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1 – 10 of over 1000The purpose of this paper is to use the case of white immigrant women domestics’ experiences in migration to demonstrate that their work experiences are different due to their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the case of white immigrant women domestics’ experiences in migration to demonstrate that their work experiences are different due to their whiteness. While their racial identity provides them with white privileges, they still face discrimination based on their occupational and immigrant statuses. The case study adds to existing literature on domestic service.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study is based on several years of ethnographic work. The author conducted in‐depth interviews with Polish immigrant women and white female employers. The author also held focus groups with Polish women.
Findings
White immigrant women from Poland do not automatically assume the white racial identity in the USA. Their whiteness is constructed and reinforced through their interactions with their white female employers. Their whiteness renders their experiences different from racial minority women and immigrant women of color. However, Polish domestics construct their positive work identity to counteract the negative images about them and domestic service as an occupation.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation the author sees is that the author could have conducted interviews with Mexican immigrant women to compare the differences in terms of their working conditions.
Practical implications
While Polish domestics seem to have better experiences than other groups of immigrant women, domestic workers are excluded from the labor law. They are thus without the protection of labor law. It is important for us to work for the right of immigrant workers to eradicate the inequality in society.
Social implications
This case shows that the transnational labor migration contributes to further inequality in society since it is usually the migrant workers who take up the low skilled or unskilled work that has few possibilities for promotion and has few benefits. The government needs to address the transnational migration process and the exploitation of migrant workers ensuing from the process.
Originality/value
Polish immigrant women are a unique group of women mainly because they are among the few white women who perform domestic service. Their experiences are different from racial minority women and immigrant women of color. Merging the whiteness approach and domestic service is an innovative approach.
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This article seeks to bring two hitherto neglected Polish language texts on selling and salesmanship to the attention of marketing historians. In contrast to Bartels' seminal…
Abstract
Purpose
This article seeks to bring two hitherto neglected Polish language texts on selling and salesmanship to the attention of marketing historians. In contrast to Bartels' seminal work, this research aims to show that early marketing writing was not just in the English language and that early marketing thought was disseminated via instruction outside institutions of higher education. The research also intends to explore how marketing education served to acculturate one group of immigrants to American business norms.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary sources are Sprzedawca czyli: Sztuka Prowadzenia Handlu Podług Systemów Amerykańskich (Salesman: The Art of Commerce According to American Norms) by Józef Mierzyński and Sprzedawnictwo Sklepowe (Store Salesmanship), third edition, by Bolesław Z. Urbanski. Both were published in Chicago. Their tables of contents were translated and compared to selected English language texts on selling and salesmanship written about the same time. Additional information on the authors, publishers, and potential audience was also gathered to give context to these texts.
Findings
These Polish language books contained much of the same information as the English language literature on sales from the period, but with more information on personal comportment and more illustrative material. These books provide evidence of sophisticated business thinking among some Polish immigrants. Commercial correspondence courses and self‐instruction brought early marketing thought to this market and thus helped Poles enter the American economic mainstream.
Originality/value
The article shows that these are the first books on selling and salesmanship – or on any other marketing topic – known to be written in the USA prior to 1920 in a language other than English. They are worthy of close scrutiny because they reveal a new dimension to the early creation and dissemination of marketing thought.
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This study examines the educational aspirations of immigrant students, who are descendants of eight different immigrant communities in Germany. First, the article shows that…
Abstract
This study examines the educational aspirations of immigrant students, who are descendants of eight different immigrant communities in Germany. First, the article shows that compared to native German students, the educational aspirations of students with migration origin vary substantially. Challenging previous narratives of immigrant optimism and information deficit, the article suggests that the students of Turkish origin develop a conscious appraisal of obtaining an academic high-school qualification (AHSQ), even if they realize they will not be able to receive one by the end of the high-school. The study also shows that the duration of their stay in Germany plays a significant role in attenuating the high educational aspirations of most immigrant communities. However, Turkish students constitute an exception to this finding as they maintain high idealistic aspirations from first- to third-generation. The return migrant students from the former Soviet Union are the only group who report high educational aspirations, when asked about both their idealistic and realistic aspirations. Finally, the findings indicate that the position of the particular immigrant groups within the German social status hierarchy is a strong determinant of the educational aspirations of immigrant students and their parents.
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Melanie Lindsay Straiton, Anne Reneflot and Esperanza Diaz
High socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with better health and lower use of health care services in the general population. Among immigrants, the relationship appears less…
Abstract
Purpose
High socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with better health and lower use of health care services in the general population. Among immigrants, the relationship appears less consistent. The purpose of this paper is to determine if the relationship between income level (a proxy for SES) and use of primary health care services for mental health problems differs for natives and five immigrant groups in Norway. It also explores the moderating effect of length of stay (LoS) among immigrants.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from two registers with national-level coverage, logistic regression analyses with interactions were carried out to determine the association between income level and having used primary health care services for mental health problems.
Findings
For Norwegian men and women there was a clear negative relationship between income and service use. Interaction analyses suggested that the relationship differed for all immigrant groups compared with Norwegians. When stratifying by LoS, income was not associated with service use among recently arrived immigrants but was negatively associated among immigrants staying more than two years (with the exception of Pakistani and Iraqi women).
Research limitations/implications
Country of origin and LoS should be considered when applying measures of SES in immigrant health research.
Social implications
There may be an initial transition period for recently arrived immigrants where competing factors mask the association between SES and service use.
Originality/value
This study benefits from nationwide coverage, eliminating self-selection biases. It demonstrates the complexity of the relationship between SES and health care use.
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The purpose of this paper is to apply a self‐reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply a self‐reflexive interpretive method of writing as a method of analysis of findings from a critical research based on videography documenting the relationship between ethnicity, consumption, and place.
Design/methodology/approach
An innovative theoretical approach employed is interpretativist ethnography inspired by creative writing. This methodological approach allows the researcher to move beyond the rigidness of academic discourse and consequently enables a more intimate connection with the object of research.
Findings
The main outcome of this paper is realization that the presence of the researcher and her own autobiography affects the results of research and that articulation as much as execution of research is always subjective. A significant implication of this kind of approach is uncertainty and unreliability which questions the positivist objectivism dominating in both consumer studies and marketing. A subsequent limitation is a free reading which evades possibility of definite conclusions.
Originality/value
By providing a film and a commentary to it in one publication, this paper overcomes the traditional separation between the visual and the textual and contributes to the multisensory model of academic practice. It is particularly important for ethnography and visual studies where the application of the senses has both a theoretical and a practical value.
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Hamed Ahmadinia, Kristina Eriksson-Backa and Shahrokh Nikou
Immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees living in Europe face a number of challenges in accessing or using health information and healthcare services available in their host…
Abstract
Purpose
Immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees living in Europe face a number of challenges in accessing or using health information and healthcare services available in their host countries. To resolve these issues and deliver the necessary services, providers must take a comprehensive approach to better understand the types of health information and healthcare services that these individuals need, seek and use. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop that comprehensive approach.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed publications was performed, with 3.013 articles collected from various databases. A total of 57 qualifying papers on studies conducted in Europe were included in the review after applying the predefined inclusion and exclusion requirements, screening processes and eliminating duplicates. The information seeking and communication model (ISCM) was used in the analysis.
Findings
The findings revealed that while many health information and healthcare services are accessible in Europe for immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, many of these individuals are unaware of their existence or how to access them. While our findings do not specify what health-related information these groups need, use or seek, they do suggest the importance and value of providing mental health, sexual health and HIV, as well as pregnancy and childbirth information and services. Furthermore, according to our results, health information services should be fact-based, easy to understand and raise awareness about healthcare structure and services available in Europe for this vulnerable population.
Practical implications
This study has a range of practical implications, including (1) highlighting the need for mental health and behavioural health services and (2) stressing the value of addressing cultural context and religious values while investigating (health) information seeking of people with foreign background.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to systematically review and examine the behaviour of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in relation to health information and healthcare services in the European context.
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The aim of this chapter is to investigate the immigrant women entrepreneurship phenomenon in Italy by focusing on the Polish experience. Stemming from the most current data on…
Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to investigate the immigrant women entrepreneurship phenomenon in Italy by focusing on the Polish experience. Stemming from the most current data on immigration in Italy and on immigrant women entrepreneurs and women-led firms, by analysing the regions in which these firms are grounded and the economic sectors in which they are mostly involved, this chapter presents the research programme the two authors of this book have been involved in over the last year and the first preliminary results. Specifically, the two authors engaged to compare the experiences, difficulties and opportunities of immigrant women entrepreneurs of different ethnicities/communities located in Italy. The final goal is to analyse if and how the socio-cultural background of these women counts, if and how it affects their way of doing business and what is the influence of the socio-cultural Italian context. The first group of immigrant women entrepreneurs that the authors decided to analyse are the Polish. Accordingly, this chapter presents data on Polish women entrepreneurs based in Italy and the results of an interview with an expert on this community.
Jill Pearson, Michelle Hammond, Eithne Heffernan and Tom Turner
In many cases, immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. The aim of this study is to examine the experience of this “talent…
Abstract
Purpose
In many cases, immigrants work in jobs that are incommensurate with their qualifications and work experience. The aim of this study is to examine the experience of this “talent waste” in Polish immigrants working in the Irish labour market.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a mixed method approach. First, 309 Polish immigrants were surveyed about their employment experiences since moving to Ireland. Second, 12 skilled Polish immigrants – those with third level qualifications – were interviewed. Interviews were semi‐structured and focused on the factors leading to their underemployment and how they responded to it psychologically.
Findings
The interviews revealed that immigrants to Ireland reported fewer barriers to skilled employment than immigrants in other research. Also, most had not sought employment that would utilise their qualifications when they first moved to Ireland. A typology of four psychological responses to employment status was put forth based on immigrant sense of professional identity and experience of dissonance.
Practical implications
The results of the study have important implications for employers, academic institutions, government representatives and skilled immigrants themselves.
Originality/value
Unlike other studies in this area, this study provides rich description and unique insight into the experiences of skilled Polish immigrants to Ireland over a number of years, as well as large‐scale survey evidence of this group of migrant workers.
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Olga Stangej, Inga Minelgaite, Kari Kristinsson and Margret Sigrun Sigurdardottir
The purpose of this paper is to examine how prejudice in a post-migration labor market can be mitigated, specifically, whether education received in the host country can serve as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how prejudice in a post-migration labor market can be mitigated, specifically, whether education received in the host country can serve as a signal of social integration for immigrant workers in employment settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an audit discrimination study, using an experimental setup to examine the interplay between prejudice and education as a signal of the social integration of immigrants in employment settings.
Findings
The results of the study indicate that signals of social integration, such as, qualifications acquired in the host country through education, counter prejudice against Polish immigrants in Iceland.
Research limitations/implications
The study provides evidence that immigrants are subjected to prejudice that can restrain their employment opportunities. The acquisition of education in the host country can mitigate this effect, but also diminishes the line between social integration and assimilation. However, the study is limited by a relatively small sample size and a single-country context.
Practical implications
The study offers insights for both countries and organizations worldwide that are facing the need to successfully embrace a mobile workforce and the challenge of a diverse workforce composition.
Originality/value
The study addresses the under-researched effects of education on human capital transferability in the host labor market. More specifically, it uncovers that the differentiation between education acquired in the home country and education acquired in the host country is a signal that can mitigate prejudice and its effects on the employment of immigrants in the host countries.
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