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1 – 10 of over 1000Wim Van Opstal, Eva Deraedt and Caroline Gijselinckx
The sector of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) has grown considerably all across Europe during the last few decades. Unfortunately, many governments do not have a clear…
Abstract
Purpose
The sector of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) has grown considerably all across Europe during the last few decades. Unfortunately, many governments do not have a clear sight on the profile of WISEs they are supporting. The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed profile of WISEs in Flanders and identify shifts and differences within and between WISE work forms.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are utilized from a newly designed monitoring instrument to capture the profile of WISEs in Flanders (Belgium). This paper discusses some methodological issues in using administrative data to monitor this sector, and present a profile at the enterprise level and at the worker level. Parametric and nonparametric tests are applied to assess the significance of profile shifts and differences within this sector.
Findings
One of the dominant features of the analysis has been the identification of profound differences that can be observed between the work forms and the slighter differences that are observed within the work forms while comparing start‐ups to their mature counterparts. Therefore, it might be concluded that the policy framework on the social insertion economy as it currently exists in Flanders has a strong regulative impact on the WISEs in Flanders. This impact translates itself through differences in the profile of enterprises, as well as differences in the profile of the target group workers they employ.
Originality/value
A dataset combining administrative data are created to estimate enterprise and target group worker profiles in this sector. The discussion on methodological aspects involved contributes to the literature on monitoring this sector.
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Loretta Bellato, Niki Frantzeskaki, Carlos Briceño Fiebig, Anna Pollock, Elke Dens and Bill Reed
The “tourism living systems” (Tourism Living System – TLS) concept is underdeveloped, with limited relevant theoretical analysis to understand how it can support the…
Abstract
Purpose
The “tourism living systems” (Tourism Living System – TLS) concept is underdeveloped, with limited relevant theoretical analysis to understand how it can support the transformations of tourism systems towards healthy communities and places. This paper aims to conceptualise TLSs and key stakeholder roles for enacting regenerative tourism using a living systems perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Knowledge synthesis and co-production were used to identify the conceptual framework and its applications. Knowledge synthesis was undertaken through a scoping review of the regenerative tourism literature and supplemented by a consultation exercise with leading regenerative tourism practitioners. Co-production of knowledge involved case study research to assess the conceptual framework's practical applications and revise it with regenerative tourism practitioners.
Findings
The study revealed that regenerative tourism is informed by living systems' thinking. The authors identify five diverse, interdependent and interconnected stakeholder roles from the case studies and scoping review. All stakeholder roles are vital for constituting tourism systems that contribute to the healthy evolution of social-ecological systems.
Practical implications
Real-world case study applications of the TLS framework will guide tourism stakeholders who seek to adopt regenerative tourism approaches.
Originality/value
The study contributes to developing new frontiers in tourism stakeholder roles and paradigms with implications for regenerative tourism futures. The TLS framework challenges industrial conceptions of tourism by proposing a shift in stakeholder roles from extraction to generating new life to survive, thrive and evolve.
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Tim C.E. Engels, Andreja Istenič Starčič, Emanuel Kulczycki, Janne Pölönen and Gunnar Sivertsen
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution in terms of shares of scholarly book publications in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in five European countries…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution in terms of shares of scholarly book publications in the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in five European countries, i.e. Flanders (Belgium), Finland, Norway, Poland and Slovenia. In addition to aggregate results for the whole of the social sciences and the humanities, the authors focus on two well-established fields, namely, economics & business and history.
Design/methodology/approach
Comprehensive coverage databases of SSH scholarly output have been set up in Flanders (VABB-SHW), Finland (VIRTA), Norway (NSI), Poland (PBN) and Slovenia (COBISS). These systems allow to trace the shares of monographs and book chapters among the total volume of scholarly publications in each of these countries.
Findings
As expected, the shares of scholarly monographs and book chapters in the humanities and in the social sciences differ considerably between fields of science and between the five countries studied. In economics & business and in history, the results show similar field-based variations as well as country variations. Most year-to-year and overall variation is rather limited. The data presented illustrate that book publishing is not disappearing from an SSH.
Research limitations/implications
The results presented in this paper illustrate that the polish scholarly evaluation system has influenced scholarly publication patterns considerably, while in the other countries the variations are manifested only slightly. The authors conclude that generalizations like “performance-based research funding systems (PRFS) are bad for book publishing” are flawed. Research evaluation systems need to take book publishing fully into account because of the crucial epistemic and social roles it serves in an SSH.
Originality/value
The authors present data on monographs and book chapters from five comprehensive coverage databases in Europe and analyze the data in view of the debates regarding the perceived detrimental effects of research evaluation systems on scholarly book publishing. The authors show that there is little reason to suspect a dramatic decline of scholarly book publishing in an SSH.
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To measure the economic impact of tourism several indicators are mentioned in the literature. Variables which are mentioned very often are: Expenditure, income, employment…
Abstract
To measure the economic impact of tourism several indicators are mentioned in the literature. Variables which are mentioned very often are: Expenditure, income, employment, foreign exchange earnings, tax receipts, investments, social benefits, tourism multiplier, etc...
“We've changed more in the last five years than in the previous 20,” Scott Flanders, president of Macmillan Publishing U.S.A. says of the high tech revolution that is transforming…
Abstract
“We've changed more in the last five years than in the previous 20,” Scott Flanders, president of Macmillan Publishing U.S.A. says of the high tech revolution that is transforming his company its compare parent, Simon & Schuster, into an interactive technology power well beyond the printed word Flanders has taken this corporate mandate to a new level at his home base in Indianapolis, where he preside over Macmillan's computer and reference publishing business, from trade books to CD‐ROMs. It is a pristine, paperless operation where a manuscript can be turned into a bound book in less than four weeks. At Indianapolis, Macmillan is an adventure in virtual publishing. It represents the corporate paradigm—be market focused—being implemented across Simon & Schuster's businesses.
Several Flemish social scientists argue for the existence of a dual Flemish labour market as a result of ethnic stratification. Flanders is the Northern, Dutch speaking region of…
Abstract
Purpose
Several Flemish social scientists argue for the existence of a dual Flemish labour market as a result of ethnic stratification. Flanders is the Northern, Dutch speaking region of Belgium, which inhabits around six million people. The poor educational level of ethnic minority youngsters is generally considered to be one of the main explaining factors. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether ethnic minority graduates, who have successfully completed their higher education, also face ethnic stratification in the labour market, even though the educational argument does not apply. Therefore, the paper examines differences in labour market positions of the third (Italian) and the second (Turkish and Moroccan) generation immigrants, and a matching Flemish ethnic majority control group.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is essentially of a quantitative nature. A postal survey was used to ask recently graduated ethnic minority and majority students from two schools of higher education and one university in Flanders about their career on the labour market after graduation. Universities provide education leading to master diplomas whereas schools of higher education train professional bachelors.
Findings
The waiting period between leaving school and entering the labour market is longer for ethnic majority graduates than for ethnic minority graduates. However, once on the labour market the differences in labour market position tend to disappear. Differences in first job wage, contract modalities, labour regime or the executive character of the job were small and non‐significant. Yet 61 per cent of the graduates of Turkish and Moroccan origin feel they have to try harder both in gaining access to the labour market and once in employment.
Research limitations/implications
Further studies will need to confirm these findings, perhaps even with ethnic minorities of other educational levels, in other locations.
Practical implications
The results suggest that closer attention should be paid to the psychological dimension of the school‐to‐work transition of ethnic minority graduates as their psychological contract is under pressure. As they feel their efforts are not sufficiently rewarded – since they feel they have to try harder than others and are rewarded the same – chances are they will reduce their efforts.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on the under‐researched area of ethnic stratification among higher educated graduates. Moreover, it is not limited to factual labour market positions. The inclusion of subjective variables such as opportunity perception and self‐confidence allows additional insight in existing differences and similarities.
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Jan De Varé, Vivienne de Vogel, An de Decker, Sabine Tremmery, Kasia Uzieblo and Leen Cappon
Despite the rising number of females in forensic psychiatry, research about their characteristics remains limited and is currently lacking in Belgium. Optimizing knowledge about…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the rising number of females in forensic psychiatry, research about their characteristics remains limited and is currently lacking in Belgium. Optimizing knowledge about the characteristics of these women will lead to a better understanding of this specific group. Therefore, the aim of the study was to gain insight into the characteristics of female forensic psychiatric patients in Flanders, Belgium.
Design/methodology/approach
A case file study was carried out in the forensic psychiatric hospital Sint-Jan-Baptist in Zelzate, Belgium. The files of female patients admitted in the period 2006–2017 were analysed (N = 82) based on a checklist including sociodemographic, mental health care and offence-related characteristics as well as historical risk factors.
Findings
The study revealed that female patients have been confronted with a large number of adverse experiences during both childhood and adulthood, were frequently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and usually had an extensive mental health treatment history with many drop-outs. The majority of the female patients had committed violent offences towards relatives.
Practical implications
These findings are similar to those of other jurisdictions and highlight the importance of a gender-responsive treatment. This kind of treatment should include trauma-informed care, gender-sensitive risk-assessment and adapted versions of dialectical behavioural therapy and schema-focussed therapy. Additionally, treatment should focus on breaking the intergenerational transmission of violence and mental health problems by targeting parenting skills.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that scientifically scrutinized the detailed characteristics of female forensic psychiatric patients in Flanders, Belgium. Recommendations for gender-responsive treatment and directions for future research are discussed.
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Kris Rutten, Helena Calleeuw, Griet Roets and Angelo Van Gorp
In Flanders, the subventions in the cultural sector are mainly divided and decided upon within the framework of the Arts Decree. Within this policy framework, art organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
In Flanders, the subventions in the cultural sector are mainly divided and decided upon within the framework of the Arts Decree. Within this policy framework, art organizations may choose in their funding applications for “participation” as one of the five possible functions to describe their artistic and cultural practices. However, questions need to be raised about the different interpretations of the notion of participation within this policy framework. The growing trend of evidence-based policy-making implies that participation risks to become a “target” that needs to be achieved instrumentally, which paradoxically ignores the fact that participatory practices within culture and the arts are very often diverse, multi-layered and context-specific practices. Starting from this paradox, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the current policy framework is translated into different “participatory” art practices by art organizations and specifically how cultural practitioners themselves conceptualize it.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, the authors discuss the results of a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with cultural practitioners about how they grapple with the notion of participation within their organizations and practices.
Findings
The results clearly show that practitioners use micro-politics of resistance to deal with different, and often conflicting, conceptualizations of participation in relation to this cultural policy framework.
Research limitations/implications
The implications of the findings are vital for the discussion about cultural policy. These micro-politics of resistance do not only have an impact on the development of individual participatory art practices but also on the broader participatory arts landscape and on how the function of participation is perceived within the renewed policy framework.
Originality/value
The original contribution of this paper is to explore the perspective of practitioners in cultural organizations about the function of participation in the Arts Decree in Flanders and specifically how the notion of participation is operationalized in their practices in relation to this cultural policy framework.
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Frederik T. Verleysen and Tim C.E. Engels
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical assessment of the weight assigned to monographs in the publication indicator of the performance-based research funding system…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical assessment of the weight assigned to monographs in the publication indicator of the performance-based research funding system (PRFS) in Flanders, Belgium. By relating publication weight to publication size the authors offer an alternative perspective on the production of scholars who publish monographs. This perspective on weights is linked to the aggregation level at which PRFS indicators are used: the national/regional one as opposed to the local one. In Flanders as elsewhere the publication indicator designed for funding distribution between universities has sometimes trickled down to institutions, their faculties and departments.
Design/methodology/approach
As an alternative indicator of scholarly production the authors propose the median number of pages of a publication type. Measuring the size of publications allows to compare the weight ratio between monographs and journal articles in the publication indicator to their size ratio in the VABB-SHW database. The authors compare two levels, one of four universities and one of 16 disciplines.
Findings
Median publication size differences between disciplines are much larger than those between universities. This indicates that an increase of monographs’ weight in the publication indicator would hardly affect funding distribution at the regional level. Disciplines with a relatively large share of monographs, however, would contribute more to the publication indicator. Hence an increase of monographs’ weight might provide a better balance between fields and between publication types.
Originality/value
This paper presents a thought experiment regarding the weight assigned to different publication types in the publication indicator of the Flemish PRFS: what would happen if this weight were replaced by the median number of pages of a publication type? In doing so, we highlight that such weighting schemes play an important role in finding a balance between fields of research. The sizeable differences between weight and size ratios offer a new and critical perspective on the weighting schemes currently used in PRFS, also in other countries.
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Analyses change in industrial relations using Lash and Urry′s“disorganized” paradigm. Argues that the transformation from“organized” to “disorganized” capitalism iscurrently…
Abstract
Analyses change in industrial relations using Lash and Urry′s “disorganized” paradigm. Argues that the transformation from “organized” to “disorganized” capitalism is currently reflected in an analogous shift towards “disorganized” industrial relations, particularly at the organizational level, as evidenced by the proliferation of fragmented HRM practices within many organizations. Uses Flanders′ contribution to demonstrate that the partial breakdown of normative regulation of industrial relations at workplace level during the 1960s (the “challenge from below”) has been largely supplanted by the employer‐imposed “challenge from above”. Consequently, argues that, far from restoring a normative regulatory framework, the employers′ challenge has contributed to the recent disaggregation of industrial relations structures and processes.
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