The present article scrutinizes the manner with which a group of three postsecondary students (in Quebec, Canada) describe the social actors concerned by the controversy surrounding cellular telephones. The study was conducted on the basis of an ethnographic approach. Participant observation was performed by the researcher for 3 hours during each…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of jobs in call centres by focusing on the opportunities for promotion in this sector. More specifically, the research questions focus on discovering whether promotion is common practise in the call centre sector and on identifying the factors that affect this.…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the simultaneous impact of employees participation in non-technical training, technical training, and coaching on subsequent job performance, job involvement, and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The present study was based on a sample of German call center employees and on a longitudinal,…

Investigates organizational mortality in the early American telephone industry, in which thousands of companies proliferated and failed under conditions of technological change. When technologies are systemic, technological change does not necessarily favor advanced organizations. The study used archival data from early Pennsylvania and Iowa…

This report documents a methodological study conducted for the National Science Foundation to investigate the effects of different media environments on relationships between local television news viewing and local knowledge. The study serves two purposes: it establishes tne reliability of data collected in an investigation by Rand of the effects…

Offers a retrospective view of organizational factors affecting the redesign of the Midwest Bell Telephone Bill. Shows how financial considerations, organizational time frame, and employee training and experience influenced the bill's development process. (MM)

The first of two papers presented in this section, "Price-Caps: Theory and Implementation" (Peter B. Linhart and Roy Radner) describes a proposed method of regulation involving price caps on core services and no price regulation of other services. This method is designed to replace rate-of-return regulation during a transition period to…

Three papers consider the provision of telephone service to rural and/or low income customers. The first paper, "An Analysis of Telephone Penetration" (Alexander Belinfante), analyzes the relationship between telephone penetration (the proportion of households with phone service) and prices, household income, and other factors. This…

Addresses shifts in basic telecommunication common carrier regulatory policies over the past decade; technological and economic changes prompting these policy shifts; major regulatory action resulting from these policy shifts; and the emerging regulatory issue of alternatives to local telephone service and its possible implication for online…

Surveys the differing opinions on the value of universal telephone service and examines to what extent society should continue the policy of universal service in the information age. Identifies the different approaches that have been put forth to achieve, maintain, and fund universal service in a telecom industry increasingly driven by competition…

Three papers discuss aspects of telecommunications regulation in a deregulated environment. The first paper, "Implementing Telephone Deregulation: The Political Economy of State Regulation in the Post-Divestiture Era" (Paul E. Teske), analyzed the variation in state regulation of local telephone operating companies using regression…

In this paper, the tools of legal and economic analysis are used to analyze the division of decision making authority between state and federal regulators of telecommunications policy. First, the principles of welfare economics are applied to the problem of defining appropriate jurisdictional boundaries. The results of this analysis are normative…

A positive relationship has been found between access to telecommunications capabilities and improved economic development. However, the deployment of systems that deliver toll-free Internet access favors urban regions. This research examines Internet service providers' (ISP) operations in rural portions of Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, and West…

Reports on a case study of editorial ethics involving newspapers and the Michigan telecommunications bill. Finds that the press had a vested interest and that its coverage was biased against the telephone industry. (TB)

This study conducted by the Stanford Research Institute under the direction of the Illinois Commerce Commission synthesizes plans, programs, and strategies to facilitate the implementation of statewide systems providing citizens with the single emergency telephone number 911, as directed by Illinois House Bill No. 911 PA 79-1092. The current…