Digitalisation,unions and participation: the German case of ‘industry 4.0’

This article tackles the question of how labour representatives cope with the implementation of ‘Industrie 4.0’ in German manufacturing plants. Digitalisation of manufacturing is going along with challenges for employment, work organisation and working conditions. The article analyses one of the main strategies German unions have developed, the project ‘Work 2020’, which was to raise works councils' awareness of the workplace impact of digitalisation, improve their knowledge of the changes, raise their capacity to respond and, finally, lead to the negotiation of workplace agreements on this issue with employers. The results of the analysis show that a strong interplay between unions and works councils and the activation of works councils by the unions have become indispensable preconditions for coping with the new challenges both of digitalisation and of the ongoing erosion of the German system of labour relations.     

An analysis of natural disasters’ effects – A global comparative study of ‘Blessing in Disguise’

This paper addresses the intriguing issue of whether natural disasters do not only generate negative impacts on society, but, in the long run – under favourable and effective policy and behavioural responses – also positive outcomes. This challenging and novel resilience question is formulated here as the ‘Blessing in Disguise’ hypothesis. There is quite some speculation in the literature on possible long-term and systemic effects of disasters, but there is little empirical evidence supported by solid quantitative analysis on expected positive outcomes. The challenging aim of the present study – to examine under what conditions natural hazards may lead to positive socio-economic outcomes in the long run (‘Blessing in Disguise’) – is empirically addressed from a resilience perspective. It integrates in one quantitative research framework (the ‘Pentagon model’), a Stimulus-Response approach and a Capability-Theory inspired framing of territorial opportunities in coping with natural disasters, and uses a mix of statistical and econometric analyses, such as multiple linear regression analysis, cluster analysis, and a Stimulus-Response adjusted Difference-in-Difference model. Our findings, based on a global comparative study, show that a ‘Blessing in Disguise’ scenario is frequently a valid proposition that may manifest itself differently in different geographic, social-economic, political and institutional contexts. Although there is not a single pattern of development specific in all cases, it is clear that positive recovery trends can be observed both at the state level, and also at the regional level. The analysed data show regularly incremental changes after recent natural disasters (especially in the long term) at country level, but more thorough positive changes can be identified at the regional scale. In conclusion, the management of disasters requires proper response capacities and appears to create a window of opportunity for improved capabilities, but it is only a conditional possibility that may be transformed into a sustainable form of new development.     

Multivariate ‘analysis of dispersion’ in the presence of intra-class correlation

Summary Subsequent to a review of the effects of familial or intra-class correlation (=ϱ) on the univariateF, or analysis of variance tests, and of methods for obtaining confidence limits for ϱ, results are presented on the effects of familial correlations in tests in multivariate ‘analysis of dispersion’. Methods for obtaining confidence limits are given in the case where a common variance-covariance matrix may be assumed for the successive multivariate samples.     

Children between the age of 5 and 11: what “don’t know” answers tell us

Children are increasingly seen as competent informants on their activities, views and needs. Different abilities of children can lead to inadequate (formally or regarding the content) answers or to the misunderstanding of proceedings during an interview process. One inadequate or at least unintended (on the part of the researcher) response is a “don’t know” answer (DK). To study when and why DK answers occur, a possible cause for them in the cognitive process and their relation to age, we analysed the DK answers given in qualitative semi-structured interviews with children aged 5–11, conducted face-to-face and on the telephone. Each of 56 children was interviewed twice, once face-to-face and once via telephone. The results show that age had an effect on DK responses due to the cognitive state of the respondent and their communicative intent, but there was no difference in the number of DKs due to problems with the research instrument or due to an adequacy judgement in respect of respondent age.     

‘Types’ of private family firms: an exploratory conceptual and empirical analysis

Family firms that can leverage entrepreneurial experience and knowledge can shape local economic development. Practitioners concerned with fostering enterprise sustainability need to be aware that family firms cite contrasting goals, resource profiles and requirements. Family firms are not a homogeneous entity. The ‘targeting’ of support to ‘types’ of family firms could enable practitioners to satisfy their wealth creation and social inclusion objectives. To stimulate increased critical reflection, insights from agency and stewardship theories were drawn upon to illustrate six conceptualized ‘types’ of private firms based on company ownership and management structures as well as company objectives. Cross-sectional survey evidence was gathered from key informants in family firms in the UK. An agglomerative hierarchical QUICK CLUSTER analysis identified seven empirical ‘types’ of family firms. Four out of the six conceptualized ‘types’ were validated by the exploratory empirical taxonomy. Implications for policy-makers and practitioners as well as researchers are discussed.     

A comparative analysis of the work values of Greece's ‘Millennial’ generation

This study adds to the growing body of international evidence concerning the millennial generation (i.e. those born after 1980), by documenting the work values of millennial-aged undergraduate students (N = 649) in Greece, using an adapted version of the Lyons Work Value Survey. Our results show that millennial-aged Greeks place most importance on intrinsic and social aspects of work, and less importance on extrinsic and prestige values. We statistically compare our results to those of published studies of millennial-aged respondents from other countries and find that Greek respondents hold a unique work value profile, although they demonstrate some similarities to counterparts in other countries. Our findings do not clearly support the notion of a ‘global youth generation’, as young people in various countries hold different work value priorities. This suggests that employers seeking to recruit, engage and retain young workers internationally must tailor their offerings to the specific cultural context.     

Technological changes in the era of digitalization: What do collective agreements tell us?

Unionized organizations are implementing more than ever technological changes to cope with an increasingly changing and highly digital environment. Despite the extensive literature on union responses to changes, there is not much evidence on how unions and employers draft provisions pertaining to technological changes in collective agreements. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of these provisions in over 500 collective agreements signed between 2000 and 2020. Specifically, this study focuses on office workers in two of the most important Canadian industries, namely, the healthcare and manufacturing sectors. The findings indicate that within the examined provisions, the regulation of technological change varies along a continuum that extends from no obligations to stringent obligations on the part of the employer. Moreover, the results show that these provisions have remained stable over the past two decades.     

A science mapping analysis of ‘marginality,stigmatization and social cohesion’ in WoS (1963–2019)

Quality & Quantity - The current socio-economic and politico-humanitarian crisis is reflected in the progressive entanglement of social cohesion. The increase of social, political, and economic...     

Connectedness and risk spillovers in China’s stock market: A sectoral analysis

This paper shows how sectors in the Chinese stock market are connected and investigates risk spillovers across these sectors. Using graph theory and a recently developed time series technique, we are able to identify the systemically important sector in the market and the patterns of risk spillovers across sectors over time. Unlike standard econometric modeling, graph theory enables us to approach this question in a more reader-friendly way. The empirical results show that Industrial sector plays a central role and should thus be considered the systemically most important sector in the Chinese stock market. The spillover structure is found to be time-varying. While Industrial sector dominates the system for most of the time, other sectors such as Consumer Discretionary sector also occasionally appear as the central sector. Our empirical results also indicate that the simple correlation-based approach can produce equally useful information as more advanced econometric models.     

Defining the ‘Social’ in ‘Social Entrepreneurship’: Altruism and Entrepreneurship

What is social entrepreneurship? In, particular, what’s so social about it? Understanding what social entrepreneurship is enables researchers to study the phenomenon and policy-makers to design measures to encourage it. However, such an understanding is lacking partly because there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship as yet. In this paper, we suggest a definition of social entrepreneurship that intuitively accords with what is generally accepted as entrepreneurship and that captures the way in which entrepreneurship may be altruistic. Based on this we provide a taxonomy of social entrepreneurship and identify a number of real cases from Asia illustrating the different forms it could take.     

A fuzzy-hybrid analysis of citizens’ perception toward immigrants in Europe

Quality & Quantity - The public and political debate about immigration now play a big role in all European elections, and there is a trend increasing an anti-immigrant sentiment that receives...     

Cross-cultural competence in the context of NGOs: bridging the gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’

Abstract

International human resource management research in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is scarce and it predominantly focuses on the recruitment and retention of volunteers. The context of NGOs is different from conventional for-profit international business settings with different kinds of challenges, especially in terms of providing appropriate training on managing multi-cultural teams and working with local project partners and communities. The literature also tends to focus on expatriate perspective and not on a host country perspective. We address this gap by examining how project managers and hosts experience cross-cultural issues on overseas assignments. We study volunteer project managers leading international and local youth volunteers during the Raleigh International programme in Malaysia. We use a qualitative methodology and data collected at 3 case locations via participant observation during 120 days contact with the respondents as well as interviews and surveys. We propose the CPACE (Curiosity, Passion, Adaptability, Communication and Empathy) framework describing competences needed in cross-cultural encounters and based on respondents’ actions as well as their words and it is relevant to a NGO context. The framework is intended to lay the foundation for future research and in particular to demonstrate the need for cross-cultural competence to be more grounded in particular contexts.     

The profile of the ‘Good Judge’ in HRM: A systematic review and agenda for future research

In light of the pivotal importance of judgments and ratings in human resource management (HRM) settings, a better understanding of the individual differences associated with being a good judge is sorely needed. This review provides an overview of individual difference characteristics that have been associated with the accurate judges in HRM. We review empirical findings over >80 years to identify what we know and do not know about the individual difference correlates of being an accurate judge. Overall, findings suggest that judges' cognitive factors show stronger and more consistent relationships with rating accuracy than personality-related factors. Specific intelligences in the social cognition domain, such as dispositional reasoning (complex understanding of traits, behaviors and a situation's potential to manifest traits into behaviors) show particular promise to help understanding what makes an accurate judge. Importantly, our review also highlights the scarcity of research on HRM context (selection vs. performance appraisal settings) and judges' motivation to distort ratings. To guide future research, we present a model that links assessor constructs to key processes required for accurate judgment and ratings in HRM contexts. The discussion suggests twenty questions for future work in this field.     

Institutional logics and innovation in times of crisis: Telemedicine as digital ‘PPE’

How do crises shape digital innovation? In this paper we examine the rapid adoption of digital telemedicine technologies in an Israeli hospital with a focus on the role of the institutional logics held by the stakeholders responding to emerging events. With the onset of COVID-19, the need for social distancing and minimal physical contact challenged and interrupted hospital practices. In response, remote audio-visual functionality of digital technologies were appropriated in different ways, as stakeholders – state actors, managers, health professionals, and family members – sought to improvise and enhance the protection of persons concerned. We show how emerging practices were guided by the dominant institutional logics of stakeholders responding to the crisis. Acting for many as a digital form of ‘personal protective equipment’ (PPE), the technologies enabled diverse action possibilities to become manifest in practices. We add to understanding the role of institutional logics in directing the attention of stakeholders to shape digital innovation in times of crisis.     

‘A life on the ocean wave’: the ‘post-socialist’ careers of Chinese,Russian and Eastern European seafarers

The emergence of the global labour market (GLM) provides a novel platform for young professional workers to design and develop their careers. This is particularly true for those from China, the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, where economic liberation has made it easier for professionals to move both internally and internationally. Taking into account national variations in economic transition and political constraints, several questions are raised. How does the GLM, for example, influence its choice of employers and career development? What are the similarities and differences between Chinese and Eastern European seafarers? What factors contribute to these differences? Those questions are addressed here, through a study of the case of seafarers for whom a global labour market has been established since the 1980s. By collecting crew information worldwide, a global seafarer database has been built in the Seafarers' International Research Centre (SIRC) at Cardiff University. Accordingly, this paper develops a methodological framework for analysing and comparing seafarers' careers, and revealing the features of career development amongst four major seafarer supplier countries: China, Russia, the Ukraine and Poland.     

Appreciating and ‘retooling’ diversity in talent management conceptual models: A commentary on “The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda”

This commentary on “The Psychology of Talent Management” suggests that readers should avoid concluding that the diversity of talent management concepts across psychological disciplines is something to be “corrected,” and instead embrace it as a resource to be tapped for future understanding. It suggests two frameworks to enhance these efforts: “Retooling” talent management using well-known frameworks applied to more traditional organizational resources, and tapping research on “shared mental models” through which teams articulate and appreciate their diverse concepts of tasks and goals.     

The importance of ‘fitting in’: collaboration and social value creation in response to community norms and expectations

Abstract

This article explores the effects of embeddedness in communities upon entrepreneurial practices. Based on the lived experiences of 10 craft entrepreneurs, this study reveals that within certain contexts, such as craft communities, entrepreneurs are expected to exhibit high levels of camaraderie and generosity, which leads them to create social value by supporting their peers and freely sharing their resources. Entrepreneurs achieve ‘fitting in’ not only by learning accepted norms, but also by performing strategic actions which allow them to temporarily adapt their conduct to meet the expectations of community members. Thus, this study exposes a largely concealed element of social entrepreneurial practice. This article also reveals that embeddedness in communities can lead entrepreneurs to collaborate with potential competitors. Craft entrepreneurs share their economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital in order to support and help revitalise their communities, to perpetuate their respective industries and to sustain a genuine interest in hand-crafted products. They consider such supportive behaviour a social responsibility that is shared among community members and a task that is passed from one generation to the next. Thus, this article reveals that collaboration and social value creation can be embraced in response to community norms and expectations.     

Taking stock of expatriates’ career success after international assignments: A review and future research agenda

This systematic literature review explores studies addressing the objective career success and subjective career success of company-assigned and self-initiated expatriates after their long-term international assignments. Expatriate work is defined as high-density work that affects employee learning and career trajectories. We develop a holistic expatriate career success framework exploring the following questions: 1) What individual career impact results from international assignments? 2) What are the antecedents of such career success? and 3) What are the outcomes of assignees’ career success? A previously neglected range of theoretical perspectives, antecedents, and outcomes of expatriate career success is identified. Subsequently, a threefold contribution is made. First, we extend the conceptualization of international work density to unveil the differences between general and global career concepts. Second, we identify promising theories that have not been utilized in expatriation research, emphasizing context-related and learning theories that chime with the specific nature of global careers. Lastly, we suggest an extensive future research agenda.     

A comparison of the effectiveness of unions and non-union works councils in Korea: can non-union employee representation substitute for trade unionism?

Using survey data from 857 employees of three unionized and three non-union establishments in Korea, this study compares the effectiveness of unions and non-union employee representation (NER). Union members appear to expect more from and to be more satisfied with unions than is the case for non-union employees regarding the activities of non-union works councils. This tendency is stronger in regard to distributive and employee advocacy issues than to mutual interest issues. Union members express stronger commitment to their unions than do non-union employees to their works councils. However, union members and works council members are not significantly different in terms of organizational commitment, job satisfaction and perceived industrial relations climate. Overall, the findings indicate that the structural weaknesses of NER are more evident than its positive attitudinal effects.