The effect of procedural and interactional criteria on procedural fairness judgments

In studying procedural fairness judgments, distinctions are made between (i) the mere presence of rules and procedures in the process of outcome allocation and dispute resolution, (ii) the application of these rules by a decision maker, and (iii) the enactment of procedures and rules in the interaction between a decision maker and involved parties. In line with Bies and Moag (1986), criteria that must satisfy the application of rules to be judged as fair are called procedural fairness criteria as distinguished from interactional fairness criteria. The hypothesis that interactional fairness criteria are more important in affecting fairness judgments than procedural fairness criteria is tested. Fifty-four subjects received information about a fictitious job application situation. The subjects judged the decision maker's handling to the application procedure and his/her treatment of the applicant as fair or unfair. Three procedural and three interactional criteria and the final decision (hired or not) were used in the study. Results show that the decision maker's consistent application of rules and his/her truthfulness to the applicant were judged as the most important factors in determining the fairness of the procedure. Accurate processing of information about the applicant and respectful treatment were judged as least important factors. Contrary to expectation, procedural criteria were judged on the average as equally important for determining fairness as interactional criteria. It is argued that the smaller than expected impact of the interactional criteria may be due to the fact that in the present study the entire application situation was evaluated and not the specific face-to-face aspects of the interaction. Results are in agreement with those of Tyler and Schuller (1990).     

The Zeebrugge ferry disaster

On Friday 6 March, 1987, at approximately 19:30 the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry boat capsized just outside the Belgian harbour of Zeebrugge. Almost 200 people died as the ship sank very quickly. This article examines the emergency operations that followed the disaster from the perspective of information and communication dynamics. Five specific aspects are thus analyzed in greater detail and elements of an alternative scenario are suggested for each of them: the initial alert and the subsequent mobilization of the emergency services; the informationhandling performance of the crisis center; interorganizational communication between disasterrelief agencies; external communication to survivors, families and next of kin; the management of the mass media. It is concluded that, when examining the crisis management operations more closely, the alleged success of Belgian disaster relief operations at Zeebrugge appears in many respects something of a myth.The paper is commented on by John P. Heck, Head of Civil Defense at the Dutch Ministry of the Interior.     

GATS Article XVI and national regulatory sovereignty: what lessons to draw from US—Gambling?

The article examines the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body's ruling in US—Gambling that United States (US) prohibitions on the foreign supply of gambling and betting services via the internet to consumers in the US violated US market access commitments under Article XVI of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The article reviews the main arguments criticising the decision and suggests that these views are (i) misguided because they rely excessively on a textual approach to interpreting Article XVI market access commitments, and (ii) lead to results that do not conform with the common intentions of the negotiating parties. The article argues for an approach that relies primarily on examining the facts of each case and the context in which WTO Members' commitments are negotiated. This approach also emphasises the importance of WTO Members making clear and precise market access commitments. In the author's view, the Appellate Body ruling adds more clarity to how GATS market access commitments will be interpreted in the future and, in doing so, facilitates market access negotiations and the making of additional commitments by WTO Members.     

UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES OF A.I.D. PROJECTS: LESSONS FROM IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR PROJECT PLANNING

We examine lJ.S. Agency for International Development project designs as described in pre-project design documents arid compare them using document review protocols to project outcomes as described in project impact evaluation reports for 40 projects. From this we draw three major conclusions concerning project designs: (1)most are unrealistic – estimated outputs greatly exceed actual outputs at the same time that considerable cost overruns occur, (2) they do not adequately assess the feasibility of the implementation, maintenance, and use of the project and its outputs, and (3) they do not adequately assess potential negative impacts. In light of these shortcomings we offer several recommendations for consideration and testing.     

Common Variables Associated with the Development of Stockholm Syndrome: Some Case Examples

Stockholm Syndrome is a paradoxical psychological experience which both intrigues and often frustrates law enforcement and mental health professionals alike. Much attention has been directed toward understanding and defining the contextual variables associated with the development of Stockholm Syndrome. Since it appears that the formation of Stockholm Syndrome may increase the likelihood of hostage survival, discerning the factors that may encourage its occurrence is a priority for crisis negotiators. The purpose of this paper is to (1) analyze crisis situations using actual case examples in which evidence of Stockholm Syndrome has been reported and (2) examine the variables associated with the development of this phenomenon. Case information was obtained from the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit. Results of this analysis conclude that some, but not all, factors previously hypothesized as requisite to the development of Stockholm Syndrome find additional support from this case analysis.     

General,social, and academic self-concepts of gifted adolescents

Seven hundred seventy-two male and female adolescents (between the ages of 12 and 15) participated in a study concerning the identification and socioemotional situation of various subgroups of gifted students (N=94). In this article only the results concerning general, social, and academic selfconcepts of gifted adolescents are reported. A distinction is made between four groups: two groups of gifted achievers (one with high (N=22) and another with below average creativity questionnaire scores (N=45), a group of gifted underachievers (N =27), and a control group (N=74). The multiple and hierarchical model of self-concept by Shavelson et al.serves as a framework for our approach. The most striking differences are found between gifted achievers and gifted underachievers. The latter demonstrate very low academic self-concept and high test anxiety scores, an external locus of control, and low scores on school well-being and motivation. A positive self-concept in all areas seems to be the driving force for achievements, which are in accordance with high potential intellectual aptitudes. Similar results were reported by Feldhusen.Received M.A. from University of Nijmegen. Research Interests: cognitive development of adolescents, giftedness, and sociometric status.Received Ph.D. from the University of Bonn, Germany. Research interests: early indicators of giftedness, gifted education, and developmental processes of gifted children and adolescents.     

Freedom of Expression in the Dutch Constitution: Censorship and Sense Construction

Models of communication,frequently used in legal semiotics, offeran analytic framework for the relationshipbetween legal rules on the one hand andcorresponding behaviour on the other.Semiotic models seek to clarify(un)successful legal communication; theytry to reveal the processes ofinterpretation and sense construction. Theessence of these models is that thesubstantive meaning of a rule can (orcannot) be transmitted in a `flow model'of information. The models are based upona linear causality of ruleinformation. In this paper, the processesof sense construction are described,taking the freedom of expression, as laiddown in Article 7 of the DutchConstitution, as an example. Although thetext of Article 7 remained unalteredsince its first drafting in 1815, itssubstantive meaning has changedfundamentally. The transformation wascaused by complex processes that tookplace in social practice. These complexprocesses with respect to Article 7 arecompared with the transformation processesanalysed with respect to Article 96 of theDutch Constitution, published in anearlier paper. A comparison between bothArticles leads to the question: `Do weneed to construct an analytical model forlegal communication in whichreciprocal relations between legislatorand citizens are highlighted?' On thebasis of the two case studies, whichdescribe the influence of social practiceon the substantive meaning of the(textually unaltered) Articles, we have toanswer the question in the affirmative.     

Generating Usable Knowledge through an Experimental Approach to Public Administration

This introduction to the symposium on experimental methods in public administration shows how using experimental methods generates not only research that is empirically credible, but also relates to the real world of public administration. The ten articles in the symposium subject classic public administration theories or hypotheses that have been generated in nonexperimental research to rigorous testing using experimental methods. The first group of articles consists of studies with citizens who interact with government. The second group consists of three studies with public officials.