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Over the past four decades, Sweden's education system has undergone a profound transformation, shifting from a centralised structure to a market-oriented model characterised by independent schools, deregulation, and competition. This paper introduces an innovative methodological approach to studying this transformation by applying computational text analysis with large language models (LLMs) to 45 years of parliamentary debates. By leveraging these methods and extensive parliamentary open data, we identify thematic patterns, ideological shifts, and policy discourses that have shaped the marketisation of Swedish education. Our methodological contribution lies in demonstrating how LLMs can be employed to scale up traditional discourse analysis, bridging the gap between computational methods and qualitative interpretative approaches. We engage critically with the challenges of algorithmic opacity, validation strategies, and interpretative transparency, addressing concerns about bias and the risks of black-boxed analyses. Combining machine-assisted text analysis with traditional qualitative methodologies, we present a scalable yet nuanced framework for studying education policy debates over time.

Disrupting digital networks has quickly become a core strategy within autocratic governance, critical for effectively stifling dissent and preventing anti-regime mobilisation. However, the scope within which one achieves such disruption is broad. Treating such a strategy as a monolithic behaviour, therefore, would be a mistake, as there is substantial variation in how states utilise and harness this phenomenon, as well as to what ends. Yet, while all events are unique, it would be equally misguided to treat shutdowns as an endlessly fragmented series of isolated, idiosyncratic events outside of a broader understanding of repression. This study theoretically systematises and empirically demonstrates how internet shutdowns can be understood as existing within patterned but flexible dimensions of repressive intensity, distribution and precision. These dimensions recognise the shared modalities, operational logics, and functions of shutdowns across cases, allowing for the development of differentiation between them.

he research literature on employee non-/compliance with information security policies (ISPs) suffers from inconsistent findings. The aim of this paper is to investigate a promising, yet largely unexplored cause of these inconsistencies, namely, differences in how key variables have been conceptualized and operationalized into questionnaire measurement items across this literature. Specifically, by means of a survey experiment with 215 participants from a Swedish university, we formally tested whether alternative operationalizations of two key variables from Protection Motivation Theory—Perceived vulnerability and Perceived severity of a threat—lead to statistically significant differences in mean values across responder groups. Regarding the former variable, we found significant differences between operationalizations focusing on the probability and vulnerability of the threat. Regarding the latter, we found significant differences between whether the target of the consequences of the threat was unclear or clear to respondents, but not between clearly stated targets in terms of individuals and organizations. Overall, therefore, this study contributes to the field by highlighting the importance of conceptual clarity and precision in measuring key variables. It also highlights the potential of survey experiments—an underutilized method in ISP compliance research—for exploring the empirical impact of the different variable operationalizations which currently characterize much of the extant literature.

This study addresses the issue of sampling error within research on subsets of parliamentary text corpora. Two samples of parliamentary speeches relating to the marketisation of the Swedish education system, drawn thr ough different sampling techniques, are analysed and compared. The analyses find that diverging sampling methodologies can be complementary as each method adds substantial quantities of unique documents to the dataset. Further, the diverging sampling methodologies employed produce documents with similar semantic content. However, analyses of the distributi on of speeches between party affiliations and speakers indicate va st differences between the two samples. These results indicate that sampling frames can substantially influence the findings of parliamentary text analyses. We conclude that combining different sampling techniques can be a way to reduce the ris k of sampling error, which in turn can have a strong influence on the conclusions drawn from analyses of parliamentary texts. 

During the last few decades, technologies to monitor, test, and analyze athletes’ performance have been developed, such as global positioning systems (GPS), stadium camcorders, and heart rate monitors (Cullinane et al., 2024; Svensson & Svensson, 2021). Data from these sources is central to sports clubs’ management of athletes’ performances, and Robertson (2020) argues that the development of data gathering in sport has led to a new scenario for coaching staff, athletes, and performance analysts, where adaptive tools are essentially required to understand the needs of sports performance. At the forefront are economically strong clubs in the major leagues (Krizkova et al., 2021), but considerable growth is occurring as technologies become more affordable (Brink & Lemmink, 2018).

However, there is a growing body of literature that points to negative consequences. ‘Tech-data’ tends to govern too much, resulting in a distortion of lived experience and the dehumanization of both athletes and coaches (Gamble et al., 2020; Woods et al., 2021). Ultimately, what is at stake is who and what should make the decisions regarding athletes’ performance. Studies in this area have mainly been conducted in the Anglosphere on men’s sports, which limits the relevance of the conclusions drawn (Mulvenna, 2024; Nicholls et al., 2018). To provide more informed recommendations to sports organizations, research is needed on contexts with different conditions and resources, as well as on women’s sports (Barker-Ruchti et al., 2021; Martin et al., 2018).

This study responds to this call. Using Swedish men’s and women’s elite football as an example—a context that has recently begun to invest in emerging technologies (Barker-Ruchti et al., 2021)—the purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of the effects of using technology in the management of athletes’ performance. The specific aims are: 1) to map the landscape of performance analysis technologies in Swedish elite football in terms of a) what is used, b) why it is used, and c) how it is used; and 2) to illuminate how the use of technology affects the power relations between managers, coaches, analysts, and athletes.

To collect data, a questionnaire has been sent to all elite clubs in Swedish men’s and women’s football. Analytically, the study builds on the perspective of governmentality (Foucault & Faubion, 2002; Walters, 2012), which facilitates an understanding of how governing processes constitute subject positions and the power relations between them (Primus, 2024). This study will analyze what subject positions (i.e., managers, coaches, analysts, and players) and power relations the ‘governmentality of technology’ constitutes in the context of Swedish elite soccer.

Data analysis has just started and has so far only focused on the mapping (aim 1). Preliminary findings show that most Swedish elite soccer clubs use GPS, video, and heart rate monitors to track tactical and physiological aspects, respectively. It is mostly the physio or the analyst who collects, interprets, and communicates the data. However, the scope depends significantly on the resources and number of individuals in the coaching staff of the club.

In recent decades, new technologies for tracking and analysing athletes' performance have emerged, primarily adopted by financially strong clubs in major men's team sport leagues. However, diffusion is now more widespread. While previous research highlights both benefits and drawbacks of these technologies, it has largely focused on men's sports within the Anglosphere. This study aims to provide an overview of the use of performance analysis technologies in Swedish men's and women's elite football. Findings from the online survey show that while uptake is higher in men's football and in the top divisions, over 80% of the respondents report that their clubs use one or more forms of technology. Video analysis is the most common, followed by GPS and mobile apps. Strength and conditioning coaches play a central role in implementation, whereas players are rarely involved in data processing. Drawing on previous research, unlocking the potential of big data and avoiding digital divides requires that Swedish club management allocate sufficient resources and equip stakeholders not only with technological competence but also with pedagogical and communication skills. However, to provide more specific recommendations, further research is needed on the implementation phase and on how stakeholders, particularly players, experience the use of performance analysis technologies.

In this paper, we argue that E-participation research is at a crossroads as its theories and empirical scope are increasingly detached from the contemporary relationship between information technology and political participation.  We illustrate this challenge through two developments: (1) the dissolving boundaries between online and offline spheres of political participation and (2) the growing dissociation between ICTs and democracy. In light of these developments, we present a potential path forward for the field, inspired by the so-called "systemic turn" in research on deliberative democracy and democratic innovations. We argue for a perspective that emphasises the relationship between E-participation and the political system in which it is enacted.  In our conclusion, this allows us to present alternative potential directions for future research within the field.

Two decades into the young history of e-participation research, we aim to take stock of the state of this field in the light of three developments that we argue have substantial implications for research on electronic participation: (1) dissolving boundaries between online and offline spheres of political participation; (2) academic isolation of e-participation research from other research fields related to political participation; and (3) the systemic turn in research on political participation. In relation to these developments, we discuss the potential role of the field in the future and make the case for a broader approach to e-participation research.

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.

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.