An International Study of Trade Union Involvement in Community Organizing: Same Model,Different Outcomes

This article reports on a two‐year study of union/community organizing in the UK, USA and Australia. It takes a particular model of organizing — that of the Industrial Areas Foundation — and analyses trade union engagement in coalition‐building activity in each of the three countries. Findings show mixed approaches to working with community groups from ad hoc instrumentalism to deep coalition‐building. While these variations may, in part, be explained by different industrial relations contexts, it appears that the ‘fit’ between ideology and culture of unions and their coalition partners, as well as the practices and strategies that reinforce this fit, have much greater effect on the attitude and behaviour of unions towards non‐workplace‐based organizing. The article contributes to debates about the conditions under which unions succeed (or not) in sustaining strong coalition‐building beyond their traditional constituencies.     

Mapping the Impact of Social Media for Innovation: The Role of Social Media in Explaining Innovation Performance in the PDMA Comparative Performance Assessment Study

Social media (SM) allow users to easily create, edit, or share content. The vast numbers of individuals that converge around sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter embody a rich source of external knowledge that could be utilized for new product development (NPD). Complementing other channels for open innovation (OI), SM can provide access to novel information about customer needs and technological solutions unknown to the firm. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are considerable benefits from using SM during an innovation project, but empirical evidence is scarce. Contributing to the perspective of openness in search, a number of hypotheses propose how SM as a new channel for OI can contribute to firm performance. This model is tested using data from the PDMA Comparative Performance Assessment Study, identifying factors influencing the relationship between SM and NPD performance. The findings indicate that utilizing information from SM channels can lead to higher performance, but that this link is influenced by the formalization of a firm's NPD process. This study also finds that the ability of a firm to benefit from external search in SM strongly depends on complementary internal processes when organizing and conducting this activity. Furthermore, managers have to take care when utilizing information from SM channels in radical projects, as for this kind of project only a weak significant performance contribution of SM could be found.     

Social Capital and Union Revitalization: A Study of Worker Networks in the UK Audio‐Visual Industries

This article examines Jarley's contention that trade union revitalization is conditional upon the generation of social capital through the systematic creation of networks. It draws on a qualitative study of freelance workers in the UK audio‐visual industry to consider two propositions. The first, that ‘social capital within networks is forged on “bonds” that are conducive to trade union identity’ was not sustained by the data, which instead suggested that social capital is more likely to be generated by networks outside trade union structures. However, the data did support the second proposition that ‘trade unions can harness social capital in order to achieve concrete industrial relations outcomes’ by linking networks to reservoirs of expertise and influence.     

Union Influence on Local Union Leaders' Perceptions of Job Insecurity: An Empirical Test

Although recent studies have demonstrated that union workers value job security, little research exists about what causes these perceptions and how unions might affect them. In this study, a job insecurity measure is developed and analysed using a sample of union members. The results indicate that the relationships between union variables and individual perceptions of insecurity depend on the organizational level at which threats occur (e.g. arbitrary supervision or organizational decline). Furthermore, for higher source-level threats, union members are often sensitive to the wage-employment trade-off in that, if they perceive their union to effectively raise wages, they have higher levels of job insecurity. However, work rules do not appear to have much effect on reducing job insecurity perceptions.     

DEPTH – Developing Professional Thinking for Technology Teachers: An International Study

The tools to help teachers reflect on their professional knowledge are few in number, and often difficult to utilise. This paper reports on a study conducted with both primary and secondary technology initial teacher education students in a number of different countries who were given the same teacher-knowledge graphical framework as a tool to support reflection on their own professional knowledge. We wanted to investigate if, despite the different country contexts, student teachers of technology could take advantage of their experience with graphic visualisation to help them articulate abstract notions such as aspects of their developing teacher knowledge. We discovered that the graphical tool acted as a framework that enabled them to set out their subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and `school' knowledge and was useful in helping them become more self-aware. In this paper, the framework itself is introduced, the way it was presented to the novice teachers is outlined and the relative impact of such `self awareness' on their understandings, enabled by the framework, is then discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women-Only Trade Union Courses

In the context of efforts to revitalize unions and the acknowledged need to widen participation within trade unions, this paper argues that women‐only trade union education acts as a vehicle for increasing women's participation and for improving their experiences of unions. Drawing on a qualitative research study of women‐only courses in two large male‐dominated British trade unions, the findings indicate that such courses provide the conditions for women to question, reinforce or transform their social identities and thereby can lead to greater union identification and participation.     

Entrepreneurship in International Business: An Institutional Perspective

International business activities have confronted entrepreneurs with host business environments that are fundamentally different from their home countries. Despite decades of entrepreneurship research, we know very little about these entrepreneurs and their strategic behaviour in establishing and managing transnational operations. This paper develops an institutional perspective on transnational entrepreneurship. This perspective argues that significant variations in institutional structures of home countries explain variations in the entrepreneurial endowments of prospective transnational entrepreneurs. Transnational entrepreneurship is embedded in transnational actor networks that facilitate successful cross-border business operations. This paper goes beyond the theoretical impasse in entrepreneurship and international business studies.     

Union Organizing as a Mobilizing Strategy: The Impact of Social Identity and Transformational Leadership on the Collectivism of Union Members

This article investigates the effect of union organizing as a mobilizing strategy on the collectivism of union members. We examine the impact of a worker's social identification with fellow members and the transformational leadership qualities of the local union representative. We employ regression analysis with tests of mediation to analyse the survey responses of c. 1,000 rank and file members of a major professional union, collected in July 2004 during a mobilization campaign. Social identification and transformational leadership were associated with members' union loyalty and willingness to work for the union. Social identification acted as a mediating variable in both cases.     

Hitting the Bricks: An International Comparative Study of Conflict on the Waterfront

Although many longshoremen have a deserved reputation for militancy, the waterfront has been remarkably peaceful in some countries. The propensity of longshoremen to strike is explored in an historical and international comparative context, looking beyond industry-level variables to determine the nature and causes of industrial action. The incidence of strikes on the waterfront depended ultimately on the propriety of labor regulation, most notably the operation of different "dock labor schemes" in combination with union leadership, management policy, and the efficacy of dispute resolution procedures.