The Last Tenth

This chapter argues that if possession is nine-tenths of the law — of property — then legalization is the last tenth: the persuasion that the possession is legal. This persuasion depends on legal posturing to produce an air of legality to make claims pass as legal. Legalization is about meaning and social contract. Dismissing law and property as a hoax or a sham in order to focus on “actual,” “factual” access, whether legalized or not, may effectively redact the production of meaning and social contracts in which people seem deeply engaged. The chapter then discusses the structural contingency of change and endurance, and the respective powers to fix and undo property. While all the implicated actors are law makers, in principle, they are not equally in control of its direction. Undoing competing claims often requires the momentary capacity of violence and abrogation, whereas entrenching new ones requires an enduring capacity to perpetuate the recognition of claims. Whereas institutionalization is an achievement demanding stamina, its destruction only has to succeed once.

A New Theoretical Framework of Organizational Effectiveness from Knowledge and Ambidexterity Perspectives

This paper aims to build a new theoretical framework related to organizational effectiveness. There is unfortunately no research which builds a theoretical framework of organizational effectiveness influenced by knowledge of infrastructure capability, organizational environment, absorptive capacity and innovative ambidexterity. The theoretical framework is built from the past research of the organizational effectiveness antecedents using literature review. The theoretical framework in this concept paper consists of nine hypotheses with three novelties: the direct relationship among knowledge infrastructure capability; absorptive capacity; and organizational environment to innovative ambidexterity. This conceptual paper only applies structural contingency theory, knowledge-based theory and absorptive capacity theory in constructing relationships among concepts. It is hoped that this newly constructed theoretical framework can enrich the theory of modern organization as stated by Miles (2012) and by Hatch, MJ, & Cunliffe (2013) which can develop structural contingency theory (Donaldson, 1996) (Donaldson, 2001) through the concept of organizational effectiveness (Kim S. Cameron, 1981). It is also influenced by knowledge of infrastructure capability (Gold, Malhotra and Segars, 2001), organizational environment (Donaldson, 2001), absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990) and organizational ambidexterity (Tushman and O'Reilly, 1996) (Kortmann, 2011). This theoretical framework can be applied as a basis for empirical research. Keywords: knowledge infrastructure capability; organizational environment; absorptive capacity; innovative ambidexterity; organizational effectiveness.

To Adopt or Not to Adopt: Contextualizing Police Body-Worn Cameras Through Structural Contingency and Institutional Theoretical Perspectives

There has been an increase in the adoption of body-worn cameras (BWCs) by law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad. While several studies have showed promising results in officer satisfaction, community satisfaction, and other outcomes, the rationale for the adoption and diffusion of this technology has received little attention.This article suggests that agency adoption of BWCs can be understood through two competing theoretical frameworks: structural contingency theory and institutional theory. Intended as a research note, the paper sets up a number of testable propositions and hypotheses pertaining to BWCs as contextualized through these theories and measurable through the recent Law Enforcement Management Administrative Statistics-Body-Worn Camera Supplement.

Environmental Predictors of Municipal Police Agency Goals

Applications of organizational theory to police organizations frequently employ the framework of structural contingency or institutional theories. The current study seeks to evaluate the impact of both technical and institutional environmental aspects of policing on the goals of municipal police agencies. The influence of a combination of environmental contingencies and chiefs’ ratings of institutional sectors is explored to assess which theory better explains chiefs’ emphasis on police agency goals. Relying on ordinary least squares regression models, the impact of two competing theoretical frameworks is assessed. Findings suggest that chiefs’ demographics (control variables) and legitimacy (institutional) factors have a greater impact than technical (structural contingency theory) elements on the goals that chiefs emphasize within their agencies. Potential theoretical advancement employing public sector agencies is also presented.