If I take my umbrella, having seen that it’s raining outside, we might say that my reason for taking my umbrella was that it was raining. However, if I’d believed that it was raining when it wasn’t, we might say that my reason for taking my umbrella was that I believed that it was raining. In the first case, my reason for acting seems to be a feature of the world, whilst in the second it seems to be a feature of my psychology. According to most theories of reasons, we are mistaken about what my reason for acting was in one of these cases. However, I argue, these theories all entail several awkward claims. I argue that there is a theory of reasons that can reconcile these two accounts of what my reason for acting was without entailing such awkward claims. I argue that what the fact that it is raining and the fact that I believe that it is raining have in common is that, in their respective cases, they each explain why it was rational for me to take my umbrella and why I took it. More generally, I argue that there is at least a sense in which all practical reasons explain why it is, in some respect, rational for the agent to do the actions for which they are reasons. The major challenge for this account is the claim that only features of an agent’s psychology can explain why they act or why it is rational for them to act. I provide a formal construal of this challenge and argue that the fact that it is raining can explain why I take my umbrella and why it was rational for me to do so, by explaining the fact that I believed that it was raining.

This thesis investigates the importance of temporal rhythms in the study of information infrastructures (IIs), responding to the call to address an II’s “biography” by focusing on its evolution over time. It enriches understanding of how socially constructed rhythms, a temporal structure under-examined in the II literature, influence II cultivation. A strategic niche project to develop an e-mobility II in Berlin is used as the case study and reveals the influence of rhythm in disciplining (constraining) and modeling (motivating) II cultivation. It demonstrates how the intermediary may mediate these influences through the interventions of harmonising, riffing and composing. Based on these interventions, the study develops the concept of facilitated II cultivation, which adds to the emergent literature exploring the tension between planned and emergent infrastructure work. In doing so, the study presents a framework that helps combine short-term implementation concerns (strategic interventions by the intermediary) with long-term path dependency and evolutionary concerns (influences of past and future temporal rhythms) for IIs.

Knowledge management can play a central strategic role in organisational life, potentially initiating from strategy planning to performance achievement. The continuous adjustment of organisational strategy and performance can be powerful in knowledge intensive organisations such as think tanks. Think tanks are policy research organisations, usually of small to medium size, and non-profit in nature. The Pakistani think tank ‘industry’ is at an important tipping point in terms of establishing knowledge ‘impact’ for the state and the wider society. Think tank organisations are gaining dual attention for creating awareness in society and suggesting policies to the state. The central purpose of this research is to provide an explanation of why and how knowledge management plays a role within think tanks, especially with regards to organisations linking strategy and performance. It also seeks to provide evidence from Pakistani think tanks providing suggestions for organisational improvement that may be applicable to think tanks in other developing countries. A thorough literature review from the field of knowledge management includes knowledge, knowledge management, and the strategic relationship of knowledge management, organisational strategy and organisational performance. Specifically, the research seeks to analyse knowledge management in social sciences policy research think tanks based in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. The participation of eight think tanks provided access for field visits to conduct interviews, observations and document collection. From the findings, it is recommended that consciousness towards knowledge management can highlight the natural and independent process to keep organisational strategy and performance improving continuously in a cyclic manner. Knowledge resources with Pakistani think tanks demand proper recognition and valuation, as they are potentially being worth more compared to material resources. Amongst the knowledge resources, cultural values and norms, multilingual skills, ‘friendly’ internal environments and leadership are found to be important. The strength of Pakistani think tanks is in their Relational Capital, which they appear to be utilising. Informal-Tacit knowledge management practices are highlighted more in the context, though gaps do appear to exist for formal practices. It is suggested that think tanks could further enhance real visibility through their Relational Capital and making use of tacit informal practices leading to friendly, multilingual and effectively leadership cultures with positive values. Think tanks have the potential to help provide solutions during turbulent times, both leading and managing knowledge – effecting a positive impact upon both state and society.

Since the emergence of reshoring, it has received huge interest and become a hot topic in academia, industry and policy circles. Most extant research has focused on defining the reshoring concept, its synonyms, the trends and the drivers behind reshoring decisions. Recently, the research scope has expanded to the reshoring decision-making process, right-shoring and advanced manufacturing having affected reshoring. However, this line of research is still in its infancy. The reshoring phenomenon and the concept are still not thoroughly understood. The impact of reshoring has been rarely researched. In addition, cross discipline research into the association between reshoring and other fields, such as the role of reshoring or shoring decisions played in global manufacturing strategy and business performance (BP) have remained under-researched. Besides, the entire body of research lacks empirical quantitative data as a methodology to enrich people’s understanding of the practice of reshoring. This research attempts to address these gaps empirically, by mainly focusing on an exploration of the current UK manufacturing reshoring status and the relationship between shoring decisions, competitive priorities and BP. The research develops a framework for reshoring to synthesize the related factors which need to be considered during the decision-making process by following a 360-degree approach. The framework also guides an exploration of the realities of reshoring from the UK perspective. In addition, a theoretical moderation model has been devised from the literature, supported by contingency and congruence theory, to explore the correlation between shoring decisions, competitive priorities and BP, with ten hypotheses built up. This research conducted data collection through a survey and obtained 298 completed responses by UK manufacturers. The analysis is based on 261 reliable responses through descriptive analysis, and hierarchical regressions, by using Excel 2016, PPT 2016 and SPSS 24 tools. From the descriptive analysis results, the research has revealed a clear current status of UK manufacturing reshoring from multiple perspectives including: overview of shoring decisions, strategic realities, operational considerations focusing on competitive priorities and products, impacts on supply chains, and comparisons of BP. Based on the statistical analyses results, six out of the ten hypotheses have been supported, moderation relationships have been discovered to exist among the SC cost and BP, delivery and BP, and flexibility and BP. The results identified that SC cost and delivery are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who took no shoring decisions; delivery is the key competitive priority to improve BP for the companies who conduct both direct and indirect reshoring; delivery and SC cost are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who are indirectly reshored; and finally flexibility and SC cost are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who offshored overseas. With a better understanding of reshoring decisions and their current status in the UK, also a clear role of shoring decisions made among manufacturing strategy and BP, academics can use the results of this research as a foundation for future research, industry practitioners can use it to make more considered reshoring or shoring decisions and develop an appropriate operational capability emphasis aligned with the shoring decision, and policy makers can develop more and suitable polices to further support this trend and revitalize the manufacturing and economics areas of the UK.

This thesis asks to what extent should we be free to choose when it comes to our pension? Three perspectives were considered: that of the state; that of the employer; and that of the individual. The thesis starts by examining the issue from an institutional perspective. Using the example of three different countries’ pension policies, it argues that there is a trade-off between maintaining private incentives to save and cost. If pension saving is compulsory, then the state is free to target money at those most in need (which is more cost effective). If pension saving is voluntary, then the state needs to invest heavily in creating a structure that rewards private saving (through tax incentives and the reduction of means testing). The second part of the thesis is a qualitative study that looks at choice from the perspective of the employer. The UK government has restricted its role to poverty relief and occupational pension saving is expected to bridge the gap between needs and aspiration in retirement. However, employers are allowed considerable discretion over how much they contribute to their employees’ pensions. Fifteen private sector employers were interviewed to uncover the logic behind the design of their pension offer. It found that few profit-seeking employers saw any commercial advantage to paying in the form of a pension. Finally, the thesis looks at choice from the point of view of the individual. Using three experimental studies it asks, if given choice, do individuals go on to make ‘good’ choices. The first experiment recasts the issue of whether people are saving ‘enough’ for their retirement by looking at the job choice itself. The following two experiments look at the impact that financial communication has on pension engagement. In conclusion this thesis argues: (i) it is expensive to design a system that will incentivise voluntary saving; (ii) profit seeking employers see little commercial advantage to paying in the form of a pension; and (iii) many individuals fail to respond to the incentives to save because of almost insurmountable information problems. The current UK pension system is founded on an ideological commitment to free choice, and this carries an unduly heavy cost, not only for the individual, but also for the state.

Aid information management systems (AIMS) have been implemented in aidreceiving countries with the hope that they will enable donors and recipient governments to share aid information, enhance data governance and aid coordination among stakeholders. Despite the global popularity of data-driven development initiatives and heavy investment in AIMS, many systems have not fulfilled the expected outcomes. This research seeks to explain this failure from an information systems perspective. Building on a historical overview of AIMS implementation, I first develop an understanding of how such systems evolved and how the visions of aid effectiveness norms that AIMS inscribed have changed over time alongside the shifting global aid governance. This overview clearly shows that, in many cases, AIMS did not attain the result anticipated, and often failed to reach sustainability. I then investigate this sustainability failure, through an interpretive case study of Indonesian AIMS. I trace the change of international and domestic aid governance that shaped the unique context of AIMS in the emerging economy. Investigating the role of state actor, I argue that understanding the failure of AIMS requires a shift of attention from the process of aid management within a country to the global level. It needs to be seen as a result of macro-level events occurring in the global field of aid. In the dynamics of global power relations, the role of technology is multifaceted—a mixture of managerial and rationalizing, as well as symbolic and political roles.

Drawing on the resource-based view, dynamic capability perspective, and resource dependency theory, and utilizing a sample of 164 UK social enterprises, this dissertation investigates the effects of adoption of commercial business practices on social enterprise performance. The adoption of commercial business practices refers to the adoption of market orientation, learning orientation, market disruptiveness capability, new product development capability, and ‘trade vs. grant dependency’. The dissertation comprises three independent but interrelated empirical essays. The first essay (Chapter 2) analyzed individual and combined (interaction) effects of market orientation and market disruptiveness capability on social enterprise performance. The study shows that market orientation improves both the economic and social performance whereas market disruptiveness capability improves only the economic performance of social enterprises. However, interestingly, the study demonstrates that the interaction effect of market orientation and market disruptiveness capability is negative on economic performance but positive on social performance. Similarly, the second essay (Chapter 3) analyzed how learning orientation and new product development capability influences the economic and social performance of social enterprise. The essay shows that learning orientation improves new product development capability and, thereby, the economic and social performance of social enterprises. Likewise, the third essay (Chapter 4) investigated how ‘trade vs. grant dependency’ influences social enterprise performance. It was found that trade dependency is better than grant dependency for social enterprises to improve their social performance. However, contrastingly, it was found that the adoption of trade dependency over grant dependency has no significant effect on their economic performance. Nevertheless, the study shows that the adoption of trade dependency over grant dependency is better for social enterprises to improve their learning orientation and thereby both economic and social performance. In sum, this dissertation has made a strong case for why social enterprises should adopt commercial business practices.

This study examined the extent to which leadership styles affect the organisational commitment of the employees at Abu Dhabi Police in the UAE. The aim was to find out whether there is a significant correlation between preferred leadership styles and organisational commitment. It sought to assess the current leadership styles and practices in order to identify patterns and trends that have a direct impact on employee commitment within Abu Dhabi Police (ADP), as leadership styles drive employee commitment which in turn leads to better organisational performance. The leadership literature has both depth and breadth. It is a highly researched topic area, which has been approached from many perspectives involving different organisational settings. Much of the leadership debate focused on leaders’ characteristics and attributes, while popular and common models, theories and styles are investigated to find out the impact of leadership effectiveness in these organisational settings. The conclusion that can be drawn from the broad and long leadership debate is that it has advanced the understanding of leadership and its associated training, as well as generating useful insights, all of which is positive, but the term ‘leadership’ remains a source of personal interpretation. Today, the leadership topic is big business. Leadership gurus/business celebrities compete to sell leadership wisdom and courses for transforming people into effective leaders. Agencies, academic courses, etc. all claim leadership expertise on how to nurture and develop leaders by providing ready-made packages, tool-kits and guidelines for forward-thinking people who aspire to be leaders. Based on the purpose of the study, the nature of the problem and the research questions, this study adopted quantitative and qualitative data collection instruments. This allows the researcher to address the multidimensional nature of leadership and employee commitment by investigating the perspectives of the key stakeholders at ADP. Interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative data in the form of words and meaning to address issues that may not have been covered by the survey. The quantitative survey allowed for statistical analysis and numerical evidence about leadership styles and their impact on employee commitment at ADP. The study findings revealed that there is a predominance of attributes of transformational leadership rather than transactional leadership at ADP. Findings showed that the leadership style is a strong driver of employee commitment. Employees are more committed if the organisation meets their expectations and needs. The findings also showed that the current levels of commitment at ADP are adequate; there is a sense of loyalty at every level. Findings from interviews with key ADP stakeholders revealed that levels of commitment are high but leaders must do more to address the particular needs of employees to secure higher performance. Interviewees stated that the ADP has a strong organisational structure which provides confidence and commitment for employees. However, in order to achieve its mission objectives, there is a need for a transparent policy committed to providing each employee with a sound working environment, complete with clear reward schemes which inspire and motivate employees to achieve a high level of performance. The findings have practical implications as they will benefit the ADP leadership, initially in understanding the drivers and challenges of employee commitment. The findings will also help formulate a future strategy to enhance employee commitment by effectively exploiting this study data. Finally, this study has expanded the existing literature and provides a platform for further research on the impact of leadership styles on employee commitment in the UAE.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of theatrical interventions in developing community change. The study explores the work of one theatrical outreach department known as Encompass, with reference to the five key themes of individual and collective change, space and play, co-production, communication and catharsis. This thesis argues that the work of Encompass can be seen as successful in facilitating change for community members both individually and collectively. Furthermore, this thesis suggests that the five key themes explored are interlinking and as such are combinable components in pursuit of change. An ethnographic approach underpinned by an interpretivist paradigm was employed during this study. Data collection was completed via semi-structured interviews, participant observations, document analysis and photography. This thesis suggests that theatrical outreach departments have the potential to make real and sustained contributions to the lives of individuals and communities. Creative methods such as Cultural animation are shown to have significant impacts in bringing together diverse sets of individuals to work on shared community problems, while also improving participant confidence. The study offers insight into the consequences of such work for theatrical practitioners, while also offering a new theoretical model illuminating the potentially interdependent relationships of the key themes explored within this thesis in relation to achieving individual and collective change. This thesis adds to the existing literature on how theatrical interventions can facilitate community change. The thesis also has the potential to benefit theatrical practitioners attempting to develop their work within their local communities, and individuals contemplating participation in Encompass projects.

Government reforms have led nonprofit organisations (NPOs) to become more involved in the provision of mainstream public services in the UK and consequently they have been subject to an increasingly demanding regime of performance measurement and inspection if they wish to provide services on behalf of the state. The creation of a contract culture has put nonprofit providers in a position where they have to bid against each other to deliver pre-determined services, resulting in a very competitive operating environment. NPOs have become more professionalised and performance-driven and this new climate encourages a business-like attitude to the management of their services. Pay-for-performance schemes have become a recognised phenomenon in NPOs, despite having generated controversial discussion in the literature. The literature on incentive theories has been applied almost exclusively to private sector organisations and limited attention has been devoted to the nonprofit sector. It is argued here that one cannot simply transfer across for-profit sector ideas; one must try to establish a framework that is more suited to the logic of the NPO. The aim of this thesis is twofold. First, it investigates the use of performance-related pay (PRP) in nonprofit housing associations in England and looks at whether PRP acts as a motivator encouraging nonprofit employees to improve their work performance. Second, it inquires whether the new competitive and performance-driven environment influences the reward decisions of NPOs. This thesis examines influences on the choice of reward practices in housing associations in order to provide an alternative to agency explanations for the use of PRP in the nonprofit sector. The results not only point to the ineffectiveness of PRP schemes in housing associations but also identify the strength of institutional pressures on NPOs to conform with best practice in pay decisions.