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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 March 2024

Lucas Prata Feres, Alex Wilhans Antonio Palludeto and Hugo Miguel Oliveira Rodrigues Dias

Drawing upon a political economy approach, this article aims to analyze the transformations in the labor market within the context of contemporary capitalism, focusing on the…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon a political economy approach, this article aims to analyze the transformations in the labor market within the context of contemporary capitalism, focusing on the phenomenon of financialization.

Design/methodology/approach

Financialization is defined as a distinct wealth pattern marked by a growing proportion of financial assets in capitalist wealth. Within financial markets, corporate performance is continuously assessed, in a process that disciplines management to achieve expected financial results, with consequences throughout corporate management.

Findings

We find that this phenomenon has implications for labor management, resulting in the intensification of labor processes and the adoption of insecure forms of employment, leading to the fractalization of work. These two mechanisms, added to the indebtedness of workers, constitute three elements for disciplining labor in contemporary capitalism.

Originality/value

We argue that these forms of discipline constitute a subsumption of labor to finance, resulting in an increase in labor exploitation. This formulation of the relationship between financialization and changes in the realm of labor also contributes to understanding the unrealizing potential of social free time in contemporary capitalism.

Details

EconomiA, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1517-7580

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2022

Kesavan Manoharan, Pujitha Dissanayake, Chintha Pathirana, Dharsana Deegahawature and Renuka Silva

Sources highlight that lack of systematic labour training components results in low performance and productivity of labour, which leads the construction industry of many countries…

Abstract

Purpose

Sources highlight that lack of systematic labour training components results in low performance and productivity of labour, which leads the construction industry of many countries to face various challenges. This study aims to quantify the variations in the performance and productivity levels of labour in building construction projects through the applications of effective work-based training components.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive literature review and a series of experts’ discussions with action-oriented communication approaches were conducted to develop a set of practices related to labour training, performance assessment and productivity measurements within a framework. The developed practices were applied to around 100 labourers working on nine building construction projects through a construction supervisory training programme.

Findings

The study presents the detailed patterns of the significant changes in labour performance and productivity levels. The majority of trained labourers have grown to perform the work process with some relevant theoretical and operational knowledge and skills. The overall results spotlight the significant behavioural changes that can be observed in workforce operations by improving labour performance, which resulted in implementing effective labour-rewarding practices within a framework.

Research limitations/implications

Although the study findings were limited to the Sri Lankan context, the proposed practices can be applied to the industry practices of the construction sector of other developing countries and the other developing industries in similar ways/scenarios.

Practical implications

The study outcomes contribute to uplifting the work qualities of labourers with life-long learning opportunities and unlocking the potential barriers for expanding the local labour supply while controlling the excessive inclination of the local firms towards foreign labour. This paper describes further implications and future scopes of the study elaborately.

Originality/value

The study provides generalised mechanisms and practices that transform the labour characteristics and add new attributes for strengthening the values of construction supervision practices to obtain well-improved work outputs. The study outcomes reinforce the chain relationships among the training elements, labour performance and productivity levels, leading to upgrading current planning and operational management practices, especially adding constructive mechanisms in resource levelling and productivity benchmarking practices.

Details

Construction Innovation , vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1471-4175

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 January 2024

Chris Rees

The article considers the utility of a pluralist perspective in the context of current debates around UK corporate governance reform. Oxford School pluralism advanced both a…

Abstract

Purpose

The article considers the utility of a pluralist perspective in the context of current debates around UK corporate governance reform. Oxford School pluralism advanced both a description of how industrial relations (IR) operated in practice plus a prescription for how it should operate. Whilst economic conditions are different today, a pluralist framing provides not only a useful way of understanding interests in firm governance (description) but also a solid grounding for a pragmatic reform agenda (prescription).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from key texts in the field, the article considers core concepts within pluralist discourse and discusses their relevance to contemporary policy debates.

Findings

The article provides a short outline of recent economic and political developments and considers how a pluralist framing helps explain firm-level interests, challenging the dominant narrative of shareholder primacy. It then asks what policy interventions might flow from this analysis of capital and labour investments, and how feasible they are in the current UK context. This allows a discussion of levels of analysis (evident in materialist theories such as “radical pluralism” and the “disconnected capitalism thesis”). Finally, it reflects briefly on the links between corporate governance and wider patterns of inequality, suggesting the pluralist position is consistent with a Durkheimian sociology focusing on the potential in state-led regulatory interventions to tackle anomie and strengthen social solidarity.

Originality/value

The article brings together literature from what are often treated as relatively discrete areas of enquiry (employment relations and corporate governance) and also considers the public policy implications of these connections.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2023

Yinyin Cao, Benn Lawson and Frits K. Pil

Firms are accountable for upholding worker rights and well-being in their supply base. The authors unpack the evolution in lead firm thinking and practice about how to assure…

Abstract

Purpose

Firms are accountable for upholding worker rights and well-being in their supply base. The authors unpack the evolution in lead firm thinking and practice about how to assure labor conditions at suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted interviews with the social sustainability leaders at 22 global corporations (“lead firms”) and their sustainability consultants to understand how they think about, and enact efforts, to support labor in their supply base. The authors complement this with an analysis of stated practice in proprietary supplier codes of conduct for the manufacturing and extractive-related firms in the S&P 500 and FTSE 350.

Findings

The authors’ interviews suggest firms follow two distinct and cumulative approaches: a transactional-based approach leveraging collective buyer power to enforce supplier compliance and a relational-based approach focused on mutual capacity building between lead (buyer) firms and their suppliers. The authors also see the emergence, in a small subset of firms, of a bottom-up approach that recognizes supplier workers as rights-holders and empowers them to understand and claim their rights.

Originality/value

The authors identify systematic convergence in supplier codes of conduct. While the transactional and relational approaches are well documented in the supply chain social sustainability literature, the rights-holder approach is not. Its emergence presents an important complement to the other approaches and enables a broader recognition of human rights, and the duty of Western firms to assure those rights.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2024

Jingfu Lu and Anlun Wan

Regarding human resource and labour relations management, academia focuses mainly on cities; however, rural areas are an integral part of China's economic structure. This study…

Abstract

Purpose

Regarding human resource and labour relations management, academia focuses mainly on cities; however, rural areas are an integral part of China's economic structure. This study focuses on the movie projection industry in China's rural areas and explores how human resource practices (HRPs) are transformed and the labour process is reconstructed in digital transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

We adopt a case study of a rural movie projection company. The company's HRPs reconstructed the labour process of movie projection, and they have been promoted as national standards. Data were collected from in-depth interviews, files and observations.

Findings

Rural movie projection companies combine high-performance and paternalistic HRPs in the media industry's digital transformation. HRPs and digital technology jointly reconstruct the labour process. First, the HRPs direct labour process practices towards standardisation. Second, the digital supervision platform guides the control style from simple to technical, placing projectionists under pressure while increasing management efficiency. Third, rural movies made using digital technology have disenchanted rural residents. Accordingly, the conventional relationships between the “country and its citizens,” “individuals themselves,” and “models and individuals” have been removed, and a new relationship between “individuals themselves” is formed thanks to the novel HRPs.

Originality/value

This research plays a crucial role in exposing researchers to the labour process of rural movie projection, which is significant in China but often ignored by Western academia and advances the Chinese contextualisation of research on labour relations.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 March 2024

Vladimir Hlasny, Reham Rizk and Nada Rostom

COVID-19 has had various effects on women’s labour supply worldwide. This study investigates how women’s labour market outcomes in the MENA region have been affected by the…

Abstract

Purpose

COVID-19 has had various effects on women’s labour supply worldwide. This study investigates how women’s labour market outcomes in the MENA region have been affected by the stringency of governments’ COVID-19 responses and school closures. We examine whether women, particularly those with children at young age, reduced their labour supply to take care of their families during the pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

To investigate whether having a family results in an extra penalty to women’s labour market outcomes, we compare single women to married women and mothers. Using the ERF COVID-19 MENA Monitor Household Surveys, we analyse the key conditions underlying women’s labour market outcomes: (1) wage earnings and labour market status including remaining formally employed, informally, unpaid or self-employed, unemployed or out of the labour force and (2) becoming permanently terminated, being suspended, seeing a reduction in the hours worked or wages, or seeing a delay in one’s wage payments because of COVID-19. Ordered probit and multinomial logit are employed in the case of categorical outcomes, and linear models for wage earnings.

Findings

Women, regardless of whether they have children or not, appear to join the labour market out of necessity to help their families in the times of crisis. Child-caring women who are economically inactive are also more likely to enter the labour market. There is little difference between the negative experiences of women with children and child-free women in regard to their monthly pay reduction or delay, or contract termination, but women with children were more likely to experience reduction in hours worked throughout the pandemic.

Research limitations/implications

These findings may not have causal interpretation facilitating accurate inference. This is because of potential omitted variables such as endogenous motivation of women in different circumstances, latent changes in the division of domestic work between care-giving and other household members, or selective sample attrition.

Originality/value

Our analysis explores the multiple channels in which the pandemic has affected the labour outcomes of MENA-region women. Our findings highlight the challenges that hamper the labour market participation of women, and suggest that public policy should strive to balance the share of unpaid care work between men and women and increase men’s involvement, through measures that support child-bearing age women’s engagement in the private sector during crises, invest in childcare services and support decent job creation for all.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 June 2023

Jiawen Tian

This study aims to empirically analyze the impact of technological innovation on the quantity and quality of employment in the hospitality industry.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to empirically analyze the impact of technological innovation on the quantity and quality of employment in the hospitality industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the data of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper makes an empirical analysis through the fixed effect model.

Findings

The results show that process innovation has a significant positive impact on employment quantity, while product innovation has a significant negative impact on employment quantity. The creative effect of process innovation and the substitution effect of product innovation offset each other, so in the long run, the impact of technological innovation on employment quantity is not significant. However, technological innovation has significantly improved the employment quality of the hospitality industry.

Practical implications

Because technological innovation has replaced part of the labor force, hospitality could guide the labor force in a positive direction. To promote innovation and retain talents, hotels should train employees’ digital thinking and attract high-skilled talents.

Originality/value

This research is unique in using process innovation and product innovation as the main measurement indicators of technological innovation, unlike previous studies that often relied on technological progress to conclude.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 36 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 January 2023

Shulin Xu, Zefeng Tong, Cheng Li and Shuoqi Chen

High-quality labor supply is inevitable to maintain sustainable and steady economic growth. This study mainly explores the impact of the social pension system on the health of…

Abstract

Purpose

High-quality labor supply is inevitable to maintain sustainable and steady economic growth. This study mainly explores the impact of the social pension system on the health of human capital, and further explores its impact mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of the data from China Family Panel Studies from 2012 to 2018, this article uses the fixed effect model and the mediation effect model to empirically study the influence of the social pension scheme on the health of human capital and further explore its influence mechanism.

Findings

This study shows that the social pension scheme can significantly improve the physical and mental health of laborers, especially for low-income and agricultural groups. The implementation of the social pension scheme contributes to increasing medical services and reducing the labor supply for the benefit of human health capital. Therefore, the government should continue to expand the coverage of the social pension scheme and comprehensively improve the importance of human health capital on economic growth.

Practical implications

Medical costs and labor supply play a mediating effect in the relationship between social pension and rural labors' health status, which indicates that medical costs and labor supply level are still important factors affecting the health status of rural labor. There are essential factors affecting the health status of the rural labor force, and their role should be given more consideration in the process of system design and improvement.

Originality/value

The existing studies have more frequently studied the effect of the implementation of social pension schemes from the perspective of economic performance, but this paper evaluates the policy effect of social pension schemes based on the perspective of health human capital, which enriches research on health performance in related fields.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 53 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 January 2023

Dai Binh Tran and Hanh Thi My Tran

This study examines the relationship between partners' locus of control and their spouses' domains of job satisfaction (job satisfaction and its domains, personal income and…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study examines the relationship between partners' locus of control and their spouses' domains of job satisfaction (job satisfaction and its domains, personal income and promotion) among Australian couples.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics of Australia (HILDA) Survey. Various estimation strategies including ordinary least squares (OLS), Mundlak approach and instrumental variable (IV) method are used to reveal the relationship between spouse's locus of control and domains of job satisfaction.

Findings

To reduce sex heterogeneity, the analysis used in this study is disaggregated by sex. In particular, the findings of this study show that wives' locus of control positively influences husbands' satisfaction with pay and working hours, while there is no relationship between husbands' locus of control and wives' domains of job satisfaction.

Social implications

The study's findings emphasize the importance of locus of control in couples. A good work–life balance and a healthy marital relationship potentially facilitate positive effects of characteristics from the partner on employees' job satisfaction. Thus, on the organizational level, employers may consider creating a working environment that promotes a healthy marital relationship for their staff, including flexible working schedules, work from home options, family days or family-extended staff events.

Originality/value

This study is the first to reveal the relationship between spousal locus of control and domains of job satisfaction, enriching the current literature on this topic.

Details

Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies, vol. 31 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2515-964X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2024

Christine R. Martell

Inflation and federal monetary efforts to control it with interest rate hikes have very real and overwhelmingly negative consequences on US local governments following the onset…

Abstract

Purpose

Inflation and federal monetary efforts to control it with interest rate hikes have very real and overwhelmingly negative consequences on US local governments following the onset of COVID-19. This study explores the post-pandemic inflationary environment of US local governments; examines the impacts of inflation and high interest rates on local government revenue, operating costs, capital costs, and debt service; reviews local government inflation management strategies, including the use of intergovernmental revenue; and assesses ongoing threats to local government financial health and financial resilience.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses trend and literature analysis to comment on current issues local governments face.

Findings

The study finds that the growth of property values and resulting stability of property tax revenue has been important to local government revenues; that local governments bear very real burdens as operating and capital costs increase; and that the combination of high inflation and interest rates affects local government debt issuance by negatively affecting credit quality and interest costs, leading to municipal market contraction. Local governments have benefitted tremendously from intergovernmental revenue, but would be ill-advised to rely on it.

Practical implications

Vulnerabilities owing from revenue mismatch with the economy; inadequate affordable housing, inequality, and social issues; a changing workforce and tight labor market; climate change; and federal fiscal contraction—all of which are exacerbated by high inflation and interest rates—require local governments to act strategically, boldly and collaboratively to achieve fiscal health and financial resilience, and to realize positive returns of investments in people and capital.

Originality/value

This work is unique in addressing the post-pandemic impact of inflation and interest rates on local governments.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Keywords

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