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1 – 10 of 574The study aims to provide a critical review of the extent to which digital technologies are likely to replace human labour, the exponential rise in the amount of work to be done…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to provide a critical review of the extent to which digital technologies are likely to replace human labour, the exponential rise in the amount of work to be done and how far distinctively human skills are future-proofed and therefore likely to be in short supply. It reviews the evidence for a permanent switch to home and remote working enabled by emerging technologies. It assesses the business, digital and labour strategies of work organisations and the promise and challenges from a dominant trend towards a digitally enabled flexible labour model.
Design/methodology/approach
A critical review of 1020 plus case studies and the extant literature was carried out.
Findings
The relationship between emerging technologies and work is widely misunderstood, and there are major qualifiers to the idea of an overwhelming tsunami of technology drastically reducing headcounts globally. Distinctive human skills remain valuable, the amount of work to be done is increasing exponentially and automation is becoming more a coping than a labour replacement mechanism. Moves to a hybrid digitalised flexible labour model are promising but not if short-term, and if the challenges they represent are not managed well.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is that we are making projections into the future, though we are drawing on a lot of different sources and evidence and past data projected into the future.
Practical implications
The problem is not labour displacement but large skills shortages that will slow down the speed of technology adoption. Skills development is vital, as is the taking of long-term perspectives towards the management of hybrid, flexible working based on human-machine interactions.
Social implications
Organisations need to revitalise their training and development and labour management models. Governments and intermediary institutions need to manage transition states if the skills required to gain economic growth are to be available, and to ensure that large labour pools do not get bypassed from not having requisite skills.
Originality/value
The study offers a more subtle and complex perspective on the emerging evidence about the future of technology and work.
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Mohsen Rafiei and Hans Van Dijk
Early research on overqualification suggested that overqualification is primarily associated with negative attitudes and behavior. As a consequence, hiring practitioners were…
Abstract
Purpose
Early research on overqualification suggested that overqualification is primarily associated with negative attitudes and behavior. As a consequence, hiring practitioners were advised against hiring overqualified job applicants. However, recent studies have revealed that there are several potential positive consequences of overqualification. Given this change in perspective on overqualification, we examine how hiring practitioners nowadays look at overqualified job applicants, and what their considerations are for hiring an overqualified job applicant or not.
Design/methodology/approach
We have interviewed 33 hiring practitioners to examine their attitudes and considerations toward hiring overqualified job applicants.
Findings
Results show that hiring practitioners are aware of potential positive as well as negative consequences of overqualification and consider a variety of factors to assess how beneficial hiring an overqualified candidate will be. These factors fall under three categories: Individual considerations, interpersonal considerations and contextual considerations.
Originality/value
We show that overqualification is not a stigma anymore and that the decision to hire an overqualified job applicant or not depends on a mixture of factors that are carefully considered. Two of these three considerations transcend the individual level (i.e. the overqualified person), whereas most research and theories on the consequences of overqualification do not go beyond the individual level. As such, our findings call for more theory and research on interpersonal and contextual factors shaping the consequences of overqualification.
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Arpit Gupta and Arya Kumar Srustidhar Chand
The purpose of this paper is to study the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the Indian manufacturing industries.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on skilled–unskilled wage inequality in the Indian manufacturing industries.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors show theoretically with a model of spillover that if foreign firms (receiving FDI) have a negative spillover effect on domestic firms (not receiving FDI), then the level of capital and skilled workers in the domestic firms falls down. Consequently, the authors conduct an empirical analysis by using system GMM estimation technique on the firm-level data of the Indian organised manufacturing sector.
Findings
The authors show that wage inequality worsens when there is negative spillover effects like competition spillover or skill spillover effect of FDI in India.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure the various spillover effects of FDI on the wage inequality in the Indian manufacturing industries by using firm-level data.
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Manju Dahiya, Ritu Singh and Mallik Arjun Ahluwalia
Purpose: This chapter explores the changing global dynamics of employability and the current skill gaps among college students. Employability is defined as the measure of how…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter explores the changing global dynamics of employability and the current skill gaps among college students. Employability is defined as the measure of how desirable an individual is in the workforce, that is, their skills and knowledge. This chapter is centred on the students’ existing skills, missing skills, and the skill requirements of different industries.
Methodology: For this study, both primary and secondary data have been collected. Case studies have been used to analyse the skill gaps among students and industry requirements. Primary data has been collected from Indian students and case studies from other countries.
Findings: After conducting primary surveys and analysing case studies, we were able to conclude that there are serious skill gaps among students – especially in industries related to new emerging technologies. Educational institutes are not keeping pace with technological changes, and, in some cases, are not taking care of students’ interests. This is a serious problem for unemployed youth around the world.
Practical Implications: This chapter will help design the curriculum, addressing core issues of skill shortages in the labour market in developing and underdeveloped countries, decreasing the labour shortage and increasing employment, and helping countries’ national income.
Significance: This study is important as it addresses the issue of unemployment by providing a clear understanding of the present needs of industries. Educational institutions and the government will be able to design the best curriculum and education policies to provide the youth with all the necessary skills to help them fulfil the needs of industries.
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This study aims to answer if inter-state migrants in India play a more active role than their intra-state counterparts in labor force participation and entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to answer if inter-state migrants in India play a more active role than their intra-state counterparts in labor force participation and entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
A recursive bivariate probit model is used with an instrumental variable (IV) of the total of inter-state migrants in a city over their historical numbers to tackle the endogeneity issue of the migration decision of the migrants.
Findings
Inter-state migrants did a better job than their intra-state counterparts in labor force participation and female inter-state migrants did a better job than their counterparts in wage employment and being day laborers.
Research limitations/implications
The data are from IPUMS and there is no updated nationwide data regrading migration and employment for recent years.
Practical implications
A randomized controlled trail can be carried out near the borders of two states where there are both significant amounts of inter-state and intra-state migrants.
Social implications
The government and international organizations shall focus on cultivating the skills of the female migrants as well as encouraging the entrepreneurship of both types of migrants.
Originality/value
The study focus is on the comparison between intra- and inter-state migrants based on nationwide survey data and the usage of recursive bivariate model and an effective Instrumental Variable.
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Ye Yang, Ling Yuan, Fanchao Zhuo and Ziyi Liu
Much of the research on overqualification has focused on the negative effects at the individual level. However, in the face of the increasing tendency to recruit overqualified…
Abstract
Purpose
Much of the research on overqualification has focused on the negative effects at the individual level. However, in the face of the increasing tendency to recruit overqualified employees, managing the perception of team overqualification can be effective in motivating team members in the current complex and changing business environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the person–environment fit theory, this study examines how team overqualification affects employees' change self-efficacy and how it further motivates employees to engage in strategic scanning behavior toward proactive external information gathering and analysis. The data collection for this study was divided into two stages, spaced three months apart. The analysis of questionnaire data from 290 employees and 72 supervisors confirmed the theoretical hypothesis of this study.
Findings
When employees perceive a higher level of team overqualification, they will generate more strategic scanning behavior. And the change self-efficacy plays a mediating role between team overqualification and strategic scanning behavior and thus team members actively seek information from the external environment to develop future plans and work strategies. Meanwhile, transformational leadership positively moderates this process.
Originality/value
Firstly, this study extends the positive manifestations of overqualification at the team level. Secondly, this study verifies that change self-efficacy mediates the relationship between team overqualification and strategic scanning, enriching the research on the antecedent and outcome variables of change self-efficacy. Finally, this study verified that the interaction effect of transformational leadership and team overqualification had an impact on employee strategic scanning behavior through change self-efficacy.
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Anis Daghar, Leila Alinaghian and Neil Turner
Research on the “black box” of cognitive capital remains limited in supply chain resilience (SCRES) literature. Drawing from an in-depth single case study of a major consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
Research on the “black box” of cognitive capital remains limited in supply chain resilience (SCRES) literature. Drawing from an in-depth single case study of a major consumer electronics multinational facing the COVID-19 disruption, this paper aims to develop a clearer picture of cognitive capital’s elements while contextualizing how they interact with SCRES temporal capabilities to prepare, respond, recover and learn.
Design/methodology/approach
Consisting of 40 in-depth interviews collected during a four-month period, this single case revolves around the buyer’s view across 36 multiregional buyer–supplier dyads, spanning 17 product and service categories. Data were processed during the pandemic, while findings discuss pre- and intra-crisis events based on two scenarios: the impact of disruption on category demand, comparing sudden pandemic-driven product and service demand fluctuations (i.e. increase, decrease); and the geographical proximity of the supplier relative to the buying firm.
Findings
The case unveils different elements of cognitive capital (e.g. shared goals, assumptions, values, kinesics language, multilingualism, virtual negotiation, prior disruption experience, shared process capabilities) during a major global disruption, suggesting that different cognitive capital elements influence positively and differently SCRES’ temporal capabilities. Overall, buying firms are urged to build on cognitive capital to improve SCRES preparation, response, recovery and learning.
Originality/value
This paper extends the understanding of cognitive capital in buyer–supplier relationships by identifying its elements and offering a theoretical articulation of how they enable episodically the four SCRES temporal capabilities under contingencies of increased and decreased demands, and suppliers’ geographical proximity.
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Zhouyue Wu, Xiaohu Zhou, Qiao Wang and Jingjing Liu
Previous studies have examined the emotional mechanism between perceived overqualification and knowledge hiding. Based on a relational perspective, this study aims to draw on…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous studies have examined the emotional mechanism between perceived overqualification and knowledge hiding. Based on a relational perspective, this study aims to draw on social comparison theory to reveal the cognitive mechanism of perceived overqualification on knowledge hiding, along with the mediating effect of relational identification. This research conceptualizes perceived overqualification differentiation and reveals the moderating effect of perceived overqualification differentiation on strengthening the link between perceived overqualification and knowledge hiding.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper conducts two times lagged research, addresses a sample of 216 employees nested in 47 groups from technology or R&D industries and uses structural equation modeling to test an original model.
Findings
The results show that perceived overqualification positively affects knowledge hiding; relational identification mediates this relationship; perceived overqualification differentiation moderates the effect of perceived overqualification on relational identification as well the indirect effect of perceived overqualification on knowledge hiding via relational identification.
Originality/value
This paper shows the cognitive mechanism of perceived overqualification on knowledge hiding. Moreover, this study also extends current perceived overqualification literature from a single individual level/a dyad level to a complex team level by conceptualizing the perceived overqualification differentiation. The research findings are helpful to guide team talent management and knowledge management in business management practice.
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Project Ireland 2040, announced as ‘one vision for one country’, is the spatial plan for Ireland's development for the coming decades. The plan assigns a particular role to…
Abstract
Project Ireland 2040, announced as ‘one vision for one country’, is the spatial plan for Ireland's development for the coming decades. The plan assigns a particular role to Ireland's cities outside Dublin, including Waterford. This chapter considers the place of Waterford in that national strategy and examines that role as an expression of a neoliberal ‘turn’ in Irish planning. Waterford is, in many senses, as will be shown, unexceptional in modern, Western cities; the chapter therefore in considering Waterford also will illuminate some aspects of the planning of other European cities.
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