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1 – 10 of 34Silvia Lopes, Paulo C. Dias, Ana Sabino, Francisco Cesário and Ricardo Peixoto
The present study aims to examine the mediating role of (in)voluntariness in teleworking in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and work well-being…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study aims to examine the mediating role of (in)voluntariness in teleworking in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and work well-being (i.e. work engagement and exhaustion).
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. The sample comprised 222 individuals performing telework in Portugal. Statistical analyses employed were descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, confirmatory factor and structural equation analyses, and mediation analysis using Hayes Process macro.
Findings
The findings confirmed the hypothesis that employees’ fit to telework raises the voluntariness in telework and decreases involuntariness in telework. However, contrary to expectations, no significant relationships were found between voluntariness in telework, work engagement and exhaustion. Yet, involuntariness in telework showed a significant role in decreasing work engagement and increasing workers’ exhaustion. The mediating role of involuntariness in telework was confirmed in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and exhaustion.
Practical implications
Managers in global firms can draw from the results to understand how employees’ fit to telework directly and/or indirectly contributes to work well-being and develop human resource (HR) management practices aiming to increase employees’ fit to telework.
Originality/value
Although teleworking is already studied, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have analyzed the same conceptual model employees’ fit to telework, (in)voluntariness in teleworking and work well-being.
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Paulo Dias, Sílvia Lopes and Ricardo Peixoto
This study aims to examine the associations among mastering new technologies, teleworkers’ voluntariness and involuntariness and employee well-being (i.e. work engagement and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the associations among mastering new technologies, teleworkers’ voluntariness and involuntariness and employee well-being (i.e. work engagement and exhaustion). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have explored the relationships among these constructs in the same conceptual model.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of 451 individuals performing telework in Portugal. AMOS was used to test all hypotheses of the study.
Findings
The findings showed a positive relationship between mastering new technologies and teleworkers’ voluntariness and a negative relationship between mastering new technologies and teleworkers’ involuntariness. However, contrary to expectations, voluntariness in teleworking was not significantly related to either work engagement or exhaustion. However, consistent with the theoretical background of self-determination theory, involuntariness in teleworking was negatively related to work engagement and positively related to exhaustion.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by addressing the analysis of telework-related variables that may impact workers’ well-being. Implications for human resource management policies and knowledge management are discussed.
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Teemu Kautonen, Simon Down, Friederike Welter, Pekka Vainio, Jenni Palmroos, Kai Althoff and Susanne Kolb
There is growing political interest in new forms of precarious self‐employment located in a “grey area” between employment and self‐employment. A wide range of concepts has been…
Abstract
Purpose
There is growing political interest in new forms of precarious self‐employment located in a “grey area” between employment and self‐employment. A wide range of concepts has been used to debate this issue, and this paper aims to clarify these debates through the concept of involuntary self‐employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the empirical, conceptual and legal‐policy approaches to involuntary self‐employment via three country case studies in Finland, Germany and the UK. A range of relevant domestic academic literature, articles in the media, selected key expert interviews, and policy and legal documents are employed.
Findings
Conceptual clarity regarding involuntary self‐employment is achieved through a discussion of two aspects of the phenomenon: the characteristics of involuntariness from a motives‐based perspective, and the legal/economic perspectives and policy issues. The motives‐based analysis argues that involuntariness as such does not seem to have severe implications on the individuals' well being, given that the individual earns a satisfactory livelihood from her or his business activities. The discussion of the characteristics of and regulation related to working arrangements in the “grey area” between employment and self‐employment, where the self‐employed individual is strongly dependent on the principal, shows that it is very difficult to regulate quasi self‐employment without harming “voluntary” forms of enterprise and inter‐firm cooperation at the same time.
Originality/value
The key contribution of the paper is to facilitate a foundation for subsequent empirical research and policy development.
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Filip Majetic, Miroslav Rajter and Chiara Bassetti
This explorative study aims to investigate work precariousness (WP) among EU27-based economically dependent solo self-employed, i.e. those with no employees and usually relying on…
Abstract
Purpose
This explorative study aims to investigate work precariousness (WP) among EU27-based economically dependent solo self-employed, i.e. those with no employees and usually relying on just one client.
Design/methodology/approach
Univariate and multivariate analyses of European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) (2015) and Eurostat data.
Findings
The analyses yielded Disempowerment, intended as lack of job autonomy and money-induced Vulnerability as the dimensions of WP. Disempowerment was found positively influenced by workers' threat of losing the job and negatively by the enjoyment from being their own boss. Vulnerability was negatively influenced by workers' age, perceived easiness to find new customers, household's financial well-being as well as the country's employment rate.
Originality/value
The study represents pioneer exploration of the phenomenon's dimensionality and main determinants.
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This chapter is about child labour as slavery in modern and modernizing societies in an era of rapid globalization.For the most part, child slavery in modern societies is hidden…
Abstract
This chapter is about child labour as slavery in modern and modernizing societies in an era of rapid globalization.
For the most part, child slavery in modern societies is hidden from view and cloaked in social customs, this being convenient for economic exploitation purposes.
The aim of this chapter is to bring children's ‘modern slavery’ out of the shadows, and thereby to help clarify and shape relevant social discourse and theory, social policies and practices, slavery-related legislation and instruments at all levels, and above all children's everyday lives, relationships and experiences.
The main focus is on issues surrounding (i) the concept of ‘slavery’; (ii) the types of slavery in the world today; (iii) and ‘child labour’ as a type, or basis, of slavery.
There is an in-depth examination of the implications of the notion of ‘slavery’ within international law for child labour, and especially that performed through schooling.
According to one influential approach, ‘slavery’ is a state marked by the loss of free will where a person is forced through violence or the threat of violence to give up the ability to sell freely his or her own labour power. If so, then hundreds of millions of children in modern and modernizing societies qualify as slaves by virtue of the labour they are forced – compulsorily and statutorily required – to perform within schools, whereby they, their labour and their labour power are controlled and exploited for economic purposes.
Under globalization, such enslavement has almost reached global saturation point.
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Carlos-María Alcover, Mariana Bargsted and Jesús Yeves
In the context of an aging workforce and uncertain labor markets, it is a priority to identify and analyze what factors influence intentions regarding motivation to continue…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of an aging workforce and uncertain labor markets, it is a priority to identify and analyze what factors influence intentions regarding motivation to continue working, how and when to retire. From the life course perspective, this paper aims to capture the individual agency and structure perceptions to withdrawal from work early/late intentions in the mid- and late-career, identifying voluntary/involuntary factors underlying these intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analyses based on a cross-sectional design, with a representative sample of 414 Chilean workers over the age of 45.
Findings
The results depict several patterns of contextual factors operating at different levels underlying mid- and late-career-related intentions. Specifically, they identify how perceptions of individual agency and structure are significantly associated with voluntary and involuntary factors that guide intentions to stay working or retire early, as well as to prolong working life and to lean toward bridge employment.
Originality/value
This study contributes to identifying perceptions of individual agency and structure in career intentions and can help individuals and organizations clarify the voluntary and involuntary factors behind work–life intentions in their middle and final career stages. In addition, the results can contribute to international research in this field by providing information on the underrepresented Ibero-American context.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the activities of police bicycle patrols.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the activities of police bicycle patrols.
Design/methodology/approach
A participant/observation research design was used. A five‐city, 32‐shift study on the output of police bicycle patrols was conducted. Same and similar ride‐alongs were conducted with bicycle and automobile patrols. All contacts (n=1,105) with the public were recorded and coded. These data included: number of people, tenor, seriousness and origination for each contact.
Findings
Analysis of these data provides evidence that bicycle patrols result in over twice as much contact with the public compared with automobile patrols. The field observation perspective revealed clear tactical advantages to bicycle patrols.
Research limitations/implications
With a limited prior study of a police bicycle patrol's activities, this study is a significant initial step.
Practical implications
With evidence of tactical and numerical public contact advantages, more attention and resources aimed at deployment of police bicycle patrols appear to be warranted.
Originality/value
With large US cities and other departments using bicycle patrols, preliminary information on effectiveness appears to be both original and of value.
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This study investigates the relationship among preference for full-time employment, primacy of part-time employment, and work-related outcomes in a nationally representative…
Abstract
This study investigates the relationship among preference for full-time employment, primacy of part-time employment, and work-related outcomes in a nationally representative sample of part-time college instructors. Results based on multilevel cross-classified random effects models indicate that part-time faculty who prefer full-time positions report working on average more hours per week and express greater work-related dissatisfaction than those who choose reduced work hours. Individuals whose part-time jobs are their primary jobs have less job satisfaction but work longer hours than those who treat part-time work as secondary. Finally, those who prefer full-time employment report more negative job satisfaction when the primacy of their part-time jobs is high.
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Long has recently presented a statement of what the pro‐abortion position is and also a defence of it. I shall, as a pro‐abortionist, question the statement and attack the defence.
Abstract
Long has recently presented a statement of what the pro‐abortion position is and also a defence of it. I shall, as a pro‐abortionist, question the statement and attack the defence.