| 1. |
- Hoff Rudhult, Maria
(författare)
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SIDA VID SIDA? : Svenska företag i biståndsverksamheten, 1946–2013
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis studies how the way private businesses were viewed came to affect their participation, and thus role, in Swedish development aid activities in the 1946-2013 period. The role is here viewed in terms of the relationship between “the public” and “the private”. The relationship between public and private activities, as well as the distinction between them, is mutable, and needs to be understood within the framework of a specific context. This, in turn, means that these relationships between the state, in the form of public activity, and the businesses, in the form of private activity, constitute the more comprehensive research problem of the thesis. The analytical strategy of the thesis is based on a discourse theoretical approach, discursive institutionalism, to study how development aid, based on the ideal of “solidarity”, was formulated, established and upheld as an area of policy, focusing especially on the role that was concurrently created for Swedish private businesses. The application of a genealogical approach in the reading of political texts as well as archival material, reports and evaluations, makes visible how the businesses have been part of the Swedish developmental aid activities during practically the entirety of the time period studied, and that this has not been openly accounted for in the public political material. The study shows that upholding the ideal of the “solidarity-based” politics regarding development aid was enabled by applying different logics of action to different parts of the development aid activity. This is made clear by the political ability to involve businesses in development aid activities without having to expressly renounce the position of solidarity. The result of the thesis also shows that the ideal of “solidarity” influenced both the preconditions for distinctions between public and private, and how views of businesses as illegitimate or legitimate actors in development aid activity changed over time.
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| 2. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Beyond the silver bullet : unveiling multiple pathways to school turnaround
- 2024
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Ingår i: School Effectiveness and School Improvement. - : Routledge. - 0924-3453 .- 1744-5124.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research on school improvement has accumulated an extensive list of factors that facilitate turnarounds at underperforming schools. Given that context or resource constraints may limit the possibilities of putting all of these factors in place, an important question is what is necessary and sufficient to turn a school around. We use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of 77 Swedish schools studied over 12 years to answer this question. Our core finding is that there is no "silver bullet" solution. Instead, there are several distinct combinations of factors that can enable school turnaround. The local school context is essential for which combinations of factors are necessary and sufficient for school turnaround. We discuss implications for research on school improvement and education policy.
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| 3. |
- Bomark, Niklas, 1984-
(författare)
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Drawing Lines in the Sand : Organizational Responses to Evaluations in a Swedish University
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As organizations are increasingly evaluated, evaluative practices are becoming central to organization theory. While highlighting how organizations may respond to evaluations, earlier work on organizations and evaluation has been limited to inter-organizational evaluations, such as third-party rankings or ratings. As a consequence, the prevailing perspective on organizational responses has been developed almost entirely based on an idea that what is being evaluated in the first place – the evaluation entities – is unproblematic. Acknowledging that the definition of the evaluation entity may be ambiguous prior to the evaluation, and that this definition might vary over time, some interesting areas of inquiry emerge in relation to current understandings of organizational responses to evaluations.First, it raises questions of how entities are defined in evaluations, and how this can be seen as an organizational response? Second, it raises questions about our current understanding of the dynamics of organizational responses and how organizational responses shape organizational adaptation and change. Third, it raises question about how entity definitions shape how organizations become evaluated. Despite recent interest in understanding organizational responses to evaluations, organizational scholars have largely refrained from entertaining these questions.The objective of this dissertation is to revisit the assumption of the unambiguously defined evaluation entity in the current theorizing on organizational responses to evaluations. An opportunity to investigate this question emerged when the oldest university in Sweden, Uppsala University, decided to carry out two large evaluations of the research activities within the university – in 2007 and in 2011. The evaluation was made public and aimed to identify and evaluate (partly through a rating) the research achievements of the departments of the university. This presented an opportunity to study organizational responses to evaluations in a setting that is different from what has been studied previously. Based on a study of 44 of the departments within the university my main finding show how entities are defined and how this can be seen as an organizational response to evaluations. My findings also show how entity definitions interact with the more traditional responses taken after an evaluation, and that entity definitions shape the evaluation of the department. This dissertation thus lends support for the idea that apart from responding by changing activities or their organizational units, organizations can also respond to evaluations by the way they shape what will be evaluated – the entities being subject for the evaluation. The findings in this dissertation holds consequences for organizational theory and the evaluation of organizations.
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| 4. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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A new understanding of competition
- 2021
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Ingår i: Competition. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 9780191924460 - 9780192898012 ; , s. 1-25
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Competition is currently found in many, if not most, social domains, such as the economy, politics, public services, sports, culture, higher education, and science. But competition is not endemic to any of these fields. Rather, it has been constructed by those involved or by observers. We ask what competition is and how it can be introduced into a new context. Critically reflecting on insights from economics, management studies and sociology, we define competition as a combined social construction of four factors: actorhood, relationships among actors, scarcity, and desire. We shed light on asymmetric constructions of competition among different actors. Our definition leaves open the effect of competition on behaviour: competition may lead competitors to avoid interaction with each other or to cooperate; it may motivate people to try harder or it may demotivate them. Finally, we discuss issues for further research that follow from our understanding of competition.
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| 5. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Competition unbundled : taking stock and looking forward
- 2021
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Ingår i: Competition. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 9780192898012 - 9780191924460 ; , s. 221-236
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this final chapter, we discuss how the preceding chapters illuminate some fundamental questions about competition. How is it constructed? How are the behaviours resulting from competition managed? What are the consequences of competition? How can competition be removed? And, how do these factors vary with the good people compete for? Our aim is to provide an outline of a social science research programme on competition that is long overdue. A central message of the book is that competition seems ubiquitous but that it should not be taken for granted or be naturalized as an inevitable aspect of human existence. Its emergence, maintenance, and change are often the result of intention and purposive efforts, and a central challenge for social science is to learn more about these developments.
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| 6. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Losing Their Religion : Organizational Identity Hybridization of British Political Parties 1950–2015
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Management. - : Sage Publications. - 0149-2063 .- 1557-1211.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Our research addresses how organizations manage a shift from a single to a hybrid identity, a question that the identity literature still is grappling with. We address this question by reflecting on how organizations develop hybrid identities in response to institutional decline. Identity hybridization, we predict, takes place in stages via strategies that gradually hybridize the identity. We study how British political parties hybridized their identities in response to the decline of social-class politics over the period 1950–2015. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the identity projections of three political parties in their election manifestos provide support for our hypotheses.
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| 7. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Storföretagens tysta motstånd mot förändring
- 2023
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Ingår i: Organisation & Samhälle. - : Föreningen Företagsekonomi i Sverige (FEKIS). - 2001-9114 .- 2002-0287. ; 1:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Att företag gör motstånd mot samhällsförändringar som hotar deras existens är naturligt och väletablerat, men exakt hur detta går till har fått mindre uppmärksamhet.
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| 8. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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Teaching schools to compete : the case of Swedish upper secondary education
- 2024
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Ingår i: Socio-Economic Review. - : Oxford University Press. - 1475-1461 .- 1475-147X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Significant efforts have been made to promote competition in public service sectors, expanding the reach of competition into non-economic fields. Surprisingly little is, however, known about the process by which competition is introduced into such settings. We examine this process, focusing on a Swedish municipality’s efforts to implement competition for students among its schools. By incorporating recent theoretical advancements regarding competition as an organized relationship, and utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, we shed light on the organizational efforts undertaken by politicians and bureaucrats to teach their schools to compete. We find that introducing competition can be complex, time-consuming and that it requires substantial organizational commitment. We highlight the existence of varying perceptions of competition among different stakeholders following its introduction. These findings suggest the need for future research that addresses questions about the costs of, and interests behind, introducing competition, as well as questions about responsibility for the subsequent effects of competition.
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| 9. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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The Construction of Competition in Public Research Funding Systems
- 2023
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Ingår i: Handbook of Public Funding of Research. - Cheltenham; Northampton : Edward Elgar Publishing. - 9781800883079 - 9781800883086 ; , s. 172-184
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Competition is a core feature of public research systems. Previous literature has mainly focused on the consequences of competition for research funding in such systems. These consequences are important, but the literature has largely assumed that competition for funding is inevitable in public research systems. This assumption masks the extent to which competition is a constructed phenomenon requiring explanation. When and why is there competition for research funding in public systems? In this chapter, our aim is to develop new knowledge about the ways that various allocations of funding are or are not constructed as competition for funding. We utilise recent theorising to analyse competition for research funding as a phenomenon that eventually comes about through organising efforts. Our chapter revitalises previous literature, and offers policy implications and future inquiry avenues that highlight the importance of understanding how competition for funding is constructed, and potentially revoked, in public research systems.
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| 10. |
- Arora-Jonsson, Stefan, Professor, 1969-, et al.
(författare)
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The Origins of Competition : institution and organization
- 2021
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Ingår i: Competition. - Oxford : Oxford University Press. - 9780192898012 - 9780191924460 ; , s. 61-76
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Institutional conditions and organizational efforts are key for understanding how and why the elements constituting competition come about. Several contemporary institutions favour the construction of competition. States, organizations, and individuals are increasingly being seen as actors that are able to compete with each other, and globalization and other recent institutional developments have increased the number of relationships that they can construct. An impressive economic development during the last century has not prevented a continued sense of scarcity and new desires have emerged, not least the desire for status positions. Fourth parties organize social life in ways that create competition by intention or unintentionally. Organizers of contests in politics, markets, sports and many other sectors construct actors, relationships, and scarcity for something desired. Similar efforts have been an essential part of many recent reforms of organizations and markets. The increasing number of prizes and rankings in almost any area of life produces scarcity and is likely to create new desires for goods that per definition are scarce.
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