The Challenges for Labour Market Policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic*

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a dramatic economic impact in most countries. In the UK, it has led to sharp falls in labour demand in many sectors of the economy and to initial acute labour shortages in other sectors. Much more than in a typical downturn, the current crisis is not simply a general slowdown in economic activity but also a radical short-term shift in the mix of economic activities – of which an unknown, but possibly significant, amount will be persistent. The initial policy response has focused on cushioning the blow to families’ finances and allowing the majority of workers and firms to resume their original activities once the crisis subsides. These are crucial priorities. But there should also be a focus on reallocating some workers, either temporarily if working in shut-down sectors or permanently by facilitating transitions to sectors and jobs offering better prospects and facing labour shortages. The phasing-out of the furlough subsidies, which is projected to happen in Autumn 2020, brings this into even sharper focus since the alternative for many workers will be unemployment. Active labour market policy will need to be front and centre.     

Examining the Boundaries of Ethical Leadership: The Harmful Effect of Co-worker Social Undermining on Disengagement and Employee Attitudes

In recent years, scholars have sought to investigate the impact that ethical leaders can have within organisations. Yet, only a few theoretical perspectives have been adopted to explain how ethical leaders influence subordinate outcomes. This study therefore draws on social rules theory (SRT) to extend our understanding of the mechanisms linking ethical leadership to employee attitudes. We argue that ethical leaders reduce disengagement, which in turn promotes higher levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment, as well as lower turnover intentions. Co-worker social undermining is examined as a moderator of the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement, as we suggest that it is difficult for ethical leaders to be effective when co-worker undermining prevails. To test the proposed model, questionnaires were administered to 460 nurses in Romanian hospital settings over three time points separated by two-week intervals and the hypotheses were tested using generalised multilevel structural equation modeling (GSEM) with STATA. The findings revealed that ethical leadership has a beneficial effect on employee attitudes by reducing disengagement. However, the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement was moderated by co-worker social undermining, such that when undermining was higher, the significance of the mediated relationships disappeared. These results suggest that while ethical leaders can promote positive employee attitudes, their effectiveness is reduced in situations where co-worker undermining exists.

     

Public Credit Guarantee Schemes and SMEs’ Profitability: Evidence from Italy

The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the Italian State Credit Guarantee Scheme (Central Guarantee Fund). The paper analyzes the impact of the program on SMEs’ profitability considering the firm size and sector. The analysis is performed using propensity‐score matching estimators and the Difference in Differences regressions on a proprietary sample of about 38,000 SMEs in the period 2007–2009. Overall, the Central Guarantee Fund generated an increase in the profitability of guaranteed firms during the period of economic downturn. However, significant differences emerged across firms by size and sector. The effect is positive and robust only for micro‐ and small‐sized firms, and the most relevant improvement in the profitability is recorded for firms operating in the manufacturing sector. This implies that more customized programs are necessary to reach a higher value for money in entrepreneurial policies.     

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...     

Reflections on the Business History Tradition: Where has it Come from and Where is it Going to?

The question of what constitutes the discipline of business history has been the focus of ongoing debate for several decades. The output of business history researchers is diverse ranging from company histories to the application of theoretical frameworks used to interpret the many facets of business development. This article, in introducing this special edition of the Australian Economic History Review, provides an overview of the development of the business history discipline and the contribution it has made to understanding the operation of business enterprises and the markets in which they operate.     

Work and welfare take-up of enlargement migrants in the United Kingdom

The Brexit decision was affected by the false perception that European Union (EU) enlargement migration, in particular from Romania and Bulgaria (EU2), has been a burden to the UK. The article analyses the debated but largely underresearched EU2 migration to the UK after accession to the EU in 2007 using data of the British Labour Force Survey. The novel findings are that EU2 migrants are found to exhibit quite different characteristics and behaviour than the other European migrants while doing better concerning work, self-employment and welfare take-up.     

Visegrad economies’ active implication in a “new” EU: A new regional economic approach

The EU faces maybe to the greatest challenges in its history. The paper deals with the idea of analysing the sub‐regional organisation Visegrad Group Visegrad 4 (V4) and its role in the new EU‐27 before and after Brexit. For realisation of this scope, six representative economic indicators are taken into consideration. The data analysis procedure covers latest 10 years meaning 2010–19. In order to support the analysis in the paper, first objective has the building a hypothetic optimal database which has to cover the above six indicators related to EU‐28 and V4. Second objective is relate to the performances quantification of each EU and V4’s economy based on a separately analyse. Final and the major objective is that V4 is able to face to the new global and regional challenges. The analysis in the paper is based on two new models. First of them is a regional development radiography model based on a hexagon diagram. The second is a regional evolution model based on a matrix approach. Both proposed models have distinct hypotheses, which are finally valid by the analysis. The paper puts into discussion five objectives and succeeds in achieving them. The main conclusion of the paper is that V4 is and will continue to be a growth pole for the EU economy. It would be supported by the EU in order to implement policies able to manage better employment.     

Segmentation by Travel Related Risks: An Integrated Approach

This study took an integrated approach toward traveler risk segmentation by including psychological and behavioral variables together in the one study. This is an important first step to develop interventions targeting risk segments. A total of 864 respondents were surveyed in an Australian airport departure lounge. The results showed travel behavior and risk reduction strategies as the most significant model predictors. Three segments were identified including a higher-risk segment was found to comprise mostly older, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travelers on repeat visits. Implications for developing more effective communication interventions are provided and future research directions are proposed.     

Uncovering emotions and insights evoked by paper currency

Despite the pervasiveness of paper currency in market exchanges, consumer research has focused only on its effects based on denomination and physical appearance. Previous work noted that the physical appearance of paper currency elicits emotions such as disgust and pride. However, no other research to date has uncovered additional emotions elicited by bills. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to uncover the series of emotions elicited by paper currency and (2) to expose additional insights. Consumer narratives were collected using the critical incident technique. Both elicited emotions and insights were identified and classified according to existing classifications of emotions and money insights in the literature. Our study revealed a unique set of emotions and insights not previously classified in prior research. Implications for practice and directions for future work are noted.