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21 – 30 of over 3000Jenell L.S. Wittmer, Agnieszka K Shepard and James E. Martin
Employees working nonstandard schedules outside the daytime hours of the Monday-Friday work week are increasing. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees working nonstandard schedules outside the daytime hours of the Monday-Friday work week are increasing. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize relationships between scheduling preferences, attitudes, and retention indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 343 US Postal Service mail processors (day, evening, or night shift; all shifts working weekends) from three cities. Multivariate analysis of covariance and multiple linear regression were used to test hypotheses related to participants’ perceptions of scheduling preferences and attitudes.
Findings
The authors found that preferences and attitudes toward shift worked had stronger relationships with each other and employee retention indicators for the night and evening shifts than the day shift, and these same relationships were stronger for the day shift when focussing on days of the week worked.
Research limitations/implications
Although limited by generalizability concerns, this study provides a distinctive application of SET to work schedules and offers a unique perspective on how working nonstandard days and nonstandard times, individually, impact the employment relationship.
Practical implications
Better work schedule management, with increased flexibility and control, may be one way of reducing negative employee reactions to nonstandard schedules.
Originality/value
This study goes beyond the typical examinations of standard vs nonstandard shifts, to study multiple nonstandard shifts and examines the relationships of these schedules on employee retention variables, focussing on both shift and weekend work.
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AKM Ahsan Ullah, Asiyah Az-Zahra Ahmad Kumpoh and Noor Azam Haji-Othman
The initial policy of the countries that developed vaccines has been to lock the vaccine by patent. This has been due to the fact that domestic demand for vaccine was mounting…
Abstract
The initial policy of the countries that developed vaccines has been to lock the vaccine by patent. This has been due to the fact that domestic demand for vaccine was mounting. Since only a few countries could invest in it, manufacturing and export remained at the behest of those few resulting in deep inequity in the global rollout. Pandemics are global health crises. Hence, calls for the patent waiver for the COVID-19 vaccine are growing to access the vaccine. The vaccine and its production, marketing and distribution have been politicized driven by the hegemonic aspiration. Both manufacturing and import-dependent countries are racing to win the diplomatic battle: the former has to win to gain hegemony and the latter to get the vaccine. Hence, the vaccine distribution has been marked with deep discrimination, and as a result, the migrant community is less likely to get their vaccine on time. This article engages in the decades-long debate over intellectual property rights and patenting life-saving vaccines. We argue that exemption of COVID-19 vaccines from intellectual property rights would improve global access and equity.
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Christopher R. Freed, Shantisha T. Hansberry and Martha I. Arrieta
To examine a local primary health care infrastructure and the reality of primary health care from the perspective of residents of a small, urban community in the southern United…
Abstract
Purpose
To examine a local primary health care infrastructure and the reality of primary health care from the perspective of residents of a small, urban community in the southern United States.
Methodology/approach
Data were derived from 13 semistructured focus groups, plus three semistructured interviews, and were analyzed inductively consistent with a grounded theory approach.
Findings
Structural barriers to the local primary health care infrastructure include transportation, clinic and appointment wait time, and co-payments and health insurance. Hidden barriers consist of knowledge about local health care services, nonphysician gatekeepers, and fear of medical care. Community residents have used home remedies and the emergency department at the local academic medical center to manage these structural and hidden barriers.
Research limitations/implications
Findings might not generalize to primary health care infrastructures in other communities, respondent perspectives can be biased, and the data are subject to various interpretations and conceptual and thematic frameworks. Nevertheless, the structural and hidden barriers to the local primary health care infrastructure have considerably diminished the autonomy community residents have been able to exercise over their decisions about primary health care, ultimately suggesting that efforts concerned with increasing the access of medically underserved groups to primary health care in local communities should recognize the centrality and significance of power.
Originality/value
This study addresses a gap in the sociological literature regarding the impact of specific barriers to primary health care among medically underserved groups.
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Chander Mohan Gupta, Petter Gottschalk and Maryam Kamaei
This paper aims to understand the involvement of women in white-collar crime (WCC) also referred to as pink-collar crimes. WCC is present around the globe and has created a word…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the involvement of women in white-collar crime (WCC) also referred to as pink-collar crimes. WCC is present around the globe and has created a word for itself.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is designed by studying the WCC in the area of Iran, Portugal, Norway, India and the USA.
Findings
The paper attempts to move beyond the traditional perspectives of emancipation versus focal concern, which argue that less inequality will increase women involvement in WCC versus women socializing into accepting responsibilities for social concerns by caring for others.
Research limitations/implications
As the data is restricted, this study is based on the limited data available on the internet.
Originality/value
This paper is an original work of the authors.
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Individuals and organizations will exhaust all available gains from trade and the resulting allocation of resources will be efficient when allocation will reflect accurately…
Abstract
Individuals and organizations will exhaust all available gains from trade and the resulting allocation of resources will be efficient when allocation will reflect accurately society's opportunities and preferences – including preferences related to individuals' ethical standards. Which behaviours are ethical and which are unethical? International society due to globalization has to develop and establish common ethical principles of behaviour in social life taking into account religion and world civilization. The basic values of humans and life as creation have to be identical all over the world, which means that human behaviour should be similar all over the world. So, similar actions should be ethical or unethical similarly all over the world and principles established by different kinds of societies should not alter the basis of values of life and humanity.
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Location-specific advantages (LSA) and the liability of foreignness (LOF) are key concepts in international business and management research. To combine these concepts in a…
Abstract
Location-specific advantages (LSA) and the liability of foreignness (LOF) are key concepts in international business and management research. To combine these concepts in a systematic framework, I develop a two-by-two matrix focusing on the nature of International Business (IB) research using four key terms: firm, context, comparative and interactive. This framework serves as a heuristic device in describing three main challenges IB scholars face when advancing the role of LOF and LSAs. These challenges relate to our understanding of the nature of relative advantage, to the development of a dynamic (so-called non-ergodic) world view and to the inclusion of the relevant spatial heterogeneity.
Olga B.A. van den Akker, Nicola Payne and Suzan Lewis
The purpose of this paper is to explore factors influencing decision making about disclosure of assisted reproductive technology (ART) use in the workplace.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore factors influencing decision making about disclosure of assisted reproductive technology (ART) use in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study design was used. In total, 31 women and 6 men who were using or had recently used ART were recruited from British fertility networks and interviewed. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
Findings
Two main strands were identified each encompassing two themes: “Concerns about disclosure” covered the very personal nature of disclosing ART treatment and also career concerns and “Motives for disclosure” covered feeling which was necessary to disclose and also the influence of workplace relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The relatively small, self-selected sample of participants was recruited from fertility support networks, and lacked some diversity.
Practical implications
Clarity about entitlements to workplace support and formal protection against discrimination, along with management training and awareness raising about ART treatment is needed to help normalise requests for support and to make decisions about disclosure within the workplace easier.
Originality/value
The study has highlighted an understudied area of research in ART populations. The data provide insight into the challenging experiences of individuals combining ART with employment and, in particular, the complexity of decisions about whether or not to disclose.
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