change in response to selective pressures brought about by environmental conditions. To reconstruct social evolution I draw mainly on accounts from Runciman (2009), Hodgson and Knudsen (2010), Sperber (1996), Hull (1988) and Richerson and Boyd (2006). In the second part of the thesis I look at four different theories of social change and utilize Darwinian social evolutionary theory to critique them. The four in question are: Immanuel Wallerstein (world-systems theory); Michael Hechter (rational-choice theory); Michael Mann (sources of social power); and Ernest Gellner (functionalism). These four theories were chosen as they either have, or represent, different theories of social change, and also because they are all concerned to some extent with the rise of the nation-state and nationalism. The main argument in this section is that Darwinian social evolutionary theory can incorporate elements of these theories whilst also going beyond them in explaining and understanding why societies undergo changes. In the case of Mann and Gellner I also note that they are, to a certain extent, implicitly relying on a social evolutionary account, and that drawing this out more explicitly helps provide greater theoretical solidity to their arguments. In the final part of the thesis I apply the theory to two case-studies, looking at the rise of nationalism in Britain (with a focus on England) and Japan. In both cases I examine each development of nationalism historically, using Darwinian social evolution to assess why nationalism emerged at the point that it did in each case, and not before. A final synthesis chapter then looks comparatively at the two cases and applies Darwinian social evolutionary theory to address the question of why nationalism generated in England/Britain, but did not in Japan and why the nationalist movements took the forms that they did. The chapter centres on three main themes, the role of war in forming identities, the role of variation in generating institutions, and the role of lineages in creating continuity in discontinuity. Finally it address the question of why nationalism became the dominant movement and not something else. Together this demonstrates demonstrate the usefulness of the framework for addressing questions concerning social change, in providing a different perspective and insights from other theories of social change. A final chapter summarizes and concludes the thesis, as well as pointing to new directions that research could develop.
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Intravia, Jonathan. "The Roles of Social Bonds, Personality, and Rational Decision-Making: An Empirical Investigation into Hirschi’s “New” Control Theory." Scholar Commons, 2009. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/2023.
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Control theories have substantively contributed both theoretically and empirically to criminological research. Recently, Hirschi moved away from the personality constructs associated with self-control and created a new conceptualization that favors social bonds. Specifically, Hirschi suggests that counting the number of inhibitors (derived from social bonds) is the best way to predict delinquency. Using middle school and high school students from Largo Florida, this study examines Hirschi's new conceptualization of inhibitors by comparing it with self-control and a traditional social bonding scale. In addition, this study also explores whether Hirschi's new conceptualization and self-control operate through a cognitive scale. Results suggest that some components of Hirschi's new conceptualization of inhibitors are supported, while others are not. Finally, limitations are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.
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Labonté, Sébastien. "La théorie de la dissuasion et sa rationalité coûts/bénéfices: les remises en question d'une rationalité du risque." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/24119.
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La théorie moderne de la dissuasion et la rationalité coûts/bénéfices sont étroitement liées l’une à l’autre. En fait, sans cette dernière, la théorie de la dissuasion n’aurait plus de fondements puisqu’elle repose sur la croyance voulant que sous certaines conditions — ayant trait notamment à sa sévérité et à sa certitude — la sanction pénale peut décourager quiconque aurait l’audace de défier la norme pénale. La rationalité coûts/bénéfices constitue donc cette prémisse selon laquelle l’être humain gouvernerait son comportement, incluant le comportement criminel, à partir d’un calcul fait de coûts et de bénéfices. La généralisation de la portée de cette théorie de la décision constitue notre objet de recherche. La question qui se pose est celle de savoir si la théorie elle-même n’aurait pas trop exagéré la portée de cette rationalité coûts-bénéfices. Il ne s’agit pas tant de remettre en question le fait qu’elle puisse opérer ici et là, mais bien de réfléchir aux limites de sa généralisation, de se poser la question de savoir si compte tenu des données dont on dispose il est encore raisonnable, aujourd’hui, d’entretenir cette croyance à l’effet que tous les comportements dits criminels sont opérés dans le cadre de cette rationalité coûts/bénéfices. C’est la question que nous posons dans cette recherche exploratoire dont l’objectif est de cerner une rationalité inédite développée théoriquement par Pires (2002) et vérifiée empiriquement par Dubé (2012) : la rationalité du risque.
Dans cette recherche, ces dernières considérations nous amènent à traiter les postulats de la rationalité coûts/bénéfices comme des hypothèses et non comme des faits. Cette posture épistémologique se situe en dehors du positivisme et réintroduit le doute dans l’observation. Ce doute est alors confronté à une empirie particulière : il ne s’agit plus de tester la sévérité ou la certitude des peines telles que les conçoivent le droit criminel, mais bien de comprendre comment, dans la commission de leurs infractions, les individus se les représentent, comment ils les perçoivent, et quel poids leur attribuent-ils dans la décision de commettre ou de commettre à nouveau une infraction. Dans cette perspective qui s’inspire directement des approches phénoménologiques, la dissuasion est ainsi conçue comme un phénomène d’abord et avant tout subjectif. Au plan méthodologique, nous avons cherché à saisir ces « réalités subjectives » à partir d’entretiens qualitatifs semi-dirigés réalisés auprès d’individus ayant commis des crimes graves. Dans ces entretiens, plusieurs postulats de la théorie de la dissuasion sont ébranlés sous le poids d’une phénoménologie faisant ressortir les traits et fondements de la rationalité du risque, rationalité qui réduit la portée de la rationalité coûts/bénéfices tout en frappant d’impertinence le réductionnisme qui associe à la qualité de la peine la qualité de l’effet dissuasif.
À partir de nos observations empiriques, nous avons élaboré quatre (4) idéaux-types de trajectoires décisionnelles : pris dans leur ensemble, ceux-ci suggèrent que l’effet dissuasif de la sanction pénale est loin d’être aussi déterminant que nous a habitués à le croire le droit criminel moderne. Les résultats de notre recherche semblent en effet indiquer que dans bien des cas, la menace de la conséquence pénale se retrouve neutralisée par la rationalité du risque qui intervient dans l’esprit de l’individu pour reconvertir la « certitude » du coût en incertitude, en probabilité. Le coût n’est alors plus vécu comme un coût, mais bien comme un risque, comme une possibilité parmi d’autres et que l’individu a l’impression de pouvoir contrôler. La dissuasion générale se retrouve ainsi fragilisée. Par ailleurs, face à la condamnation, lorsque l’individu l’associe à l’échec du passage à l’acte, la rationalité du risque intervient encore pour remettre en question non pas tant, dans l’absolu, la décision de commettre le crime, mais bien la manière de le commettre. L’échec est alors associé soit à une mauvaise décision (qui n’est pas celle de commettre le crime), soit au fruit du hasard contre lequel on ne pouvait rien. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, la dissuasion spécifique se retrouve ainsi fragilisée.
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Bergesen, Oskar. "Peace in Space for Our Time? : United States Strategical Considerations in Outer Space Policy." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-280673.
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The politics of outer space has in recent years been given attention from political elites and scientist due to increasing usage and reliance on space based assets, and due to increasing numbers of actors trying to utilize the benefits of space. Concerns have been raised if the increasing military usage of space will lead to a future weaponization of space, making some political leaders and scholars claiming the inevitability of space weaponization. In this thesis I investigate why the United States of America this far has chosen not to weaponize space based on the strategical setting of outer space politics. The research question guiding this thesis reads: What strategic considerations explain the US decision not to weaponize outer space? In order to evaluate the strategic setting and US strategical considerations I apply Game Theory and Non-Formal Rational Choice Theory to highlight what is causing the greatest space faring nation not to weaponize space. I empirically base this study on official space policy documents and one report written by an official commission to asses US national security space management. Based on the strategic setting of outer space politics and US strategical considerations it is found that the US has not commenced a process leading to the weaponization of space since such development would not increase its national security, but rather in several ways decrease it. I conclude that a process of space weaponization is not likely to be initiated by the US in the current strategical setting.
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Birks, Daniel J. "Computational Agent-Based Models of Offending: Assessing the Generative Sufficiency of Opportunity-Based Explanations of the Crime Event." Thesis, Griffith University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367327.
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This thesis demonstrates that agent-based modelling offers a viable compatriot
to traditional experimental methodologies for criminology scholars,
that can be applied to explore the divide between micro-level criminological
theory and macro-level observations of crime; and in turn, aid in the
assessment of those theories which aim to describe the crime event.
The following overarching research question is addressed:
Are the micro-level mechanisms of the opportunity theories generatively sufficient
to explain macroscopic patterns commonly observed in the empirical
study of crime?
Drawing on the approach of generative social science (Epstein, 1999), this
thesis presents a systematic assessment of the generative sufficiency of three
distinct mechanisms of offender movement, target selection and learning derived
from the routine activity approach (Cohen & Felson, 1979), rational
choice perspective (Clarke, 1980; Cornish & Clarke, 1986) and crime pattern
theory (Brantingham & Brantingham, 1978, 1981). An agent-based model
of offending is presented, in which an artificial landscape is inhabited by
both potential victims and offenders who behave according to several of the
key propositions of the routine activity approach, rational choice perspective
and crime pattern theory. Following a computational laboratory-based approach,
for each hypothetical mechanism studied, control and experimental
behaviours are developed to represent the absence or presence of a proposed
mechanism within the virtual population.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Arts, Education and Law
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Alieu, Sanyang Famara. "Are patient satisfaction surveys tools for quality improvement or mere symbolism? : The case of Østfold Hospital Trust in Norway." Thesis, Nordic School of Public Health NHV, 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-3240.
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In 1997 and 2002 the Østfold Hospital Trust conducted patient satisfaction surveys. This study presented the results of the 2002 survey and compares them with the 1997 results. This is done to ascertain if there are any changes with regards to the dimensions the hospital scored poorly on in 1997. The purpose of this study is to find out if the patient satisfaction survey conducted at the Østfold Hospital Trust in 1997 was a serious attempt to improve the quality of the health care provided or only a symbolic act. The concepts of innovation, rational choice and institutional theory were used as spectacles to analyse how the Østfold Hospital Trust acted on the results of the 1997 patient satisfaction survey. The choice of study design is not an "either / or" situation between the quantitative and qualitative approach, since both methods can strengthen each other. This study has therefore employed a form of methodological triangulation. The finding of the study showed that the Østfold Hospital Trust can be termed as innovative, when they implemented the patient satisfaction survey in 1997. This because there was no coercive forces from the hospital owners to implement such surveys. There were only signals in the form of strategy documents. In spite of the hospitals innovative action in implementing the non-mandatory survey in 1997, the hospital leadership did not use the results to improve quality. Based on the findings, the study can conclude that the implementation of the patient satisfaction survey in 1997 was more symbolic, rather than a quality improvement act. Looking further than 1997, it’s important to remark that the hospital leadership resolved a number measures to improve quality, based on the 2002 patient survey. At the time of writing the issue of patient feedback as a quality improvement tool is high on the agenda at the Østfold Hospital Trust. The development point in the direction of a paradigm shiftI 1997 og 2002 gjennomførte Sykehuset Østfold to pasienttilfredshetsundersøkelser. Dette studiet har presentert resultatet av undersøkelsen fra 2002 og sammenlignet det med resultatet fra 1997. Dette for å se om det er forskjell på dimensjonene sykehuset har scoret dårlig på i de to forskjellige undersøkelsene. Hensikten med studiet er å undersøke om pasienttilfredshetsundersøkelsen gjennomført ved Sykehuset Østfold i 1997 var et kvalitetsforbedringstiltak eller en symbolskhandling. Fra organisasjonsteori ble begreper som innovasjon, ”Rational Choice” og institusjonsteori brukt som briller for å analysere det som har skjedd. Valg av metode var ikke en enten eller situasjon i forhold til kvantitativ eller kvalitativ metode, siden metodene kan styrke hverandre. Studiet legger vekt på metodetriangulering Funnene fra studiet har vist at Sykehuset Østfold kan betegnes som en innovativ organisasjon da organisasjonen gjennomførte undersøkelsen i 1997. Dette fordi det ikke var krav fra omgivelsene for å gjennomføre undersøkelsen, kun signaler i form av strategidokumenter fra sentrale myndigheter. Selv om organisasjonen er innovativ hva gjelder initiering og implementering av pasienttilfredshetsundersøkelsen, har sykehusledelsen ikke brukt resultatet til kvalitetsforbedringstiltak. Ut fra funnene kan studiet konkludere med at gjennomføringen av pasienttilfredsundersøkelsen i 1997 var mer preget av en symbolskhandling enn et kvalitetsforbedringstiltak.Ser en utover 1997 er det viktig å nevne at sykehusledelsen har vedtatt flere kvalitetsforbedringstiltak basert på undersøkelsen fra 2002. Akkurat nå er pasienttilfredshetsundersøkelser som kvalitetsforbedringstiltak satt høyt på dagsorden av sykehusledelsen. Utviklingen kan betegnes som et paradigmeskifte
ISBN 91-7997-135-0
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Vance, A. (Anthony). "Why do employees violate is security policies?:insights from multiple theoretical perspectives." Doctoral thesis, University of Oulu, 2010. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789514262876.
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Abstract
Employee violations of IS security policies is recognized as a key concern for organizations. Although interest in IS security has risen in recent years, little empirical research has examined this problem. To address this research gap, this dissertation identifies deliberate IS security policy violations as a phenomenon unique from other forms of computer abuse. To better understand this phenomenon, three guidelines for researching deliberate IS security violations are proposed. An analysis of previous behavioral IS security literature shows that no existing study meets more than one of these guidelines.
Using these guidelines as a basis, this dissertation examines IS security policy violations using three theoretical models drawn from the following perspectives: neutralization theory, rational choice theory, and protection motivation theory. Three field studies involving surveys of 1,423 professional respondents belonging to 7 organizations across 47 countries were performed for empirical testing of the models.
The findings of these studies identify several factors that strongly predict intentions to violate IS security policies. These results significantly increase our understanding of why employees choose to violate IS security policies and provide empirically-grounded implications for how practitioners can improve employee IS security policy compliance.
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Landström, Joachim. "The theory of Homo comperiens, the firm's market price, and the implication for a firm's profitability /." Uppsala : Department of Business Studies, Uppsala universitet, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8268.
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Golden, Heather A. "A Top Fashion Program and the Traditional College Experience: A Narrative Study of Fashion Merchandising Students’ College Choice." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1587591534226398.
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Dusanic, Bojan, and Armin Osmanovic. "Vad påverkar financial literacy?" Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-34794.
Full textAbstract:
På senaste tid har det individuella kravet på ekonomiska frågor ökat allt mer och mer i takt med den teknologiska framfarten. I samband med detta är det väldigt viktigt med finansiell kunskap, även kallat financial literacy, för att kunna utföra dessa vardagliga situationer. Vad är det då som förbättrar en individs financial literacy? Vissa studier hävdar att det är det finansiella beteende som är grunden till en god financial literacy, medan andra påstår att det har med räknekunskap att göra. Andra faktorer, såsom utbildning, kön och ålder konstateras spela en stor roll om man frågar andra aktörer. Vilken av dessa faktorer är då den viktigaste för att man ska ha en god financial literacy och kunna tackla dessa situationer som uppkommer i vardagen? För att kunna genomföra detta arbete gjordes en kvantitativ undersökning i form av en enkätundersökning där svar hämtades från 257 respondenter (18+). Materialet från enkätsundersökningen analyserades och jämfördes med tidigare forskning. I denna studie så kom vi fram till att den viktigaste faktorn för en god financial literacy är ekonomisk utbildning som sedan följs av räknekunskap och finansiellt beteende, som kan jämföras med den kognitiva förmågan hos individer som beskrivs av rational choice theory. Både kön och ålder visar skillnader i det finansiella beteendet men visar inget direkt samband till financial literacy.
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Sand, Harald. "Gemenskap, individualism och andlighet : Tro och församlingsliv bland unga vuxna i den samtida svenska pingströrelsen." Thesis, Mittuniversitetet, Institutionen för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-36419.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis studies how young adults in today's Swedish Pentecostal congregations describe their beliefs and their congregational life. The thesis applies a theoretic frame of Rational Choice Theory and compares the results with previous research/adjacent studies close to the field. The relevance of this thesis lies in that research on young adults in the Swedish Pentecostal movement is a comparatively unexplored area. The reason to write about young adults in the Swedish Pentecostal movement is rooted in the prospect that this thesis could be a starting point for further studies on young adults in the Swedish Pentecostal movement. The thesis was a qualitative and quantitative multi-method study. The thesis is based on interviews and a questionnaire survey in order to present how young adults in today's Swedish Pentecostal churches describe their beliefs and their congregational life. The thesis identifies some issues that can be raised and investigated in further research on thistopic. Summary of the results The young adults describe that their faith becomes stronger by being part of a Pentecostal congregation. The community of the congregation, both in the smaller and the broader context, confirms the faith which makes their belief stronger. They perceive God as a protector and caretaker, and that God listens to their prayers and cares about them. The subjective part of the faith (the personal relationship with God) they experience as necessary, but they feel that the subjective relationship with God both can be experienced in the church community and solitude. Most of the young adults say they would consider switching the congregation (leave the congregation) if they would not thrive in the congregation or if it would not meet their expectations and needs. The interviews show that the respondents indicate certain preferences that they want to get satisfied and they want to belong to a congregation that can fulfil this. Getting their preferences and needs met is the key to the congregations if they want young adults to stay. The young adults are investing and giving time and commitment to their congregations and want this to generate something back. Most of them thrive in their congregations, but there is room for improvement. Their faith is strong. They are willing to invest in God and then consequently also in their congregations.Godkännandedatum 2019-06-05
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Lauchs, Mark Adam. "Rational avoidance of accountability by Queensland governments." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2006. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16368/1/Mark_Lauchs_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Anthony Downs public choice theory proposes that every rational person would try to meet their own desires in preference to those of others, and that such rational persons would attempt to obtain these desires in the most efficient manner possible. This thesis submits that the application of this theory would mean that public servants and politicians would perform acts of corruption and maladministration in order to efficiently meet their desires. As such action is unavoidable, political parties must appear to meet the public demand for accountability systems, but must not make these systems viable lest they expose the corruption and maladministration that would threaten the government’s chance or re-election. The thesis demonstrates this hypothesis through a study of the history of the public sector in Queensland. It shows that all governments have displayed a commitment for accountability whilst simultaneously ensuring the systems would not be able to interfere with government control or expose its flaws.