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Article
Publication date: 9 January 2019

Orlando Gomes and Sónia Pereira

The academic literature is currently placing significant attention on the study of the socio-economic consequences of the observable fast automation of all sectors of economic…

Abstract

Purpose

The academic literature is currently placing significant attention on the study of the socio-economic consequences of the observable fast automation of all sectors of economic activity. The purpose of this paper is to systematize meaningful ideas on the economic impact of the rise of the robots.

Design/methodology/approach

With the goal of evaluating the channels through which the current wave of fast technological change affects the organization and performance of the economy and the behavior of agents, the paper is structured into two parts. The first part assesses the state of knowledge regarding the potential revolutionary role of robot use in production. The second part designs a model aimed at exposing the interplay between the most prominent features associated with the new economic reality.

Findings

The current wave of innovation has implications that escape conventional economic thinking. The evaluation and prediction of what the new phenomena brings is fundamental to design policies that prevent income inequality to widen and growth to slow down.

Research limitations/implications

The full macroeconomic impact of the fast, pervasive and irreversible automation of production is far from being completely assimilated. At this level, no benchmark model should be interpreted as a definitive framework of analysis, and economic thought should evolve alongside with empirically observed evidence.

Originality/value

We are facing an automation convulsion that replaces humans by machines at an unprecedented fast rate. This paper systematizes ideas about this process and offers a novel conceptual model to better understand what really is at stake.

Details

Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1026-4116

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 September 2012

Sonia Pereira

The purpose of this paper is to challenge the idea of the immobile immigrant worker, trapped in the bottom segments of the labour market, by exploring how immigrants and their…

1198

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to challenge the idea of the immobile immigrant worker, trapped in the bottom segments of the labour market, by exploring how immigrants and their descendants (sometimes designated second generation immigrants) develop re‐emigration strategies in their first country of settlement in Europe when faced with structural or conjunctural barriers to the advancement of their socio‐economic situation.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical evidence was collected through structured interviews aimed at capturing labour market and residential trajectories of workers of African origin and their descendants in Portugal, with a particular emphasis on the period between 1998 and 2006.

Findings

Findings suggest that in some cases, immigrants draw on social networks available to them to engage in processes of continued intra‐European mobility. International re‐emigration emerges as a work‐space mobility strategy for migrant workers and their descendants when there was no significant social mobility in the first destination. Similarly, international geographical mobility may constitute a self‐perpetuating strategy across generations to escape structural immobility faced by certain immigrant groups in destination contexts.

Research limitations/implications

Experiences reported are situated, so cannot be taken to represent those of all workers of African origin in Portugal.

Social implications

Findings presented in the paper highlight potential consequences of perpetuating geographical mobility throughout time, namely in terms of labour market conditions and family dynamics. They also highlight the need to look at socio‐economic mobility trajectories within Europe as integrated space and not just within national borders.

Originality/value

The paper proposes an encompassing view of migrants’ (im)mobilities over time, to include the conditions of their labour market incorporation and its links to further spatial, international, mobility.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 31 March 2015

Sonia Pereira, Erik Snel and Margrietha ‘t Hart

To identify the trajectories of occupational mobility among non-EU immigrant workers in Europe and to test empirical data against neoclassical human capital theory that predicts…

Abstract

Purpose

To identify the trajectories of occupational mobility among non-EU immigrant workers in Europe and to test empirical data against neoclassical human capital theory that predicts upward occupational mobility and labor market segmentation theories proposing immigrant confinement to secondary segments.

Methodology/approach

Data from survey and semi-structured interviews (2,859 and 357, respectively) with immigrants from Brazil, Ukraine, and Morocco in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Norway. Multinomial regression analysis to test the likelihood of moving downward, upward, or stability and identify explanatory factors, complemented with qualitative evidence.

Findings

We found support for the thesis of segmented labor market theories of limited upward occupational mobility following migration. However, immigrants with longer residence in the destination country have higher chances of upward mobility compared to stability and downward mobility, giving also support for the neoclassical human capital theory. Frail legal status impacts negatively on upward mobility chances and men more often experience upward mobility after migration than women.

Research limitations/implications

Findings reflect the specific situation of immigrants from three origin countries in four destination areas and cannot be taken as representative. In the multinomial regression we cannot distinguish between cohort effects and duration of stay.

Social implications

Education obtained in the destination country is very important for migrants’ upward occupational mobility, bearing important policy implications with regards to migrants’ integration.

Originality/value of paper

Its focus on trajectories of mobility through migration looking at two important transitions: (1) from last occupation in the origin country to first occupation at destination and (2) from first occupation to current occupation and offers a wide cross-country comparison both in terms of origin and destination countries in Europe.

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 31 March 2015

Abstract

Details

Immigration and Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-632-4

Book part
Publication date: 31 March 2015

Abstract

Details

Immigration and Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-632-4

Book part
Publication date: 31 March 2015

Abstract

Details

Immigration and Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-632-4

Book part
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Filomena Santos and Rita Dias

In the twenty-first century, the family has been turning towards a greater plurality of training paths, situations, family and parental arrangements. However, despite changes in…

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, the family has been turning towards a greater plurality of training paths, situations, family and parental arrangements. However, despite changes in legislation, values, representations and practices, the word family remains inexorably associated with the heterosexual bi-parental model. This paper aims to contribute to the knowledge of the family dynamics of non-heterosexual people, mainly concerning the process of transition to parenting, in relation to family changes in Portuguese society. To do so this study aims to analyze four in-depth interviews1 with young adults, women and men who have a homoconjugality relationship and a project of parenting in mind.

Based on a qualitative methodology the study intends to discuss issues related to the challenge of heteronormativity, equality within the couple, projects and gender representations of parenthood and in particular what it means for the men and women interviewed, to be a father and to be a mother in a same sex couple and how they project themselves as fathers and mothers.

The study discusses all these issues always in relation to the biographical trajectories, the history and life as a couple and the structural and individual resources, such as school and professional qualifications. It also analyzes the main difficulties experienced in revealing their sexuality to the significant others and the difficulties / strategies they anticipate in relation to the parenting project.

The authors conclude that female interviewees show greater independence of a male figure in relation to their parental projects and anticipate less difficulty in their parental skills compared with the gay man interviewed.

To analyze the dynamics of parenting in same-sex couples, this study also points out to the need to construct a model of analysis capable of articulating structural factors, such as job insecurity and heteronormativity, biographies and individual resources and profiles of conjugal interactions.

Details

Childbearing and the Changing Nature of Parenthood: The Contexts, Actors, and Experiences of Having Children
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-067-2

Keywords

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to define a dashboard of indicators to assess the quality performance of higher education institutions (HEI). The instrument is termed SMART-QUAL.

Design/methodology/approach

Two sources were used in order to explore potential indicators. In the first step, information disclosed in official websites or institutional documentation of 36 selected HEIs was analyzed. This first step also included in depth structured high managers’ interviews. A total of 223 indicators emerged. In a second step, recent specialized literature was revised searching for indicators, capturing additional 302 indicators.

Findings

Each one of the 525 total indicators was classified according to some attributes and distributed into 94 intermediate groups. These groups feed a debugging, prioritization and selection process, which ended up in the SMART-QUAL instrument: a set of 56 key performance indicators, which are grouped in 15 standards, and, in turn, classified into the 3 HEI missions. A basic model and an extended model are also proposed.

Originality/value

The paper provides a useful measure of quality performance of HEIs, showing a holistic view to monitor HEI quality from three fundamental missions. This instrument might assist HEI managers for both assessing and benchmarking purposes. The paper ends with recommendations for university managers and public administration authorities.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 40 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 30 May 2017

Abstract

Details

Brazil
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-785-4

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present and describe the main actions carried out in six different faculties and common areas such as cultural and research centres and administrative buildings in the Ferrol campus at the University of A Coruña to achieve the second green flag on a Galician University.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study describing the steps for implementing a green campus programme in a medium-size, young university campus integrated into a small city. An Environmental Campus Committee was created to assess the main factors that affect environmental footprint, discuss sustainability initiatives and develop a guide to action regarding different goals related to sustainable transport options, energy, water conservation and waste reduction. The actions included several fields such as education, circular economy and healthy life and involved the on and off-campus community.

Findings

The programme achieved a decrease in water consumption and electrical energy. An important change in educational values and behaviours regarding sustainability was observed in and out of the campus community. The measurements adopted mainly in waste management, mobility and education led the Ferrol campus to achieve a green campus flag on November 2019.

Originality/value

This experiment can serve as a guide to establish the Green Campus philosophy in other similar university campuses.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 21 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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