Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (31)
- Article (24)
- Part of a Book (11)
- Preprint (3)
- Book (2)
- Bachelor Thesis (1)
Language
- English (72) (remove)
Keywords
- Crowdfunding (1)
- Crowdsourcing (1)
- Digital Financing (1)
- Digitalization, Fake News, Hate Speech, Human Resources, ICDL. (1)
- Misserfolg (1)
- Need for cognition (1)
- Zielorientierung (1)
- achievement (1)
- achievement goals (1)
- eLearning, ERP systems, learning success measurement, internal differentiation (1)
Institute
This book is the merger and continuation of two successful textbooks, (i) Integration Management with SAP ECC® covering operational processes in sales, cost accounting, materials management and procurement, SOP, MRP, production order execution and project management in manufacturing as well as (ii) Data Warehouse Management with SAP BW® covering the design and implementation of analytics systems based on aggregate structures and “data cubes”.
In-memory computing, however, has accelerated database systems to such an extent that analytics does not have to be based on aggregate data cubes any more. Rather, it can be based on the original transaction data and can hence be seamlessly integrated into operational systems in (near) real time. This opens a completely new avenue of business computing by integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics into transactional data processing.
This book leverages SAP Hana® data analytics to enhance the operational case study – the manufacture of umbrellas. The case is developed step by step, whereby students build the case virtually from scratch, each working in his/her own manufacturing plant. The case study implementation is supported by a host of interactive materials and web trainers at https://www.wu.ac.at/erp/.
Drawing on an online survey of mayors from the German federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg this article analyses (1) to what extent social media is used abusively at the municipal level, (2) how mayors react to hate speech and (3) whether the experience of such insulting comments and threats is correlated with their perception of social media as a tool for political communication. The analysis shows that hateful comments are part of the social media experience on the local level. 53.9% of the mayors have at least once experienced personal insults and hostilities on social media in their role as politicians. The majority of them (56.7%) ignored the hate speech without reaction. Significantly fewer reacted more actively: 29.8% responded to the insulting message, 5.4% blocked the hater, and 8.2% filed a judicial complaint. The statistical analysis shows that mayors who use social media in a more professional way are more likely to react to hate speech in such an active manner. Moreover, the experience of hate speech and particularly an active type of reacting are found to be positively related to mayors' perceptions of how useful they consider social media to be for political communication.
The aim of this study was to test the effects of a daily positive work reflection intervention on fostering personal resources (i.e., hope and optimism) and decreasing exhaustion (i.e., emotional exhaustion and fatigue) among caregivers for the elderly and caregivers who provide services at patients' homes. Using an intervention/waitlist control group design, 46 caregivers in an intervention group were compared with 44 caregivers in a control group at 3 points of measurement: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 2-week follow-up. The results show that emotional exhaustion and fatigue were reduced for the intervention group. Primarily, caregivers with a high need for recovery at baseline benefited from the intervention. The results reveal no intervention effects for personal resources; however, they reveal a trend that the intervention led to an increase in hope and optimism among caregivers with a high need for recovery. Overall, the findings show that caregivers benefit from a daily positive work reflection intervention, particularly when their baseline levels of resources and well-being are low.
Theory on achievement goals favours a trichotomous model encompassing learning goals, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance goals. Performance-avoidance goals are associated with lower achievement compared to performance-approach and learning goals. The present study investigated the predictions of this model as regards achievement after failure. Low achievement of participants with performance-avoidance goals was expected to be mediated by a high degree of negative self-related thoughts. Before manipulating achievement goals, achievement on verbal analogies was assessed. After manipulating achievement goals for an anagram task, all participants (N = 87) were exposed to failure. Subsequently, achievement on a parallel version of the verbal analogies task was assessed. Participants in the performance-avoidance goals condition showed low achievement after failure, mediated by a high degree of negative self-related thoughts.
The present article analyzed, how need for cognition (NFC) influences the formation of performance expectancies. When processing information, individuals with lower NFC often rely on salient information and shortcuts compared to individuals higher in NFC. We assume that these preferences of processing will also make individuals low in NFC more responsive to salient achievement-related cues because the processing of salient cues is cognitively less demanding than the processing of non-salient cues. Therefore, individuals lower in NFC should tend to draw wider ranging inferences from salient achievement-related information. In a sample of N = 197 secondary school students, achievement-related feedback (grade on an English examination) affected changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects (e.g., expectation of final grade in mathematics or history) when NFC was lower, whereas for students with higher NFC, changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects were not affected.
Research on persuasive technologies (PT) focuses, primarily, on the design and development of IT for inducing change of individual’s behavior and attitude through computer-human and computer-mediated influence. The issue of practices in co-located human-human persuasive encounters remained unattended in the PT community. This study uses the notion of persuasive practices to understand the course of events in face-to-face home security advisory sessions – it specifies and illustrates such practices and discusses their impact on the persuasiveness of the encounter. Furthermore, it presents potential of IT to support such persuasive practices thus opening new research possibilities of PT research.
How can employees be qualified to provide sound customer advisory services? How can they be empowered to deliver the value of public sector modernization to customers? In this paper, we offer a novel approach to qualify service personnel on-the-job using “facilitation affordances”. In this approach, artifacts, providing appropriately designed facilitation affordances, are introduced into service personnel’s work practices. These facilitation artifacts invite them to start experiential learning, and, hence, to improve their advice giving behavior. To develop our approach, we followed a design research approach, here we developed a set of design requirements and, ultimately, five design principles for facilitation artifacts. We tested our approach in the context of citizens’ advice services in public administrations. We implemented a prototype facilitation artifact and conducted a user study with six real-world advisors and twelve clients. Our preliminary results show that the “learning with facilitation affordances”-approach promises to enhance the service personnel’s skills that matter in modern public administrations. Furthermore, with the proposed qualification approach and the design principles for facilitation artifacts, we seek to deepen the knowledge on the importance of affordances for learning and, concurrently, provide practitioners with useful guidelines to implement the “learning with facilitation affordances”-approach in their organizations.
e-Government in Germany is usually not ranked top of the class in Europe. Rankings, such as the EU eGovernment Benchmark 2022, UN E-Government Development Index and others show that Germany is rather poorly ranked among the developed nations of the world. The authors assume that there is a correlation between the quality of Public Sector Education regarding digital competences and the quality of e-Government the so digitally educated civil servants can deliver. Civil servants in Germany usually graduate from one of the approximately 20 main universities of public administration; hence, an overview of the digital competences taught there is the core of this article. The main result is that both the quantity and the quality of digital competences taught need to be improved and, in the worst case depend on the university chosen, even zero digital competences are taught to the future civil servants.
This publication advances some refutable hypothesis concerning user behaviour and learning success in eLearning systems using system simulations. A simulation in this context is strongly interactive HTML 5 content giving users an almost real-life experience of working with an application system, here an ERP system. Simulations can be enriched with addition information, data and process models, user guidance, or business content. This type of content is distinctly different from traditional eLearning content focusing on presentational content and teamwork or quizzes to check progress. To test the hypotheses the paper explores metrics provided by a typical eLearning platform and in how far the metrics can be used to test the hypotheses.
Digitalization affects public servants’ job demands and resources. The current paper investigates which measures managers can employ to optimize digital work on administrative procedures. Building on a previous study on the impact of digitalization on work experiences and performance in public agencies and on a literature research regarding leadership instruments, we derived two sets of measures on job design and digital communication management. The proposed measures were validated conducting expert interviews with actual and prospective managers from various municipal agencies. Overall, our analyses revealed heterogenous patterns regarding the prevalence of the proposed measures. Experts reported various potential benefits and challenges as well as suitable recommendations regarding their implementations which indicates that the proposed measures could indeed contribute to facilitating digital work on administrative procedures. Finally, the practical implications as well as limitations of our approach are discussed.
Digitalization affects public servants’ job demands and resources. The current paper investigates which measures managers can employ to optimize digital work on administrative procedures. Building on a previous study on the impact of digitalization on work experiences and performance in public agencies and on a literature research regarding leadership instruments, we derived two sets of measures on job design and digital communication management. The proposed measures were validated conducting expert interviews with actual and prospective managers from various municipal agencies. Overall, our analyses revealed heterogenous patterns regarding the prevalence of the proposed measures. Experts reported various potential benefits and challenges as well as suitable recommendations regarding their implementations which indicates that the proposed measures could indeed contribute to facilitating digital work on administrative procedures. Finally, the practical implications as well as limitations of our approach are discussed.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz – OZG) are forcing Germany's public administration to accelerate digital transformation in general and the digitalization of agencies on federal, state and municipal level in particular. To assess this endeavor’s progress, existing e-Government maturity models were evaluated. The majority of models mainly focus on technical characteristics of an administrative act, while disregarding the importance of (1) public servants, (2) their work situation and (3) organizational processes. It is the latter three determining successful digitalization. Consequently, we fuse previous e-Government maturity models with the individual perspective of public servants including internet-based work, virtualization of teams and societal participation. This paper describes the synthesis of a model, its advantages and limitations including next steps towards its empirical validation.
Previous research indicates that short work breaks in nature can facilitate emotional recovery, but during a workday nature is not always accessible. We conducted two intervention studies (N = 51; N = 101) applying virtual reality technology in a short work break and examined the effect of the degree of immersion into nature and the type of nature (stimulating vs. calming) on the restorative experience and, in turn, on affective states. The results revealed that high immersion promotes being away and perceived fascination. Being away mediated the effect of high immersion on increased positive and decreased negative affect. Perceived fascination mediated the effect of stimulating nature on increased positive affect in both studies and decreased negative affect in Study 2. The present research highlights the unique benefits of virtual realities, degrees of immersion and different types of nature for recovery interventions in organisations. Practitioner Summary: Integrating virtual realities into the work environment is an emerging topic. The present research demonstrates that a short technology-based intervention via virtual reality enhances emotional recovery. The results provide interesting possibilities for the design of work breaks in situations where nature is not within reach or not accessible.
Research has shown that colours influence motivation and cognitive performance. In achievement contexts, red evokes avoidance motivation that hinders creativity, while blue elicits an approach motivation that facilitates creativity. However, due to their position and mode of presentation, colours may convey a different message. Red accent lighting creates a cosy, friendly room atmosphere that may, even in an achievement context, elicit an approach rather than an avoidance motivation. Results (N = 146) showed that both blue and red accent light increased strategic approach motivation compared to white accent light. Moreover, through the heightened approach motivation, colourful accent light indirectly improved creative performance. Implications for future research on colour and practical implications for colour usage are discussed. Practitioner Summary Designing work environments for creativity is a new topic in ergonomics research and practice. The present study demonstrates indirect effects of coloured accent light on creativity providing interesting possibilities for the design of work places for knowledge workers, classrooms, and all other rooms in which people work on new ideas.
How can the physical environment, especially light, facilitate conflict resolution? Previous research has led to no clear answers about optimal lighting conditions in conflict situations and, until now, potential moderators and mediators have been scarcely investigated. Building on research on light-induced cooperativeness, we expected that self-oriented individuals would be influenced by the lighting in social situations such as conflict resolution. In self-oriented individuals, dim warm light should promote interdependent self-construal and, in turn, lead to a preference for collaborative conflict resolution strategies. Two studies confirmed our assumptions, with social dominance orientation and trait interdependent self-construal serving as indicators of individuals' social orientation. Overall, these results provide an explanation for inconsistent previous findings and contribute to the understanding of light-induced changes in social behavior. Limitations as well as practical implications for lighting design in social spaces are discussed.
Positive psychology research is increasingly being transferred to organizational contexts and organizations are increasingly striving for healthier and more motivated employees. In this study, a three-week self-instructed online-intervention which combines positive activities and mindfulness was developed and evaluated using a randomized-controlled group design with employees. All exercises could be easily integrated into the daily working routine. The intervention is based on broaden-and-build theory, the two-component model of mindfulness and the positive-activity model. Results indicate that the intervention is effective in increasing work engagement, hope and sleep quality as well as in reducing fatigue in the experimental group compared to a waitlist control. Practical implications for human resource departments and corporate health management are discussed.
In 2021/2022 a consortium of European universities delivered a scientific basis for a policy fighting fake news and hate speech with support of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, describing also the technical and legal basics of both phenomena. In this context a survey was performed with the delegates of the Congress and the book, which contained also the survey results, was presented to the Congress in its Spring Session 2022. In 2023 a broader survey was done in a selection of countries, which also returned 675 filled-in questionnaires from Romania. The part of the questionnaire dealing with possible remedies contained questions which remedies are considered technically and legally feasible by the participants.Confirming the results of the survey in 2021/2022 the results for Romania showed a severe lack of basic knowledge about how the internet works and its governance. In this paper we want to show the results for Romania in detail, discuss them and suggest possible training measures which seem necessary to make the local and regional politics and administration fit for the Digitalization.The analysis of data from other European countries showed that this phenomenon is not restricted to Romania but is widely recognizable all over Europe. It also confirms the results from the survey among the Congress delegates. Therefore, this paper may be based on the Romanian dataset, however it signifies a pan-European issue.The authors are grateful to Vice Dean Nicolae Urs (Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca) and Catalin Vrabie (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration) for their support in spreading the survey among Romanian municipalities.
Sensor networks have become ubiquitous in all types of machinery and infrastructure. These sensor networks are/will be extensively used in the Smart City, which includes public as well as private sensor networks the latter being a much-neglected source of information feed for a smart city administration (Komninos, 2014). This can include vehicle (from eScooter to mini-van) sharing data, park house data, etc. However, the city’s backbone IT infrastructure must be able to accept and process this data and to draw the right conclusions from them. The backbone of this IT infrastructure will for all practical purposes be an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System as it is already standard in the private sector (for an example, Müller-Török et al., 2019). This contribution analyzes the integration of sensor networks into ERP systems in the Smart City. It will also analyze the implications of this development for public sector education.
Social Security
(2022)
Lately, there has been an emerging global consensus to establish social security rights to prevent poverty, enable access to education, and promote gender equality, equal opportunities, and sustainable growth. Social security protects individuals from risks such as sickness, work accidents, old age, and unemployment. So, in 2015 the United Nations (UN) introduced its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (‘SDG’) as part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development addressing economic, social, and environmental tasks. Remarkably, one third of these goals are...
Facilitating digital transformation through education: A case study in the public administration
(2020)
The need for qualified people to manage the digital transformation in public administration is tremendous. University curricula require adjustments to qualify graduates adequately. Business and engineering departments run practice-oriented university courses to tackle real-world digitalization challenges. In doing so, they shaped digital transformation in many companies. While potentially effective, such approaches remain rare in public administration teaching. It is unclear how to combine a contemporary, practice-oriented training approach towards digitalization with the contents of public administration curricula. The paper outlines the structure and methods employed in a course offered to public administration students at a German University. The preliminary evidence shows that the course was successful among students and practice-partners. Overall, the paper illustrates how public administration universities can contribute towards digital transformation by collaborating with municipalities and by empowering students to manage and drive digital transformation in the public sector.