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The purpose of this study is to address United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs) 8 and 9 from a service perspective. SDG 8 is a call to improve the dignity of service work by enhancing wages, working conditions and development opportunities while SDG 9 calls upon nations to construct resilient infrastructures, promote inclusivity and sustainability and foster innovation.

This study uses a bibliometric review to extract important themes from a variety of scholarly journals.

Researchers tend to investigate policy-level topics, such as national and international standards related to working conditions, while ignoring the experiences or well-being of workers occupying marginalized and low-opportunity roles in service organizations. Service researchers, educators and practitioners must collaborate to improve the state of service industries by conducting participatory action research, promoting grassroots organizing/advocacy, implementing digitized customer service and addressing workforce soft skills deficiencies.

The authors consider how service work can be transformed into respectable employment and present four specific ways nations can enhance their service industries.

Economic planners can view SDGs 8 and 9 as a framework for understanding and promoting the well-being of service employees and accelerating the productivity and innovation levels of the service sector.

The United Nations’ SDGs are examined from a services perspective, which increases their significance in service-dominated economies.

Chronic illnesses often go unnoticed mainly due to their invisibility and lack of understanding both at home and in the workplace. In this chapter, I use an autoethnographic approach to engage with my “emotionally charged” lived experiences of living and working with a stigmatized chronic illness – irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) – in a highly patriarchal Pashtun society where women are expected to perform various social roles despite of illness and are often silenced to male domination. IBS is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain, abnormal bowel function, and bloating, in the absence of any structural abnormalities, and has a significant impact on one’s life. As I navigate through my experiences of suffering from a chronic illness and the emotional labor involved therein, I shed light on the challenges I face as a woman in managing work and life and as I silence my pain and emotions to fit into the roles of a “professional” academic, a “good” wife, a “good” daughter, a “good” sister-in-law, a “good” daughter-in-law, and so forth. I have used both the lens of stigma to reflect my sufferings and normalization to demonstrate my resilience and (re)adjustment to the new life. In doing so, pain and emotions do leak out during intense situations but silencing chronic illness is mostly strategic as it protects us from being excluded, marginalized, and stigmatzed both at work and home.

This photovoice study aims to explore how cleaners experience dirty and invisible work in the workplace.

This research is twofold. The authors first used the photovoice technique, which is one of the visual data collection techniques, to elaborate on the phenomena. The data were obtained with the participation of seven people (four women and three men) from building cleaners working at two public universities in Turkey. Three photographs were requested from each participant and selected nine photographs were described and analyzed among the collected 21 photographs. In addition to photovoice research, five interviews gave insight into the cleaners’ experiences in the second stage of the study.

This research revealed that participating cleaners experienced invisible dirty work and they felt undervalued, despised, treated as “second class/low-level people” and stigmatized.

This study recommends that university administrations defend the rights and dignity of cleaners at work, provide services to support their inclusion and increase staff awareness.

This study sheds light into an understudied area which is the building cleaners’ invisible and dirty work experiences and how that impacts their lives via a photovoice research.

The high turnover rate among interns exacerbates the shortage of human resources in the hospitality industry. This study is based on previous concerns about the impact of occupational stigma and internship on turnover intention. This study aims to explore how the career adaptability of interns influences their perception of occupational stigma and occupational identity.

By using stratified sampling, semistructured interviews were conducted with 34 respondents who had academic and vocational education backgrounds. The data analysis was performed using the thematic analysis method.

This study demonstrates that a high level of career adaptability helps to reduce interns’ perception of occupational stigma and strengthen their occupational identity. Students from academic and vocational schools display different levels of career adaptability in terms of job matching and career promotion. In addition, the long-term influence on occupational identity is more significant from professional development potential compared to job adaptation.

This study provides valuable insights into the complex relationship between occupational stigma and occupational identity from the perspective of career adaptability. Moreover, it highlights the importance of job adaption, matching, promotion and professional development in retaining talent within the hospitality industry.

This study innovatively focuses on job matching and career promotion for coping with occupational stigma. It also considers interns’ educational backgrounds, facilitating further understanding of occupational identity under the influence of stigma. A fresh perspective on talent adaptation and retention in the hospitality industry is provided.

实习生的高流动率加剧了酒店业人力资源的短缺。本研究在职业污名与实习对离职倾向影响的研究基础上, 主要探讨了实习生的职业适应如何影响其职业污名感知和职业认同。

研究采用分层抽样的方法, 对34名拥有学术和职业教育背景的受访者进行半结构访谈, 并采用主题分析法进行数据分析。

研究发现, 良好的职业适应有助于减少实习生的职业污名感知, 并增强其职业认同。学术学校和职业学校的学生在工作匹配和职业晋升方面表现出不同程度的职业适应。此外, 职业发展潜力对职业认同的影响比工作适应更加长远。

本研究从职业适应的角度对职业污名与职业认同之间的复杂关系提供了有价值的见解。此外, 它还强调了工作适应、匹配、晋升和专业发展在酒店业人才保留方面的重要性。

本研究创新地关注了职业匹配与职业晋升对应对职业污名和提升职业认同的影响。研究还考虑了实习生教育背景的差异性, 进一步深化对污名影响下的职业认同的理解, 为酒店行业的人才适应和保留提供了一个新的研究视角。

La elevada tasa de rotación entre los trabajadores en prácticas agrava la escasez de recursos humanos en el sector de la hostelería. Este estudio se basa en preocupaciones previas sobre el impacto del estigma ocupacional y las prácticas en la intención de rotación. Explora principalmente cómo influye la adaptabilidad profesional de los becarios en su percepción del estigma ocupacional y la identidad ocupacional.

Mediante un muestreo estratificado, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a 34 encuestados con formación académica y profesional. El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante el método de análisis temático.

Este estudio demuestra que un alto nivel de adaptabilidad profesional contribuye a reducir la percepción de estigma ocupacional de los estudiantes en prácticas y a reforzar su identidad ocupacional. Los estudiantes de escuelas académicas y de formación profesional muestran diferentes niveles de adaptabilidad profesional en términos de adecuación al puesto de trabajo y promoción profesional. Además, la influencia a largo plazo sobre la identidad ocupacional es más significativa del potencial de desarrollo profesional en comparación con la adaptación laboral.

El estudio aporta información valiosa sobre la compleja relación entre el estigma ocupacional y la identidad ocupacional desde la perspectiva de la adaptabilidad profesional. Además, pone de relieve la importancia de la adaptación del puesto de trabajo, el emparejamiento, la promoción y el desarrollo profesional para retener el talento dentro de la industria de la hostelería.

Este estudio se centra de forma innovadora en la adecuación al puesto de trabajo y la promoción profesional para hacer frente al estigma laboral. También tiene en cuenta los antecedentes educativos de los becarios, lo que facilita una mayor comprensión de la identidad ocupacional bajo la influencia del estigma. Se aporta una nueva perspectiva sobre la adaptación y la retención del talento en la industria de la hostelería.

Public relations (PR) research has given little space to the opinions, innovations and experiences of those working in marginalised or ‘dirty’ roles or occupations. To ensure that the worlds of these ‘others’ are represented this chapter explores the lives and work of women working in PR and communication roles in the ‘adult’ industry (worth an estimated $15 billion worldwide). Tibbals notes that ‘the voices and experiences of women working in the adult film industry are often overlooked’ (2013, p. 21) and dismissing a highly profitable but ‘dirty’ sector is to overlook and denigrate the people who work in it and the experiences and knowledge created therein. To explore my research questions I gathered informal interview data from women working in PR and combined this with published literature which recorded the lives of women who carried out PR and communications roles in the adult industry. My research demonstrates that high quality PR work is carried out within the adult industry and that the industry attracts women from diverse backgrounds, many of whom progress quickly within a meritorious environment. Nonetheless, these women often feel difficulty in explaining or justifying their work to family and friends and have strategies to avoid discussing their work to those outside the industry. They also have to work within a media environment where adult industry issues are not well or correctly reported.

Pregnant employees experience considerable interpersonal discrimination. This study explores the range of possible reactions of observers to pregnancy self-disclosure, interpersonal discrimination and various allyship interventions, and the attentional processes that lead to those reactions. Consequently, it uncovers socio-cognitive processes underlying support for and backlash toward pregnancy in the workplace.

This study used a thought-listing technique to explore observers’ spontaneous thoughts related to pregnancy. Working adults were randomly assigned to read through one of the six scenarios depicting pregnancy self-disclosure, interpersonal discrimination and male allyship interventions (i.e. stating the organization’s anti-discrimination policy, confronting the transgressor by calling out sexism, pivoting the conversation to highlight the strengths of the pregnant employee and a hybrid intervention combining highlighting strengths and confrontation) after which participants listed the top three thoughts that came to their mind (1,668 responses). Responses were thematically analyzed to explore spontaneous reactions toward the pregnant employee, transgressor and ally in the scenario.

Surprisingly, across all scenarios, the most sexist thoughts emerged during pregnancy self-disclosure, even in the absence of any transgression. After a transgression occurred, any allyship intervention was better than none in eliciting lesser sexist backlash against the pregnant employee. Stating the organization’s anti-discrimination policy was most beneficial for the pregnant employee in eliciting the least sexist backlash but at the cost of generating unfavorable impressions of the ally. Calling out the transgressor’s bias elicited the most sexist backlash toward the pregnant employee, yet it created favorable impressions of the ally. In contrast, highlighting the strengths of the pregnant employee created the most favorable impression of the ally while eliciting a few sexist thoughts about the pregnant employee. Overall, the hybrid intervention was the most effective at balancing the competing goals of generating support for the pregnant employee, creating favorable impressions of the ally, as well as holding the transgressor accountable.

This study demonstrates that the type of allyship intervention critically redirects the attentional focus of observers to certain aspects of a discrimination episode and relevant schemas which can generate support or backlash toward targets, transgressors and allies, thereby advancing or obstructing equity and inclusion in organizations.

Career burnout is prevalent in the PR industry, precisely when demand for professionals is increasing. While career burnout has been included in studies and theorising on professionalism and feminisation, issues with turnover and burnout remain.

Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study draws upon the lived experiences of 30 current and former female Australian PR professionals to gain an understanding of how they perceive signs of career burnout and the factors that contribute to it.

Career burnout is an occupational syndrome whereby someone gradually morphs from being highly motivated in their role to emotionally exhausted, cynical and/or experiencing feelings of failure. It is a protracted response to chronic workplace demands and stressors, and includes three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment. It is specifically a workplace phenomenon, distinguished from anxiety and depression, which can emerge in any context.

A key contributor to career burnout were PR-specific workplace stressors that were perceived to stem from a lack of respect for, or understanding of, PR as a profession. The stressors included the need to‘prove the spend’of PR, unreasonable deadlines, clients disregarding advice or counsel, as well as broader societal perceptions of PR as ‘spin doctors’. This often led to the PR practitioner undertaking work that went against their own advice or resulted in unsuccessful organisational outcomes they felt could have been avoided had their advice been listened to and valued. The workplace factors contributing to burnout overlap in complex ways and the study supports the idea that burnout is a product of situational contexts, despite being acutely felt at the individual level.

Research related to workplace accommodation requests for employees with mental illness is scarce, though evidence suggests that these individuals often fail to request accommodations even when needed. The authors' research study aimed to address these shortcomings by (1) assessing employees' knowledge of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws and how this knowledge influences employees' perceived need for and requests of accommodations; (2) examining the relationship between employees' perceived need for accommodations and employees' workplace outcomes and (3) examining the relationship between perceived need for accommodations and employees' actual accommodation requests, as well as how stigma influences this relationship.

The authors used two survey studies to investigate their research questions. Study 1 participants were recruited through Amazon's MTurk, and Study 2 participants were recruited through support groups for individuals diagnosed with mood disorders (i.e. depression and bipolar disorder).

The authors found significant gaps in both subjective and objective ADA-related knowledge among participants in their sample. The authors' Study 1 results also revealed an interaction between the perceived need for accommodations and accommodation requests in predicting job satisfaction and turnover intentions. When employees needed accommodations but did not request them, it resulted in worsened workplace outcomes. In Study 2, the authors aimed to identify barriers to requesting accommodations. The authors found that the relationship between perceived need for accommodations and actual accommodation requests was moderated by both public and self-stigma, thereby showing that stigma can impede individuals from requesting needed accommodations at work.

The authors' study sheds light on a population that has been relatively understudied in the workplace accommodations literature, namely those with mental illness. The authors first identify the perceived need for accommodations as an important factor in making accommodations requests at work, as prior work has failed to differentiate how the need for accommodations can vary across individuals. Next, the authors show how workplace outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and turnover intentions) are negatively affected when employees need accommodations but do not request them. Finally, the authors demonstrate how both public stigma and self-stigma can reduce the likelihood that individuals request accommodations at work, even when needed.

This study aims to investigate disclosure of asbestos-related liabilities in corporate accounts and counter-accounts to examine whether and how accounting contributes to corporate accountability for asbestos-contaminated products.

This study uses the Goffmanesque perspective on impression management to examine instances of concealed asbestos-related liabilities in corporate accounts vis-à-vis the revealing of such liabilities in counter-accounts.

The findings show counter-accounts provide significant information on liabilities originating from the exposure of employees and consumers to asbestos. By contrast, the malleability of accounting tools enables companies to eschew accounting disclosures. While the frontstage positive performance of companies served an impression management role, their backstage concealing actions enabled companies to cover up asbestos-related liabilities. These companies used three categories of mechanisms to avoid disclosure of asbestos-related liabilities: concealing via a “cloak of competence”, impression management via epistemic work and a silent strategy of concealment frontstage with strategic reorganisation backstage.

This study has policy relevance as regulators need to consider the limits of corporate disclosures as an accountability tool. The findings may also initiate academic and practitioner conversations about accounting standards for long-term liabilities.

This study highlights the strategies companies use both frontstage and backstage to avoid disclosing asbestos-related liabilities. Through analysis of accounts and counter-accounts, this study identifies the limits of accounting as an accountability tool regarding asbestos-induced diseases and deaths.