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Personal services are extremely important in the lives of working parents. This applies in particular to childcare services, as care responsibilities constitute a major obstacle to (full) employment. The importance of measures in this area has long been recognised by the European Council and Union. In March 1992, the European Council passed a recommendation on childcare to the effect that Member States ‘should take and/or progressively encourage initiatives to enable women and men to reconcile their occupational family and upbringing responsibilities arising from the care of children’ (92/241/EEC). Ten years later, at the 2002 Barcelona summit, the aims were formulated more explicitly and targets were set with regard to childcare. Confirming the goal of full employment, the European Council agreed that ‘Member States should remove disincentives to female labour force participation and strive, taking into account the demand for childcare facilities and in line with national patterns of provision, to provide childcare by 2010 to at least 90% of children between 3 years old and the mandatory school age and at least 33% of children under 3 years of age’ (European Council, 2002).

This chapter uncovers the destabilizing and transformative dimensions of a legal process commonly described as assimilation. Lawyers working on behalf of a marginalized group often argue that the group merits inclusion in dominant institutions, and they do so by casting the group as like the majority. Scholars have criticized claims of this kind for affirming the status quo and muting significant differences of the excluded group. Yet, this chapter shows how these claims may also disrupt the status quo, transform dominant institutions, and convert distinctive features of the excluded group into more widely shared legal norms. This dynamic is observed in the context of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, and specifically through attention to three phases of LGBT advocacy: (1) claims to parental recognition of unmarried same-sex parents, (2) claims to marriage, and (3) claims regarding the consequences of marriage for same-sex parents. The analysis shows how claims that appeared assimilationist – demanding inclusion in marriage and parenthood by arguing that same-sex couples are similarly situated to their different-sex counterparts – subtly challenged and reshaped legal norms governing parenthood, including marital parenthood. While this chapter focuses on LGBT claims, it uncovers a dynamic that may exist in other settings.

The purpose of the present research is to explore the relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR), authentic leadership and business model flexibility during times of unprecedented crises.

The research approach in this study is conceptual. After a brief review of the literature associated with CSR, authentic leadership and business models, the authors introduce a model describing the interaction of authentic leadership and business model flexibility on CSR heterogeneity.

This research explains how firms that are led by authentic leaders and that have flexible business models will be more engaged with their stakeholders than firms with less authentic leaders or more rigid business models during unprecedented crises.

Prescriptions for practitioners are suggested for improving authentic leadership as well as making adaptations to the firm's business model. Regarding authentic leadership, firms can screen potential new hires and existing employees for authentic leadership qualities. Firms can also rely upon existing interventions shown to assist in authentic leadership development for current leaders. At the business model level, firms can focus on core resources and their application in related product and service markets.

Firms engaged in CSR activities benefit more from those activities when leaders are authentic. However, in times of unprecedented crises, business model flexibility may also dictate the extent to which firms can satisfy their stakeholders. The authors introduce a conceptual model that takes the elements of authentic leadership and business model flexibility into account to explain CSR heterogeneity.

Interest in employee mindfulness has increased dramatically in recent years, fueled by several important conceptual articles, numerous studies documenting the benefits of mindfulness for employee outcomes, and the adoption of mindfulness-based practices in many Fortune 500 organizations. Despite this growing interest, the vast majority of research on employee mindfulness has taken an intrapersonal focus, failing to appreciate the ways in which mindfulness may enhance work-related relational processes and outcomes. The authors explore possible associations between mindfulness and relationally oriented workplace phenomena, drawing from interdisciplinary scholarship examining mindfulness in romantic relationships, child–parent relationships, patient–healthcare provider relationships, and student–teacher relationships. A framework is proposed that links mindfulness to three distinct relationally oriented processes, which are expected to have downstream effects on work-related relational outcomes. The authors then take the proposed framework and discuss possible extensions to a variety of unique workplace relationships and discuss critical next steps in advancing the relational science of mindfulness.

Bats provide many ecosystem services and have intrinsic value. They also act as host reservoirs for some viruses. Several studies have linked zoonotic diseases to bats, raising questions about the risks bats pose, especially to people living close to bat roosts. Through a series of case studies undertaken in three communities, the purpose of this paper is to explore the various ways in which framings and perceptions of bats can influence a potential spillover of bat-borne viruses to humans in Ghana. It assesses the social, cultural and economic factors that drive human-bat interactions and posits that understanding the socio-economic contexts in which human-bat interactions occur is key to the success of future communication strategies.

Primary data collection methods included participatory landscape mappings, transect walks, focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys.

Perceptions of bats vary and are influenced by personal beliefs, the perceived economic benefits derived from bats and the location of bat roosts. Activities that put people at risk include bat hunting, butchering and consumption of poorly prepared bat meat. Those who live and work close to bat roosts, and bat hunters, for example, are more at risk of bat-borne zoonotic disease spillover. Disease risk perceptions were generally low, with high levels of uncertainty, indicating the need for clearer information about personal protective practices.

The results of the study may well inform future risk communication strategies as well as help in developing effective responses to zoonotic disease risk, disease outbreaks and the conservation of bats in communities.

The goal of this study is to examine the association between managers' sexually-oriented behavior in publicly traded firms and subsequent stock market reactions. Both sexual harassment and nonharassing sexually-oriented behavior (i.e. workplace romance) are associated with negative shareholder reactions. The authors also examine factors that may alter the stock market reaction and those that may reduce the risk of lawsuit in sexual harassment cases.

Information about incidents of sexually-oriented behavior was collected from media reports and content coded. An event study with a stock market reaction was used to measure the impact of disclosed sexually-oriented behaviors. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between incident characteristics and sexual harassment lawsuits.

Disclosure of managers' sexually-oriented behavior is associated with a negative stock market reaction. Interestingly, the reaction was not more severe for sexual harassment disclosures compared to nonharassing behavior (i.e. workplace romance). Results also suggest that terminating a manager prior to disclosure of an event is negatively related to a harassment lawsuit.

The authors report this as the first study to focus on the stock market reaction of sexually-oriented harassing and nonharassing behavior of managers. This work complements research that documents the negative impact of sexual harassment on individuals by demonstrating these behaviors are associated with loss and risk at an organizational level.

Division of motor vehicle (DMV) offices serve a wide swath of Americans in all states and can therefore serve as excellent vehicles to study the quality of public services in the country. However, relatively little attention has been devoted in the academic literature to studying operations in DMV offices, especially as it relates to service quality and productivity. In an attempt to address the same, this paper aims to present the results of a study of DMV offices across the USA through a nationwide survey about vehicle titling and registration services, that received response from 31 of the 50 states and District of Columbia.

The authors use a mixed methods approach – a sequential unequal weight mixed methods approach starting with a quantitative analysis of DMV operational data followed by a qualitative case study approach. The primary data collected for this study were with a nationwide survey of the highest DMV office in each state, conducted through the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Out of the 50 states, 31 states and District of Columbia responded to the survey. In addition to descriptive statistical analysis performed to glean nationwide findings, Data Envelopment Analysis was used to determine efficiency of operations. Finally, extensive in-person interviews with senior managers of DMV offices in Ohio and Indiana were conducted to get more in-depth information for case studies and identification of best practices.

States exhibit significant variations in labor and capital productivity and based on Data Envelopment Analysis, Texas and Minnesota DMVs are the most efficient in terms of using their labor and capital inputs to maximize the number of transactional services rendered. The authors also find that while operational performance of vehicle titling and registration services is monitored by most DMV offices across the nation, assessment of customer satisfaction received much less attention. Among the states that do well on both are Indiana and Ohio; the case studies presented based on interviews with their officials that also identify best practices.

This research was limited to the USA as are its findings. Additionally, it focuses only on vehicle titling and registration at DMV offices because that represents the bulk of services performed by a DMV and the output is standard across all states. Nonetheless, a future study should be extended to other DMV services.

Given the finding that assessment of customer satisfaction is not widely practiced in DMV offices, DMV officials should address this by putting appropriate systems in place. Additionally, practitioners and state officials can use the findings of this study to develop best practices for their operations and also determine the most appropriate ways to structure the provision of those services that result in enhanced efficiencies and customer satisfaction.

DMV services are among the most widely used services offered by the government in the USA and the overall size and scope of services provided by them across the country is immense. Thus, any improvements in productivity and service quality has significant implications in terms of improving public satisfaction with government services.

To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first nationwide comparative study of DMV offices in the USA that focuses on service quality and analyzes productivity across the states. Additionally, the case study provided at the end of the paper identifies best practices from two states that have received national recognition for service quality which could be adopted by all DMV offices across the USA. The findings also conform/strengthen numerous hypotheses espoused in existing models and theories from service operations literature by providing evidence in their favor.

In many colleges and universities, publication is a key factor in evaluating the academic productivity of faculty. Moreover, the pressure to publish may drive scholars to identify research questions that are believed to have a greater probability of being published rather than being driven by their interests in an important research question that will advance the field. A critical question then, is to what extent publication outlets reinforce a pattern of publications that are well-suited to the research enterprise − encouraging contributions that extend the frontiers of what is already known. Analysis of both accepted and rejected empirical manuscripts from two leading journals in organization science reveal that novel research is less likely to be published, but more likely to be cited. Results are used as a basis for making inferences about the publication process and for commentary related to the advancement of organization science as a field of study.

This chapter investigates the effects of gender stereotypes on expectations about expertise and task assignments. We present a theoretical model that predicts and explains the pervasive and self-reinforcing effects of gender-based stereotypes on expected knowledge and task assignments in groups. In the model, stereotypes influence expertise recognition, which influences tasks assignments. Task assignments provide group members with task experience and expertise. Expertise influences expertise recognition, making the model cyclical. Expertise gained from task experience also affects stereotypes, creating a cycle that reinforces stereotypes. We describe findings from a program of research designed to examine ways of breaking this self-reinforcing cycle, which investigates the effectiveness of various types of expertise claims made by people with expertise, that is inconsistent with stereotypical expectations. We consider the implications of our theory and data for effects of status on evaluation of expertise claims in work groups.