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1 – 10 of 64Christian Kazuo Fuzyama, Ana Heloisa Lemos and Marcelo Almeida de Carvalho Silva
This study aims to understand the production of consent to precarious working conditions in administration students' internship experiences.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to understand the production of consent to precarious working conditions in administration students' internship experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 13 students of an undergraduate program in Business Administration in a private university were interviewed. The students' perceptions about the dynamics of the internship and their engagement in this experience were explored through thematic analysis.
Findings
Internships became more than spaces to learn about the world of work. They are also the locus of professional socialization toward precarious work. The detachment of internships from their educational scope is mediated by neonormative control mechanisms that subjectively mobilize the interns, producing the institutionalization and appreciation of the precarious experience, resignified as something that leads to autonomy, learning and a job position.
Practical implications
The article can help students, universities and companies to assess the role of internships in training future professionals.
Social implications
The research problematizes the internship as a form of professional socialization toward precarious work and its detachment from the original educational purpose. The article critically contributes to the debate about the current professional socialization process of young students.
Originality/value
The article highlights the subjective dimension that supports students' consent to dysfunctional internships, discussing both the experience of work precariousness and exploitation, and the terms of the students' engagement in such dynamics, bridging consent to neonormative controls.
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Juan Pablo Sarmiento, Suzanne Polak and Vicente Sandoval
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evidence-based research strategy (EBRS) used to evaluate eight projects that applied the neighborhood approach for disaster risk…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evidence-based research strategy (EBRS) used to evaluate eight projects that applied the neighborhood approach for disaster risk reduction (NA-DRR) in informal urban settlements in Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Peru, between 2012 and 2017.
Design/methodology/approach
The study covers the first five of the seven EBRS stages: first, identify relevant interventions; second, prepare evaluation questions; third, select evidence sources and implement a search strategy; fourth, appraise evidences and identify gaps; fifth, create an evaluation design to include an extensive literature review, followed by a mixed research method with surveys, focus groups and interviews; disaster risk modeling; georeferencing analysis; and engineering inspections. The last two stages: sixth, apply the evidence, and seventh, evaluate the evidence application, will be addressed in a near future.
Findings
Even though the reference to “evidence” is frequent in the DRR field, it is largely based on descriptive processes, anecdotal references, best practices, lessons learned and case studies, and particularly deficient on the subject of informal and precariousness settlements. The evaluation allowed a deep and broad analysis of NA-DRR in urban informal settlements, comparing it with other DRR strategies implemented by different stakeholders in fragile urban settings, assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of the various DRR interventions.
Originality/value
The abundant data, information and knowledge generated will serve as foundation for forthcoming thematic peer-reviewed publications informing evidence-based DRR research, policy and practice, with emphasis on informal and precariousness settlements in particular.
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María Inmaculada Sánchez-Queija, Laura Sánchez-García, Andrew T. Rothwell and Águeda Parra
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study analyzes differences in self-perceived employability (SPE) among Spanish university and vocational education and training (VET) students. It also aims to determine whether factors such as gender, work experience and perceptions of the precariousness of the job market have a differential effect on SPE in accordance with the training pathway chosen by emerging adults.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 1,715 university students (64.7% women) and 488 VET students (37.1% women) aged between 18 and 29 years completed a self-administered questionnaire that included measures of perceived employability and precarious employment.
Findings
The results indicate higher SPE among VET students than among their university counterparts. Female university students scored lower also than their male colleagues, an effect that was not observed among VET students. Prior work experience improved internal SPE among students on both training pathways. However, among university students, work experience and precarious employment reduced external SPE, an affect that was not observed among VET students.
Practical implications
The analysis of differences in SPE between university and VET students highlights the importance of an educational curriculum that includes practical competences for enhancing employability. The results also reflect the negative consequences of precarious employment on feelings of employability during this life stage, particularly among those studying at university.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to analyze the perceived employability of emerging adults on two different training pathways in Spain.
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Kristof van Assche, Vladislav Valentinov and Gert Verschraegen
The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of adaptive governance, which is advocated for as a manner to deal with dramatic changes in society and/or environment. To…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of adaptive governance, which is advocated for as a manner to deal with dramatic changes in society and/or environment. To re-think the possible contributions of organizations and organization theory, to adaptive governance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on social systems theory this study makes a distinction between “governance organizations” and “governance communities.” Organizations are conceptualized as the decision machines which organize and (co-)steer governance. Communities are seen as the social environments against which the governance system orients its operations. This study considers the adaptive mechanisms of organizations and reflect on the roles of organizations to enhance adaptive governance in communities and societies.
Findings
Diverse types of organizations can link or couple in different ways to communities in their social environment. Such links can enhance the coordinative capacity of the governance system and can also spur innovation to enable adaptation. Yet, linking with communities can also slow down responses to change and complexify the processes of deliberation in governance. Not all adaptive mechanisms available to organizations can be used in communicating with communities or can be institutionalized, but the continuous innovation in the field of organizations can inspire continuous testing of small-scale adaptive mechanisms at higher levels. Society can thus enhance its adaptive capacity by managing the role of organizations.
Originality/value
The harnessing of insights in organization theory and systems theory for improving understanding of adaptive governance. The finding that both experiment and coordination at societal level are needed, toward adaptive governance, and that organizations can contribute to both.
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This article aims to explore the engagement of refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in informal and precarious jobs from a civil society actors' perspective. Despite a burgeoning…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to explore the engagement of refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in informal and precarious jobs from a civil society actors' perspective. Despite a burgeoning literature on refugee integration and a focus on institutional integration programmes, little is known about the early insertion of RAS into informal and precarious employment as an alternative to subsidised integration programmes, when these are available.
Design/methodology/approach
This article draws on rich qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews with social workers, volunteers and other professionals supporting migrants.
Findings
Data analysis shows that migrants' insertion in informal jobs and their rejection of integration programmes may be the result of people's need to access financial capital to cover actual and future needs. Although such an engagement may be criticised for hampering RAS’ integration, it can be seen as an important source of agency against insecurity surrounding one's legal status.
Originality/value
This article highlights the importance of legal status precarity in shaping informal workers' agency and perceptions of them, opening up a debate on the relevance of informal work in terms of long-term integration and future migration trajectories.
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Hugo Valenzuela-Garcia, Miranda Jessica Lubbers and Jose Luis Molina
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to ethnographically detail the poverty-shame nexus in contemporary Spain, and to highlight the contradictions of the newly adopted consumption-based models of inclusion led by charities.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on 39 cases out of a sample of 78 gathered through two long-term research projects, the paper employs a mixed-methods approach that mainly draws on a multi-sited ethnographic approach and interviews.
Findings
The paper ethnographically documents major contradictions that shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption in modern societies.
Research limitations/implications
This paper analyses the sources of shame in the experience of poverty and downward mobility, but also it opens new ground for understanding the complex poverty–shame nexus and lets some questions unanswered.
Practical implications
The contradictions highlighted shed light on the complex relationships between poverty, shame, work and consumption that may inform modern policies to fight poverty. Ethnography gives voice to these individuals that currently experience an increasingly precarious and unequal modern world.
Social implications
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the processes that underlie modern poverty and downward social mobility and points out the contradictions generated by consumption-based models of inclusion.
Originality/value
While the poverty-shame nexus has been already analyzed from the point of view of stigma and exclusion from the labor market, the links between a growing consumerism and the neo-liberal values that underlie our modern societies are largely unexplored. The ethnographic contribution and the detailed case studies are also original in the case of Spain.
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The retail sector is not largely studied in Italy. The study offers a comparison between youth retail shift work in Milan and London. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The retail sector is not largely studied in Italy. The study offers a comparison between youth retail shift work in Milan and London. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on the one hand on youth work and on the other hand to the debate on agency and structural factors in life planning, representation of the future and the transition to adulthood, observed in the United Kingdom's and Italian labour market. Even if the second one is a Southern European Country, these contexts are both characterised by a service-oriented economy and the widespread of precarious and flexible jobs.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative methods were used: one year of ethnographic observation, 50 interviews and two focus groups were carried out between 2015 and 2018 with retail workers and trade unionists. The contexts are Corso Buenos Aires in Milan, Italy, and Oxford Street in London, United Kingdom. Analysing young workers' discourses, the author identifies narratives that allow to grasp their present agency and imagined future.
Findings
Observing the crisis of the narrative (Sennett, 2020) allows to highlight the social consequences of working times on young workers' everyday life and future. The author argues that young workers struggle with the narrative of their present everyday life and the representation of the future. This relates to the condition of time alienation due to the flexible schedules and the fast pace of work in retail, both affecting the work-life balance.
Originality/value
The social consequences of flexible schedules in retail and fast fashion sector, which are new issues not yet sufficiently explored, are here investigated from the perspective of young workers. The study is focussed on the representations of young people working with customers in social and economic contexts characterised by flexible schedules and the deregulation of shop openings, the so-called 24/7 service society, not largely investigated in the sociological scientific literature, above all in the Italian context.
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Richard Oloruntoba and Ruth Banomyong
This “thought paper” is written by the special issue editors as a part of the five papers accepted and published in response to the special issue call for papers on logistics and…
Abstract
Purpose
This “thought paper” is written by the special issue editors as a part of the five papers accepted and published in response to the special issue call for papers on logistics and SCM in the context of relief for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “refugee logistics” and analyse the nature and challenges of displacement from a displaced person’s perspective. The paper also argues for a more critical appreciation of the role and value that research in logistics, operations and supply chain management (LOSCM) can play in the delivery of services and care for refugees and IDPs from the perspective of preparedness and logistics planning of humanitarian organisations. The paper further outlines basic challenges to undertaking innovative, boundary pushing valuable and impactful research on “refugee logistics” given the difficult ideological, political and policy context in which “refugee logistics research” will be undertaken. The paper also advocates for more critical research in humanitarian logistics (HL), that explicitly acknowledges its ontological, epistemological and methodological limitations even when ethically sound. The paper concludes by suggesting a future research agenda for this new sub-field of humanitarian logistics research.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual paper utilising viewpoints, literature reviews as well as original ideas and thoughts of the authors.
Findings
The new field of “refugee logistics research” is important. It has been neglected in humanitarian logistics research for too long. Hence, there needs to be more research in this sub-field of humanitarian logistics.
Research limitations/implications
This is a “thought paper”. It is the basic conceptual ideas of the authors. While it is not based on empirical work or data collection, it is based on a comprehensive literature research and analysis.
Social implications
This paper advocates for the universal human rights of IDPs and refugees and their dignity, and how LOSCM can contribute to upholding such dignity.
Originality/value
It contributes indirectly to logistics policy and refugee policy as well as logistics service quality and advocacy for human rights and human dignity.
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Jeová Torres Silva Júnior, Jailson Santana Carneiro, Patrick Wendell Barbosa Lessa and Carlos Leandro Soares Vieira
The challenges of the growth of the sharing economy are becoming more and more noticeable and urgent, especially concerning labor relations (e.g. uberization). The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The challenges of the growth of the sharing economy are becoming more and more noticeable and urgent, especially concerning labor relations (e.g. uberization). The purpose of this paper is to understand what app-based drivers think of working conditions and labor relations.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out in three stages: bibliographical and documental research, and two empirical research, a quantitative one with the application of a questionnaire in a sample of 54 respondents and another qualitative one using an interview script with ten drivers. For data analysis, the abductive method and the content analysis technique were used.
Findings
The results reveal they have an exhausting labor routine, by checking that they work more hours per week than those who have a formal job. They are driven mainly by the extra income and flexibility that digital platforms of the sector of shared private transportation can offer, although the costs intrinsic to the activity often affect their revenues significantly.
Research limitations/implications
The number of answers from women was very small, which hinders the analysis of the potential specificities of women app-based drivers. Future studies could focus on this public for a more precise analysis, to bring the discussion on gender to the working context of app-based drivers.
Practical implications
The authors’ intention with the research reports was to make them relevant, leading to effective policies concerning working conditions and labor relations in the sharing economy, and to stimulate other surveys to understand the activity of an app-based driver of shared private transportation.
Originality/value
The authors’ research and this article contribute to the discussion on new work relationships, motivations and (dis)satisfaction with the activity, from the perspective of app-based drivers.
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Faharuddin Faharuddin and Darma Endrawati
The study’s first aim is to estimate the scale of working poverty using a nationwide household survey. The second aim is to answer the following research questions: is working…
Abstract
Purpose
The study’s first aim is to estimate the scale of working poverty using a nationwide household survey. The second aim is to answer the following research questions: is working enough to escape poverty, and what are the determinants of working poverty?
Design/methodology/approach
The focus is on working people in Indonesia who have per capita household expenditure below the provincial poverty line. The determinant analysis used logistic regression on the first quarter of 2013 Susenas microdata.
Findings
The study found that the scale of the working poverty problem is equivalent to the scale of the poverty, although the in-work poverty rate is lower than the poverty rate in all provinces. The logistic regression results conclude that the three factors, namely individual-level, employment-related and household-level variables, have significant contributions to the incidence of the working poor in Indonesia.
Practical implications
Some practical implications for reducing the incidence of working poverty are increasing labor earnings through productivity growth and improving workers' skills, encouraging the labor participation of the poor and reducing precarious work. This study also suggests the need to continue assisting the working poor, particularly by increasing access to financial credit.
Originality/value
Research aimed at studying working poverty in Indonesia in the peer-reviewed literature is rare until now based on the authors' search. This study will fill the gap and provoke further research on working poverty in Indonesia.
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