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Åström, J., Olsson, J. & Hysing, E. (2022). Does Policy Influence Hollow Out Public Managers’ Political Neutrality?. Administration & Society, 54(6), 1019-1044
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Does Policy Influence Hollow Out Public Managers’ Political Neutrality?
2022 (English)In: Administration & Society, ISSN 0095-3997, E-ISSN 1552-3039, Vol. 54, no 6, p. 1019-1044Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Consequences of public officials’ policy influence have been at the center of debates on political–administrative relations. Based on a survey of public managers in Swedish local government (N = 1,430), this study examines whether policy politics hollows out political neutrality. The analysis shows that although managers are highly involved in policy politics, attitudinal support for the neutrality principle is strong. The enquiry into behavioral intentions shows more variation. In relation to a set of dilemmas, most managers would defend neutral competence, but significant minorities would also act for more partisan reasons. However, we find no empirical evidence that policy influence undermines political neutrality.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2022
Keywords
political-administrative relations, political neutrality, policy politics, public managers, Swedish local government
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-95248 (URN)10.1177/00953997211050305 (DOI)000711568200001 ()2-s2.0-85118199897 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2021-10-27 Created: 2021-10-27 Last updated: 2022-11-28Bibliographically approved
Alexopoulou, S. & Åström, J. (2022). How the Responsibility of Digital Support for Older People is Allocated? The Swedish Welfare System at the Crossroads. Research on Ageing and Social Policy, 10(1), 48-76
Open this publication in new window or tab >>How the Responsibility of Digital Support for Older People is Allocated? The Swedish Welfare System at the Crossroads
2022 (English)In: Research on Ageing and Social Policy, ISSN 2014-6728, Vol. 10, no 1, p. 48-76Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A great welfare challenge today is to promote opportunities for greater digitalization, while limiting social inequalities from digital divides, especially for older people. While the digital divide is a dynamic problem, shifting from physical access to skills and usage, public policies to close the divide do not necessarily follow. This study explores who is providing digital support in Sweden by looking at three institutions: (1) the municipal eldercare system, (2) popular education institutions, and (3) the family. The results show that the Swedish policy relies heavily on popular education and family arrangements, leaving many young-old Swedes in need of digital support without public support, while the opposite occurs for very old Swedes who are mostly consumers of welfare technologies. Issues of dependency or the other way around arise. Given this, the role of the Swedish welfare state, which sets the tone of the Swedish welfare regime,needs to be re-evaluated, especially in light of the demographic challenge (a growing number of older people).

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Hipatia Press, 2022
Keywords
ageing, digital divide, digital inclusion, welfare regime
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-96887 (URN)10.17583/rasp.8883 (DOI)000752470100002 ()
Available from: 2022-01-31 Created: 2022-01-31 Last updated: 2022-12-27Bibliographically approved
Karlsson, M., Karlsson, F., Åström, J. & Denk, T. (2022). The effect of perceived organizational culture on employees’ information security compliance. Information and Computer Security, 30(3), 382-401
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The effect of perceived organizational culture on employees’ information security compliance
2022 (English)In: Information and Computer Security, E-ISSN 2056-4961, Vol. 30, no 3, p. 382-401Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the connection between different perceived organizational cultures and information security policy compliance among white-collar workers.

Design/methodology/approach: The survey using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument was sent to white-collar workers in Sweden (n = 674), asking about compliance with information security policies. The survey instrument is an operationalization of the Competing Values Framework that distinguishes between four different types of organizational culture: clan, adhocracy,market and bureaucracy.

Findings: The results indicate that organizational cultures with an internal focus are positively related to employees’ information security policy compliance. Differences in organizational culture with regards to control and flexibility seem to have less effect. The analysis shows that a bureaucratic form of organizational culture is most fruitful for fostering employees’ information security policy compliance.

Research limitations/implications: The results suggest that differences in organizational culture are important for employees’ information security policy compliance. This justifies further investigating the mechanisms linking organizational culture to information security compliance.

Practical implications: Practitioners should be aware that the different organizational cultures do matter for employees’ information security compliance. In businesses and the public sector, the authors see a development toward customer orientation and marketization, i.e. the opposite an internal focus, that may have negative ramifications for the information security of organizations.

Originality/value: Few information security policy compliance studies exist on the consequences of different organizational/information cultures.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2022
Keywords
Organizational culture, Information security policy compliance, Competing values framework, Information security policy, Information security culture, Bureaucratic culture
National Category
Information Systems, Social aspects
Research subject
Informatics
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-96073 (URN)10.1108/ics-06-2021-0073 (DOI)000731588700001 ()2-s2.0-85121446066 (Scopus ID)
Funder
Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
Available from: 2021-12-17 Created: 2021-12-17 Last updated: 2022-06-14Bibliographically approved
Alexopoulou, S., Åström, J. & Karlsson, M. (2022). The grey digital divide and welfare state regimes: a comparative study of European countries. Information Technology and People, 35(8), 273-291
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The grey digital divide and welfare state regimes: a comparative study of European countries
2022 (English)In: Information Technology and People, ISSN 0959-3845, E-ISSN 1758-5813, Vol. 35, no 8, p. 273-291Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: Technology access, digital skills, and digital services are increasingly prerequisites for public life and accessing public services. The digital divide in contemporary societies matters for efforts to digitalize the welfare state. Research has already mapped individual determinants of digital exclusion and the existence of an age-related digital divide. However, far less attention has been paid to variations in digital inclusion between countries and to their potential explanations related to political systems. This study explores the influence of variations in welfare regimes on the digital divide among seniors (aged 65+) in Europe.

Design/methodology/approach: This article presents time-series cross-sectional analyses of the relationship between welfare state regimes and digital inclusion among seniors in European countries. The analyses are based on data from Eurostat, the World Bank, and the UN E-Government Survey.

Findings: The authors find extensive variation in the digital inclusion of citizens between welfare regimes and argue that considering regime differences improves the understanding of these variations. The findings indicate that the age-related digital divide seems to be least evident in countries with more universalistic welfare regimes and most evident in countries where seniors rely more on their families.

Originality/value: This is the first comparative study of the association between welfare state regimes and digital inclusion among seniors.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2022
Keywords
Digital divide, Digital inclusion, Seniors, Welfare regimes
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-100215 (URN)10.1108/ITP-11-2020-0803 (DOI)000828217000001 ()2-s2.0-85134625977 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2022-07-24 Created: 2022-07-24 Last updated: 2022-12-27Bibliographically approved
Karlsson, M., Åström, J. & Adenskog, M. (2021). Democratic Innovation in Times of Crisis: Exploring Changes in Social and Political Trust. Policy & Internet, 13(1), 113-133
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Democratic Innovation in Times of Crisis: Exploring Changes in Social and Political Trust
2021 (English)In: Policy & Internet, E-ISSN 1944-2866, Vol. 13, no 1, p. 113-133Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The Estonian Citizens’ Assembly (ECA) was initiated in late 2012 as a direct consequence of a legitimacy crisis of Estonian political parties and representative institutions. The spark igniting this crisis was the unravelling of a scheme of illegal party financing. The response from the governmental institutions took the form of a democratic innovation involving public crowd-sourcing and deliberative mini-publics. This study reports on a survey among the participants in the online crowd-sourcing process of the ECA (n=847). The study examines how this democratic innovation influenced participants’ social and political trust as well as the impact of participants predispositions and level of satisfaction with the ECA on changes in trust. We find that participants that had positive predispositions and who were satisfied with the ECA were more likely to gain trust. Further, we also find that the participants in general became more distrustful of political institutions, while their participation fostered increased social trust. This outcome departs from the intentions of the Estonian institutions which organized the ECA, and sheds new light on the role of democratic innovations in the context of legitimacy crises. This is an important step forward in the scholarly understanding of the relationship between democratic innovation and trust.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Wiley & Sons, 2021
Keywords
Online participation, political trust, social trust, democratic innovation, crowdsourcing, Estonian Citizens’ Assembly, deliberation
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-83524 (URN)10.1002/poi3.248 (DOI)000556034600001 ()2-s2.0-85089022471 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2020-06-24 Created: 2020-06-24 Last updated: 2024-01-12Bibliographically approved
Åström, J. (2020). Participatory Urban Planning: What Would Make Planners Trust the Citizens?. Urban Planning, 5(2), 84-93
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Participatory Urban Planning: What Would Make Planners Trust the Citizens?
2020 (English)In: Urban Planning, E-ISSN 2183-7635, Vol. 5, no 2, p. 84-93Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Based on the critical stance of citizens towards urban planning, growing attention has been directed towards new forms of citizen participation. A key expectation is that advanced digital technologies will reconnect citizens and decision makers and enhance trust in planning. However, empirical evidence suggests participation by itself does not foster trust, and many scholars refer to a general weakness of these initiatives to deliver the expected outcomes. Considering that trust is reciprocal, this article will switch focus and concentrate on planners' attitudes towards citizens. Do urban planners generally think that citizens are trustworthy? Even though studies show that public officials are more trusting than people in general, it is possible that they do not trust citizens when interacting with government. However, empirical evidence is scarce. While there is plenty of research on citizens' trust in government, public officials trust in citizens has received little scholarly attention. To address this gap, we will draw on a survey targeted to a representative sample of public managers in Swedish local government (N = 1430). First, urban planners will be compared with other public officials when it comes to their level of trust toward citizens' ability, integrity and benevolence. In order to understand variations in trust, a set of institutional factors will thereafter be tested, along with more commonly used individual factors. In light of the empirical findings, the final section of the article returns to the idea of e-participation as a trust-building strategy. What would make planners trust the citizens in participatory urban planning?

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Cogitatio Press, 2020
Keywords
citizen participation, e-participation, new urban agenda, planning practice, smart cities, trust in planning, urban planners
National Category
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-84872 (URN)10.17645/up.v5i2.3021 (DOI)000546245900008 ()2-s2.0-85088518965 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2020-08-17 Created: 2020-08-17 Last updated: 2020-08-17Bibliographically approved
Åström, J. & Karlsson, M. (2020). Trust in citizens and forms of political participation: The view of public managers. In: Sara Hofmann, Csaba Csáki, Noella Edelmann, Thomas Lampoltshammer, Ulf Melin, Peter Parycek, Gerhard Schwabe, Efthimios Tambouris (Ed.), Electronic Participation: 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, ePart 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020. Paper presented at 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, ePart 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020 (pp. 15-25). Springer, 12220
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Trust in citizens and forms of political participation: The view of public managers
2020 (English)In: Electronic Participation: 12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, ePart 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020 / [ed] Sara Hofmann, Csaba Csáki, Noella Edelmann, Thomas Lampoltshammer, Ulf Melin, Peter Parycek, Gerhard Schwabe, Efthimios Tambouris, Springer, 2020, Vol. 12220, p. 15-25Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Like all forms of collaborative governance, new forms of citizen participation include risk-taking and therefore depend on mutual trust between thecollaborating actors. While there is a huge body of research on citizens’ trust ingovernments, public officials’ trust in citizens has received very little scholarlyattention. In order to address this gap, this paper draws on a recent survey of arepresentative sample of public managers in local Swedish government(N=1430). Do public managers think that citizens are trustworthy? Does trust incitizens impact which forms of citizen participation public managers prefer?Even though public officials are more trusting than the general populous, weshow that not every public official do trust citizens. Furthermore, the results showpublic managers’ trust in citizens influences their attitudes towards new forms ofparticipation. Just as citizens’ political trust has a positive impact on some formsof participation, but not on others, managers’ trust in citizens matters more forsome forms of participation than others.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2020
Series
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, ISSN 0302-9743, E-ISSN 1611-3349
Keywords
Citizen Participation, E-Participation, Public officials, Public managers, Trust
National Category
Political Science
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-83525 (URN)10.1007/978-3-030-58141-1_2 (DOI)000776470900002 ()978-3-030-58140-4 (ISBN)978-3-030-58141-1 (ISBN)
Conference
12th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, ePart 2020, Linköping, Sweden, August 31 – September 2, 2020
Available from: 2020-06-24 Created: 2020-06-24 Last updated: 2024-03-04Bibliographically approved
Åström, J. (2019). Book Review: Digital Citizenship in Datafied society [Review]. Information Polity, 24(2), 223-225
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Book Review: Digital Citizenship in Datafied society
2019 (English)In: Information Polity, ISSN 1570-1255, E-ISSN 1875-8754, Vol. 24, no 2, p. 223-225Article, book review (Other academic) Published
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
IOS Press, 2019
National Category
Information Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-74745 (URN)10.3233/IP-190003 (DOI)000470069400008 ()
Note

Hintz, Arne. - Digital citizenship in a datafied society / Arne Hintz, Lina Dencik, and Karin Wahl-Jorgensen.. - 2019. - ISBN: 9781509527151

Available from: 2019-06-20 Created: 2019-06-20 Last updated: 2019-06-20Bibliographically approved
Karlsson, M., Denk, T. & Åström, J. (2018). Perceptions of organizational culture and value conflicts in information security management. Information and Computer Security, 26(2), 213-229
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Perceptions of organizational culture and value conflicts in information security management
2018 (English)In: Information and Computer Security, ISSN 2056-4961, Vol. 26, no 2, p. 213-229Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the occurrence of value conflicts between information security and other organizational values among white-collar workers. Further, analyzes are conducted of the relationship between white-collar workers' perceptions of the culture of their organizations and value conflicts involving information security.

Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive analyses and regression analyses were conducted on survey data gathered among two samples of white-collar workers in Sweden.

Findings: Value conflicts regarding information security occur regularly among white-collar workers in the private and public sectors and within different business sectors. Variations in their occurrence can be understood partly as a function of employees' work situations and the sensitivity of the information handled in the organization. Regarding how perceived organizational culture affects the occurrence of value conflicts, multivariate regression analysis reveals that employees who perceive their organizations as having externally oriented, flexible cultures experience value conflicts more often.

Research limitations/implications: The relatively low share of explained variance in the explanatory models indicates the need to identify alternative explanations of the occurrence of value conflicts regarding information security.

Practical implications: Information security managers need to recognize that value conflicts occur regularly among white-collar workers in different business sectors, more often among workers in organizations that handle sensitive information, and most often among white-collar workers who perceive the cultures of their organizations as being externally oriented and flexible.

Originality/value: The study addresses a gap in the information security literature by contributing to the understanding of value conflicts between information security and other organizational values. This study has mapped the occurrence of value conflicts regarding information security among white-collar professionals and shows that the occurrence of value conflicts is associated with work situation, information sensitivity and perceived organizational culture.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2018
Keywords
Organizational culture, Information security, Bureaucracy, Value conflicts
National Category
Computer Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-68488 (URN)10.1108/ICS-08-2017-0058 (DOI)000439563900005 ()2-s2.0-85049925201 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2018-08-15 Created: 2018-08-15 Last updated: 2018-08-15Bibliographically approved
Karlsson, M. & Åström, J. (2018). Social media and political communication: Innovation and normalisation in parallel. Journal of Language and Politics, 17(2), 305-323
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Social media and political communication: Innovation and normalisation in parallel
2018 (English)In: Journal of Language and Politics, ISSN 1569-2159, E-ISSN 1569-9862, Vol. 17, no 2, p. 305-323Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

As the Internet has come to play a greater role in politics, there has been a growing scholarly interest in how digital and social media are changing politics. The competition between the innovation and normalization hypotheses has been at the center of the debate. This article sets out to identify evidence of innovation and normalization in terms of how politicians communicate in- and the level of influence they are attaining within the political blogosphere. The analyses conducted show paradoxical results as we find that those groups of politicians who are utilizing political communication in the blogosphere in more innovative and progressive ways – mirroring the hopes and expectations about how social media might influence politicians and political communication – have weaker positions within the blog network compared to other politicians. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2018
Keywords
social media, blogging, political communication, political representation, interactivity, individualism, gender, political parties
National Category
Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)
Research subject
Political Science
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-61860 (URN)10.1075/jlp.17006.kar (DOI)000433035300009 ()2-s2.0-85046898130 (Scopus ID)
Available from: 2017-10-19 Created: 2017-10-19 Last updated: 2018-06-11Bibliographically approved
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