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1 – 3 of 3Christopher M. McLeod, Richard J. Paulsen and Lauren C. Hindman
To examine objective measures of economic job quality for a broad sample of workers in the US spectator sports industry and compare job quality in spectator sports to other…
Abstract
Purpose
To examine objective measures of economic job quality for a broad sample of workers in the US spectator sports industry and compare job quality in spectator sports to other industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Logistic and linear regressions are performed on American Community Survey (ACS) data collected from 2015 to 2019. Earnings and employer provision of health insurance are the outcomes.
Findings
Earnings and employer-provided health insurance are lower in the spectator sports industry than in other industries after controlling for relevant factors. Differences are partly explained by the occupational composition of the industry and the higher incidence of part-time work. Many but not all occupational groups have lower earnings and less employer-provided health insurance in sports.
Research limitations/implications
ACS data only reports one job, so the results likely underestimate the prevalence of part-time work in the US spectator sports industry. The study finds support for a micro-class occupational composition effect and a pulsating organization effect. Some support is also found for a sports industry compensating wage differential, but the effect is not industry wide, counter to some depictions.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine objective, economic measures of job quality across all occupational sub-groups in the sports industry. This is the first study to propose theoretical explanations for poor economic job quality in sport.
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Amy B.C. Tan, Desirée H. van Dun and Celeste P.M. Wilderom
With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six Sigma and innovation training, using action learning, on public-sector employees’ creative role identity and innovative work behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors studied a public service agency in Singapore in which a five-day Lean Innovation Training was implemented, using a combination of Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools, with a simulation on day one and subsequent team-based project coaching, spread over six months. The authors administered pre- and postintervention surveys among all the employees, and initiated group interviews and observations before, during and after the intervention.
Findings
Creative role identity and innovative work behavior had significantly improved six months after the intervention, enabled through senior management’s transformational leadership. The training induced managers to role-model innovative work behaviors while cocreating, with their employees, a renewal of their agency’s core processes. The three completed improvement projects contributed to an innovative work culture and reduced service turnaround time.
Originality/value
Starting with a role-playing simulation on the first day, during which leaders and followers swapped roles, the action-learning type training taught all the organizational members to use various Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools. This nimble Lean Innovation Training, and subsequent team-based project coaching, exemplifies how advancing the staff’s creative role identity can have a positive impact.
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Although there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal information sources such as immigration agents. Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed method approach with semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with participants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Data were collected from May 2017 to February 2018.
Findings
Although the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the pre-arrival information experiences derived mainly from an analysis of interview data. This study provides insights into the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants consulting formal information sources such as immigration firms, individual immigration consultants and more formal government agencies. The author introduces a new concept of “information crafting” by exploring the negative consequences of selective information sharing by immigration consultants/agents in newcomers' settlements in Canada, primarily positive information about life in Canada, sometimes with exaggeration and falsification. The interview participants shared story after the story of the settlement challenges they faced after arriving in Canada and how the expectations they built through the information received from immigration consultants and government agencies did not match after arrival. This study emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensive information about life in Canada to potential newcomers so that they can make informed decisions even before they apply.
Originality/value
The findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. This study provides insights into the complicated culturally situated pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants. Moreover, the study findings encourage researchers in various disciplines, including psychology, migration studies and geography, to delve more deeply into newcomers' information experiences using an informational lens to examine the information newcomers receive from diverse sources and their effects on their post-arrival settlement in a new country. The study challenges the general assumptions that formal information sources are always reputable, useful, and comprehensive, and it provides some future directions for research that seeks to understand the culturally situated information behavior of diverse immigrant groups.
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