From soft to hard paternalism and back: the regulation of surrogate motherhood in Greece

This paper is a critical analysis of the regulation of surrogate motherhood in Greece; I will discuss the way that a consensus reached in the legislative committee among liberal and conservative jurists on the matter of compensation of surrogate mothers was undermined by intra-party populism in the Greek parliament which banned it to avoid commodification; inevitably the law fell into disuse leading to a new law which allowed government-defined compensation, not the one agreed by the parties; the regulation of surrogate motherhood in Greece is a typical example of the deleterious effects of the combination of legal formalism and legal moralism in contemporary Greece.     

Working sick and out of sorts: a cross-cultural approach on presenteeism climate,organizational justice and work–family conflict*

Abstract

A climate of presenteeism has important effects on employee well-being and the organization itself. Our study, based on surveys of health sector employees in six different countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Lebanon, Portugal, Russia and Spain) examines whether organizational justice plays a mediating role in the relationship between a presenteeism climate in the organization and work–family conflict (WFC). Our results indicate that the perception of organizational justice and the presenteeism climate do influence WFC. Moreover, higher levels of WFC were found in non-Latin countries. This study contributes to the work attendance and life balance field by providing cross-cultural empirical evidence corroborating the effect of justice and presenteeism climate on the WFC.     

The role of perceived justice in buyer-supplier relationships in times of economic crisis

This paper explores the importance of perceived organisational justice in times of crises, when supplier commitment has the potential to offset the negative impact of external pressures on business performance. We draw data from a survey of 117 suppliers of a major Greek grocery retailer. The grocery retail sector in Greece suffered considerably during the peak of the financial crisis, in 2016, providing a unique opportunity to explore the role of fairness in buyer-supplier relationships in times of crisis. The paper makes a distinct contribution by exploring the role that POJ plays in mitigating the impact of a financial crisis on suppliers’ performance, both operational and financial. Moreover, we explore the role of commitment as a mediator between POJ and performance, in the specific context of a financial crisis. Our findings indicate that organisational justice influences firm performance through commitment and that the financial crisis moderates the relationship.     

Citizenship behavior in project-based organizing: comparing German and Portuguese project managers

This study seeks to understand the possible relationship between citizenship behavior and project managers' performance in a comparative context. The sample consists of German (n = 119) and Portuguese (n = 128) project managers working in various sectors. The results support the hypotheses derived from the discourse on effectiveness in temporary organizations and show a significant contribution of citizenship behaviors to project goal achievement and future personal and organizational opportunities. When comparing the samples, results substantiate that this contribution was higher in Portuguese project managers. Interpretations of this finding are offered, limitations of the study addressed and suggestions for future research discussed.     

Presenteeism and burnout among teachers in public and private Portuguese elementary schools

This research aims to study the possible relation between presenteeism and burnout in the public and private education sector. Presenteeism – a groundbreaking concept in organizational behaviour literature – refers to productivity losses that occur when employees come to work but under-perform due to physical and psychological causes. Next, we further clarified the burnout criterion with three groups of predictors: personal, contextual and presenteeism. Results from a sample of 281 elementary school teachers from private and public institutions revealed that personal and contextual characteristics as well as presenteeism were predictive of teacher burnout. We also found that public school teachers exhibited higher levels of both presenteeism and burnout. Finally, the implications of these results are discussed and directions for future research in the field are provided.     

Self‐regulated learning and training effectiveness

In recent years, training has shifted towards a more learner‐centred perspective. At the same time, rapidly changing workplaces emphasize the importance of self‐regulatory processes in the workplace. In the light of these trends, this research investigates the role of self‐regulated learning in training effectiveness. A theoretical model in which self‐regulated learning plays a central role in training evaluation was developed and validated using the structural equation method with a sample of 137 individuals. The results indicate that self‐regulated learning mediates the relationship between training climate and both transfer motivation and training evaluation. These findings indicate that the concept of self‐regulated learning plays a key role in the relationship between training context variables and organizational outcomes and offer new insights into the way organizations can improve training effectiveness.     

Horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity in Brazil: patterns,trends, and their impacts on institutions

In this paper, we analyse the patterns and trends of horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity in Brazil in the past 30 years and their effect on the quality of the country’s institutions. Using data from the last four demographic censuses (1980, 1991, 2000, and 2010), we estimate numerous measures to analyse inequalities between different ‘ethnic’ groups. Our results show that, in Brazil between 1980 and 2010, the trend toward greater equality shown in other analyses of vertical inequality, is also found in terms of horizontal inequalities along racial, gender, and regional lines. Nevertheless, horizontal inequalities in terms of race and gender, in particular, remain pronounced. Ethnic diversity regarding race and religion has increased since 1980. Through our regression analysis, we note that both horizontal inequality and ethnic diversity negatively affect the institutional quality of Brazilian municipalities.