Silence as a survival strategy: will the silent be worse off? A study of Chinese migrant workers in Guangdong

Abstract

Based on a comprehensive survey of 766 migrant workers in Guangdong province in 2014, this study empirically examines the factors determining why some Chinese migrant workers remain silent when their rights are violated and the consequences of them doing so. The results of the survey show that the migrant workers who are more vulnerable in demographic factors, family dependency, job insecurity and social networks are more likely to stay silent in such circumstances. The results further indicate that silence leads them to be worse off in relation to social security benefits and labour rights. These results challenge the traditional organisational behaviour perspective on silence. The results imply that silence can be a survival strategy for second-class workers and may be evident whereby the disadvantaged have no say and remain silent in exchange for work opportunity, but by doing so are more likely to suffer unfair treatment.     

Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) algorithm to income insecurity susceptibility mapping – A study in the district of Purulia,India

Multi-criteria based prediction models are gradually finding places in the social and economic sciences to assess, locate, and address the complicated socio-economic issues arising around the globe. The incidence of any such issues may be treated as an output of complex interactions between a range of variables linked with ambient physical, socio-cultural, economic as well as the political system. The income insecurity is associated with the malnutrition, economic inequality, poverty, and several other socioeconomic hazards. At present, several studies are aiming to develop the ‘tools and techniques’ of demarcating the areas with some degree of vulnerability to a particular socioeconomic hazard and to examine the internal functions of the interactive variables linked with the hazard. In the present study, we tried to apply the algorithm of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in demarcating the areas susceptible to income insecurity in the district of Purulia, which is a backward district in the state of West Bengal, India, in terms of the overall level of human development achieved so far. The training dataset for developing the AHP model is based on the available secondary data. The model has been validated by running the modeled algorithm on a test dataset and applying the correlation and test of significance between the model output and the collected primary field data. The present model uses fifteen variables and is applicable to most of the subsistence agro-economic systems in tropical areas. The modification of the range of the variables and addition or alteration of variables within the similar structural framework will allow the model getting befitted with the other social and economic systems.     

Toward a continuum of measurement scales in Just-in-Time (JIT) research – an examination of the predictive validity of single-item and multiple-item measures

We compare the predictive validity of single-item and multiple-item measures utilized in Just-in-Time (JIT) research. The study examines if single-item measures could be used for some of the JIT practices, especially if the object of inquiry is concrete singular and if the attribute to be researched is concrete. Arguments are developed for the concrete nature of the JIT practice of “set-up time reduction” and we examine the ability of a single-item measure of this variable to predict the criterion variable (delivery performance). In addition, the study also examines the efficacy of using multiple-item measures for variables that are abstract in nature, and thereby attempts to develop a continuum of JIT constructs ranging from concrete to abstract. The results obtained by analyzing two sets of survey data show that multiple-item measures are not necessarily more valid than single-item measures for all constructs. The findings provide evidence that multiple-item measures and single-item measures for scale development should be contingent upon the nature of constructs. For concrete constructs, single-item measures are as valid as multi-item measures. Meanwhile, for abstract constructs it is important to ensure that multiple items are considered to capture the multi-dimensional nature of these constructs. Results also reveal that JIT practices display significant differences in terms of abstract/concrete perceptions. The paper presents theoretical and practical implications of the findings, and offers directions for future research.     

A study on the mean past lifetime of the components of (n − k + 1)-out-of-n system at the system level

In the present paper, we consider a (n − k + 1)-out-of-n system with identical components where it is assumed that the lifetimes of the components are independent and have a common distribution function F. We assume that the system fails at time t or sometime before t, t > 0. Under these conditions, we are interested in the study of the mean time elapsed since the failure of the components. We call this as the mean past lifetime (MPL) of the components at the system level. Several properties of the MPL are studied. It is proved that the relation between the proposed MPL and the underlying distribution is one-to-one. We have shown that when the components of the system have decreasing reversed hazard then the MPL of the system is increasing with respect to time. Some examples are also provided.     

Environmental Sustainability assessment 2.0: The value of social media data for determining the emotional responses of people to river pollution—A case study of Weibo (Chinese Twitter)

Urban river pollution has brought about serious challenges to residents in terms of bodily health and emotional well-being. Based on a social media platform, Chinese Twitter (Weibo), this paper proposes a research framework to investigate the emotional responses of people according to four dimensions: trends, seasons, space and dynamics (TSSD). This study presents several important findings. First, negative responses were much more common than positive ones across all seasons, 22.8% and 9.2%, respectively, which means that river pollution adversely affects residents' well-being in general. Second, negative responses are likely related to local garbage piles, landslides, heavy rains, traffic jams, and demolition, while positive reactions are likely related to beautiful weather or spending time with family members. Third, summer and winter are more likely to induce negative emotions than spring and autumn, with the negative index of summer or winter approaching 80%. This study confirmed that social media data are of great value in measuring the behaviors and emotional responses of humans to their surrounding environment.     

Contractual networks: an organizational model to reduce the competitive disadvantage of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Europe’s less developed regions. A survey in southern Italy

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Limitations faced by southern Italy’s small enterprises due to their dimensions may be overcome by cooperation strategies and network...     

The StoNED age: the departure into a new era of efficiency analysis? A monte carlo comparison of StoNED and the “oldies” (SFA and DEA)

Based on the seminal paper of Farrell (J R Stat Soc Ser A (General) 120(3):253–290, 1957), researchers have developed several methods for measuring efficiency. Nowadays, the most prominent representatives are nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) and parametric stochastic frontier analysis (SFA), both introduced in the late 1970s. Researchers have been attempting to develop a method which combines the virtues—both nonparametric and stochastic—of these “oldies”. The recently introduced Stochastic non-smooth envelopment of data (StoNED) by Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (J Prod Anal 38(1):11–28, 2012) is such a promising method. This paper compares the StoNED method with the two “oldies” DEA and SFA and extends the initial Monte Carlo simulation of Kuosmanen and Kortelainen (J Prod Anal 38(1):11–28, 2012) in several directions. We show, among others, that, in scenarios without noise, the rivalry is still between the “oldies”, while in noisy scenarios, the nonparametric StoNED PL now constitutes a promising alternative to the SFA ML.     

Toward a non-organizational theory of human resource management? A complex adaptive systems perspective on the human resource management ecosystem in (con)temporary organizing

The emergence of the temporary organization has ushered in a new logic of organizing accompanied by paradigm-shifting challenges with respect to how the evolving nature of work, workers, and collective effort are to be understood. To capture the complexity inherent in this new order, and to broaden our focus from the organization to the enfolding ecosystem within which temporary organizing must be situated and understood, we engage in problematization to develop a multi-level framework for theorizing the contemporary human resource management ecosystem. Curating insights from complexity science, we conceptualize this ecosystem as a complex adaptive one and we propose a framework that integrates key structural (open boundaries and relational constitution), emergent (contextual and complex causality), and temporal (dynamic and adaptive) properties. To deepen lines of inquiry around these defining elements, we advance a series of propositions for testing, and we outline a range of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications that arise from our work.