Nik Theodore, Abel Valenzuela and Edwin Meléndez
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of day labor worker centers in improving wages and working conditions of migrant casual workers in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of day labor worker centers in improving wages and working conditions of migrant casual workers in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reports the results of a survey of worker center executive directors and senior staff, with particular attention to the ways in which centers maintain wage rates, allocate jobs, and redress grievances.
Findings
Day labor worker centers are now an important presence in construction industry casual labor markets, performing HRM functions that benefit employers and workers.
Research limitations/implications
The research was undertaken during a time when the US construction industry was enjoying an expansion. It is unclear what a macroeconomic downturn might mean for the effectiveness of worker centers to maintain labor standards.
Practical implications
Conditions of instability and the violation of basic labor standards that occur in casual labor markets in the USA exist in other countries as well. Day labor worker centers might be a model intervention that could apply in other contexts.
Originality/value
The paper presents results from the first national survey of day labor worker centers. It highlights the key activities of these emerging labor market institutions.
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Nik Theodore, Derick Blaauw, Catherina Schenck, Abel Valenzuela Jr., Christie Schoeman and Edwin Meléndez
The purpose of this paper is to compare conditions in informal day-labor markets in South Africa and the USA to better understand the nature of worker vulnerabilities in this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare conditions in informal day-labor markets in South Africa and the USA to better understand the nature of worker vulnerabilities in this market, as well as the economic conditions that have contributed to the growth of day labor. The conclusion considers interventions that are underway in the two countries to improve conditions in day-labor markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on national surveys of day laborers in South Africa and the USA. A random sample of day laborers seeking work at informal hiring sites was undertaken in each country. The paper presents key findings, compares conditions in South Africa and the USA, and analyzes the relationship between economic change, labor-market dynamics, and worker vulnerability.
Findings
Day-labor work is characterized by low pay, hazardous conditions on the job, and tremendous income insecurity. The day-labor markets in South Africa and the USA perform somewhat different functions within regional economies. Within South Africa, day labor can be regarded as a survival strategy. The growth of day labor in South Africa over the past decade is a manifestation of a formal labor market that is incapable of absorbing the structurally unemployed. Here, day labor is the employment of last resort, allowing workers to subsist on the fringes of the mainstream economy, but offering few pathways into the formal sector. In the USA, the day labor workforce is a largely undocumented-immigrant workforce. Workers seek work at informal hiring sites, maintaining a tenuous hold on jobs in the construction industry. There is evidence of some mobility into more stable and better paying employment.
Practical implications
This paper documents the need for policies and programs to increase employment opportunities for day laborers and to better enforce labor standards in the informal economy.
Originality/value
This paper summarizes findings from the only two national surveys of day laborers that have been conducted, and it compares for the first time the dynamic within growing day-labor markets in a developed- and emerging-market context.
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Alessandro Bressan, Abel Duarte Alonso, Oanh Thi Kim Vu and Daniel Borer
The purpose of this study is to examine factors contributing to family firms’ survival in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis; in this endeavour, the study espouses the underpinnings of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine factors contributing to family firms’ survival in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis; in this endeavour, the study espouses the underpinnings of social exchange theory and entrepreneurial resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The views of 128 Italian family micro and small-sized firm owners/managers operating in different industries were gathered through an online questionnaire.
Findings
The analysis uncovers 12 fundamental factors contributing to firms’ survival; these are encapsulated in three dimensions and presented in two theoretical frameworks. The “beneficiary” dimension stresses the support from various internal and external stakeholders, while the “benefactor” dimension illustrates the commitment to extend the family tradition and be responsive to stakeholders. Finally, the “immersion/embeddedness” dimension denotes firms’ entrepreneurial behaviour, agility, decision-making and drive.
Originality/value
Firstly, and from a practitioner perspective, this study addresses recognised knowledge and research gaps in contemporary family business research, including how family firms are confronting the current unprecedented crisis. This response to current extant gaps provides first-hand empirical findings that could be primarily considered by industry stakeholders. Secondly, and from a theoretical angle, the aforementioned dimensions revealed through the analysis, coupled with the development of a theoretical framework, contribute to conceptual rigour and, therefore, a deeper understanding of family firms’ journey through an unprecedented event.
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José Carlos Vázquez-Parra, Abel García-González and María Soledad Ramírez-Montoya
The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of multidisciplinary training in the perceived development of social entrepreneurship competence. By means of a sample of an…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to discuss the importance of multidisciplinary training in the perceived development of social entrepreneurship competence. By means of a sample of an ethics class, this study seeks to argue the relevance of new social entrepreneurs having a broad training, beyond the knowledge they receive from the business area.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a quantitative analysis methodology. Based on the application of a validated questionnaire measuring the perceived development of social entrepreneurship competence, a longitudinal measurement was carried out at two points in time, at the beginning and at the end of an ethics course, in a sample population of 132 undergraduate students. Based on these results, a multifactorial diagnosis was made using a Z-test.
Findings
Overall, the sample results did not show a significant improvement in their level of perception of students' development of the social entrepreneurship competence. However, the individual results of the perceived development of sub-competences that make up this competence did reflect some development, especially the sub-competence of social innovation. Thus, this study demonstrates that there is a measurable impact of the contribution of other disciplines, in this case the ethical education, in the training of new entrepreneurs, arguing the importance of multidisciplinary training.
Practical implications
The results of this study contribute to the work of universities in developing social entrepreneurship competence. Based on its findings, institutions will be able to recognize the relevance of multidisciplinary training in the generation of new social entrepreneurs, valuing other disciplinary areas, such as humanities and social sciences, beyond training based exclusively on business knowledge. A key point to capitalize on in training practices for social entrepreneurship is “social innovation”, due to the sense of transcendence and impact that universities should seek, precisely because of their social responsibility to create value.
Originality/value
This research provides empirical evidence of the impact of ethics education on social entrepreneurship education. It argues the importance of reflecting on multidisciplinary education as a complementary element in the perceived development of social entrepreneurship competence in students.