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1 – 10 of 21Chuka Onwumechili and Unwana Samuel Akpan
This chapter examines changes in Nigerian family roles because of the gap that exists in communication between left-at-home footballers' wives and their absentee husbands who are…
Abstract
This chapter examines changes in Nigerian family roles because of the gap that exists in communication between left-at-home footballers' wives and their absentee husbands who are working at significant distances from their families' permanent residence. Based on a study of 12 football (i.e., soccer) players in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and contextualized within the field of sport labor, the study adds knowledge about the impact of footballer migration on left-behind families. The interview data produced five major themes: long-distance marital communication, effects of a paternalistic family culture, extended family issues, effects of father's absence on children, and effects of loneliness and loss of intimacy on wives. The results demonstrate changing roles among the married couples and extended families who were investigated in this study, perhaps indicating what is happening among similar families in Nigeria. It is notable that although the demands of professional football create this impact on families, there is considerable cultural resistance to role changes, because these changes grant the women new and possibly unexpected roles and increased domestic power. Their husbands, despite being away from home, appear to resist these changes and struggle to assert traditional power from afar. In many cases, the women expertly maneuver around this struggle and, in cases where disagreements emerge, they often use effective strategies to resolve problems and maintain a united family.
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The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors informing spousal global mobility decisions within the context of sporting expatriation. Findings contribute to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors informing spousal global mobility decisions within the context of sporting expatriation. Findings contribute to the non-corporate global mobility literature as well as providing an empirical enhancement to the family relatedness of work decisions framework.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews gave voice to 21 spouses of professional sailors who have experienced both trailing their spouse and staying behind.
Findings
Access to empathetic social support, the potential impact on children, and the spouse’s career were all found to influence the spouse’s dynamic global mobility decision making.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited by the cross-sectional nature of the research. Future longitudinal research into the impact of spousal preferences would identify the on-going effect of their decision(s) to relocate or to stay behind.
Practical implications
Providing organisations with an understanding of the familial issues their global talent may factor into their work mobility decisions will allow them to implement appropriate family-focussed support, irrespective of the choice to engage, or not engage, in global mobility.
Originality/value
By grounding the study in the under-researched sporting arena, the author contributes to the emerging non-corporate expatriate conversation. Furthermore, the family relatedness of work-related decisions framework was found to provide a useful conceptual foundation for understanding decision making in an international context.
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Drawing on interviews with football wives from the Canadian Football League (CFL), this article examines how these women define their personal identity through their talk about…
Abstract
Drawing on interviews with football wives from the Canadian Football League (CFL), this article examines how these women define their personal identity through their talk about being married to a pro football player. Using the concept of courtesy identity and Anderson and Snow’s (1987) conceptualization of identity talk, this chapter explains the processes in which these women claim a courtesy identity of a football wife. I identify two strategies these women use to construct their identity: distancing from stereotypes and envisioning self as his teammate. I argue that women performed this verbal identity work in pursuit of legitimizing their courtesy identity of a football wife. They accomplish this by distancing self from a stereotypical, anticipated social identity of the football wife as a “gold digger” or naïve woman and then working up another socially positive and normative one that they are supportive women who have worked alongside their husband and are part of their career. I conclude by summarizing the findings and argue that by constructing themselves as devoted football wives, they uphold these idealized images of traditional masculinity and femininity in professional sports.
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This paper aims to provide a critical overview of the significant and growing challenges that countries and organizations face with attracting and retaining foreign talent.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a critical overview of the significant and growing challenges that countries and organizations face with attracting and retaining foreign talent.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes information from academia, business and the media on the challenges for countries and companies in winning the war for foreign talent.
Findings
The paper shows that governments and companies need to engage with foreign professionals at an early stage in their careers in order to reap the benefits of their human capital in the long term.
Practical implications
The paper reveals how organizations and whole regions can benefit from attracting foreign talent.
Social implications
The paper emphasizes that organizations need to look beyond the traditional economic incentives of career opportunities and salaries to other social and lifestyle factors outside the workplace.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the growing competition for foreign talent, which is a zero‐sum game between countries and companies. The winners will be those who recognize the importance of foreign talent at all stages of a country's economic cycle, those who invest in this invaluable resource earlier, as well those who recognize the value of economic and non‐economic incentives.
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This article investigates social class, income and gender effects on the importance of utilitarian and subjective evaluative decision criteria over a variety of products…
Abstract
This article investigates social class, income and gender effects on the importance of utilitarian and subjective evaluative decision criteria over a variety of products considered more and less socially significant. Variations in attitude, motivation and value orientations associated with differences in occupational opportunities and demands, childhood socialization patterns and educational influences may lead consumers to vary in many of their purchase behaviors across social classes. It was found here that social class is a significant predictor of evaluative criterion importance for a number of products. The influence was moderated by the objectivity of the criterion and the social sensitivity of the product. Because of its link to choice limitation in decision making, income was expected to be an influence on evaluative criteria. A greater number of utilitarian criterion importance ratings for socially non‐significant products were related to income, and utilitarian criteria importance, in general, was negatively associated with income for low social value products. Application of relative class income levels led to a substantially greater number of significant relationships compared with income or social class alone. The gender of respondents was found to relate to the observed associations, with women generally attaching more importance to virtually all evaluative criteria and exhibiting different relative importance levels for criteria across class and income levels.
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Bert Cunnington and David Limerick
The traditional model of management, the human relations model, the systems model, are all overtaken by the fourth blueprint — a frame of reference claimed to be more relevant to…
Abstract
The traditional model of management, the human relations model, the systems model, are all overtaken by the fourth blueprint — a frame of reference claimed to be more relevant to the world we live and work in.
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