This paper argues the case for a pragmatic process-oriented approach for the implementation of IT-supported knowledge management systems in public education and research institutions (PERI). The introduced procedure model helps to identify weak points in internal processes and the corresponding need for action. This analysis can be used as the basis for specifying a reasonable mix of organisati...

The present paper focuses on the perceived quality of information exchange between government and business (G2B) in the field of environmental reporting in the Dutch agri-food industry. It seems most important for environmental performance enhancement (a concept that includes the quality of information given to stakeholders in our view) that companies are entangled in a network of intermediary ...

Increasing recognition of the value of practice-based or experiential knowledge in natural resource management justifies the creation of a new category of articles in Society & Natural Resources that we are calling Practice-Based Knowledge (PBK). The rationale for focusing on PBK is due to its key role in the emergence of hybrid governance institutions across state, market, and civil society, u...

Discussions of financial systems tend to identify banks (financial intermediaries) and markets as the major institutions determining the workings of the financial system as it guides the flow of funds from the household sector to the production sector of the economy. The contrast of "bankdominated" and "market-oriented" financial systems has for a long time occupied centre stage of the literatu...

The increasing demand for nurses in the United States has created a rivalry among healthcare institutions seeking to attract personnel with such enticements as sign-on bonuses, gift incentives, and rewards. Organizations may concentrate on recruitment incentives and ignore their core programs and staff retention efforts. At our large, tertiary academic medical center, we recognized the need to ...

The aim of this study is to investigate how ALM professionals conceptualise the common role of archives, libraries and museums (ALMs) in the contemporary society. There is only a little earlier empirical research on the topic. This study is based on a quantitative analysis of the results of a web survey of 131 ALM professionals. The analysis shows that the views of the respondents epitomise div...

In this paper we address the problem of defining social roles in MAS. Social roles provide the basic structure of social institutions and organizations. We start from the properties attributed to roles both in the MAS and the Object Oriented community, and we use them in an ontological analysis of the notion of social role. We thus identify as the main properties of social roles being definitio...

In this paper we develop a theory of composition of default specifications. This theory generalizes the work by Goguen and Burstall, where specifications written in an arbitrary logical system (institution) are structured as combinations of theories. It extends the classical composition by allowing partial re-use (and overriding) of specification modules. The modularisation units are hierarchic...

China is facing challenges of economic transition and modernization, which sees the urgent need to develop Continuing Engineering Education (CEE) for sustainable development in economic and social areas. The article first discusses the history and characteristics of CEE in China. By analyzing interview resources and statistic data, the author concludes five factors for the development of CEE in...

This study addresses the apparent puzzle that China achieved sustained and rapid economic growth despite weak institutions. From a World Bank survey of 1,616 manufacturing enterprises in 18 cities, we extracted two measures of institutional quality: property rights protection (share of government officials oriented toward helping rather than hindering business), and contract enforcement (likeli...