Harun Sesen, Senay Sahil Ertan and Gözde Inal Cavlan
The aim of this research is to investigate the association between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting in the context of immigrants. Drawing on the cross-cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to investigate the association between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting in the context of immigrants. Drawing on the cross-cultural adaptation theory, the study tests the moderating role that acculturation plays in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a total of 226 immigrants living in Northern Cyprus. In the initial survey, data were collected on perceived overqualification and acculturation, which was followed by the measurement of leisure crafting. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Perceived overqualification asserts a significantly positive impact on leisure crafting. Assuming that acculturation plays a moderating role, the research shows that the positive effect that perceived overqualification has on leisure crafting is increased in cases where positive acculturation is elevated as opposed to reduced.
Research limitations/implications
The study results were based on self-reported surveys and data were limited to overqualified immigrant groups in Northern Cyprus.
Practical implications
The study provides significant practical implications for management teams. They can design managerial interventions to increase the acculturation of immigrants, which may in turn reduce the perceived overqualification and increase the positive impact of leisure crafting. Also, the government needs to implement policies targeted at immigrants in order to help them rapidly adapt to the host society.
Originality/value
This research will be a pioneering attempt to explore the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting. The results suggest actions that can be taken to promote leisure crafting behaviors through the use of acculturation to enhance organizational commitment, belongingness to the host society, and well-being in overqualified immigrants.
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Gözde İnal and Mine Karataş‐Özkan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the career experiences of Turkish Cypriot women solicitors in Britain, by examining their choices of employment or self‐employment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the career experiences of Turkish Cypriot women solicitors in Britain, by examining their choices of employment or self‐employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a critical realist approach considering the macro‐contextual and micro‐agentic aspects of Turkish Cypriot women's career development. Applying “the instrumental case study” approach, it explores the career experiences of four Turkish Cypriot women solicitors. Case study material was collected through semi‐structured interviews.
Findings
The paper argues that one cannot talk of ethnic enclaves in positive or negative terms, without considering layered individual experience. Their life and career trajectory is marked by their ethnicity and migration that is characterised by dual processes of break with tradition and later return to tradition during which identities are tested and usually reaffirmed where Turkish Cypriots may rediscover their Turkish Cypriotness.
Originality/value
The study reveals that macro‐, meso‐ and micro‐effects are responsible for the polarisation of opportunities in the ethnic enclaves.
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Gözde Inal, Akram Al Ariss and Cynthia Forson
The purpose of this paper is to examine the self‐employment process of Turkish‐Cypriot restaurateurs and lawyers in the UK, in particular the way they mobilize resources as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the self‐employment process of Turkish‐Cypriot restaurateurs and lawyers in the UK, in particular the way they mobilize resources as a strategic choice for their career transition.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a qualitative empirical research consisting of semi‐structured in‐depth interviews from two different sectors with 20 restaurateurs and lawyers in London.
Findings
Findings indicate that Turkish‐Cypriots in Britain deliberately draw on social, economic, cultural, and symbolic forms of capital in order to pursue their career projects. The impact of the interconnectedness and availability of one resource on the participants’ ability to acquire other resources is shown to have a key role in developing and transitioning into careers in self‐employment.
Research limitations/implications
The number of participants interviewed (20) is limited for the purposes of making generalizations and the paper has a main focus on micro‐individual experiences of individuals.
Originality/value
The limited literature on self‐employment for ethnic minorities is often conceptualized as an option to avoid employment inequalities. This paper offers an understanding of self‐employment as a career strategy for Turkish‐Cypriots in Britain.
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Cem Tanova, Mine Karataş‐Özkan and Gözde İnal
The aim of this article is to identify the reasons MBA students have for their career choices, and to explore the contextual and gender‐related aspects of career choice and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to identify the reasons MBA students have for their career choices, and to explore the contextual and gender‐related aspects of career choice and development, based on a comparative study carried out with participants in six countries, i.e. Hungary, Israel, North Cyprus, Turkey, the UK and the USA. The paper seeks to investigate how cultural values and beliefs and gender differentially influence the career choices of MBA students towards managerial or entrepreneurial careers.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research design was applied by using a survey instrument that draws on a cross‐national study.
Findings
Differences exist in influences on career choice and development between women and men in one of the research settings (Turkey). In all six countries, women have a more societal value orientation and tend to undertake more charity work. Men are more likely to believe that “competition is the law of nature” and men appear to opt more for an entrepreneurial career route in all six countries.
Originality/value
The study provides an understanding of the major gender‐related similarities and differences in the career development of MBA students in six countries, and paves the way for further research in the field.
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The present paper seeks to focus on the processes involved in the knowledge transfer of CSR and sustainability programs and theorises about a conceptual framework that addresses…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper seeks to focus on the processes involved in the knowledge transfer of CSR and sustainability programs and theorises about a conceptual framework that addresses three aspects of such a knowledge transfer process: the “thinking”, the “doing” and the “being”.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a theoretical interdisciplinary study, which combines insights from the theory of knowledge transfer within the application domain of CSR and sustainability, and looks into the ways the above impact aspects of diversity, career identity and career development of professionals in this field.
Findings
HRM issues such as new competencies and differing approaches to career development options, talent retention and management, and a change of the notion of employment contract need to develop to successfully support the transfer of knowledge in terms of professionals in the domain of CSR and sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
Future directions and implications of this research include furthering the understanding of career identities and their development in the milieu of globally mobile knowledge workers in the field of CSR and sustainability knowledge transfer and identifying relevant and necessary tools for HR management and stakeholder engagement in this field.
Social implications
The establishment of career pathways and new career identities is an increasingly significant challenge in the workplaces of the twenty‐first century, and CSR/sustainability knowledge transfer processes highlight that.
Originality/value
The paper contributes an innovative angle to the topic of knowledge transfer in the area of CSR and sustainability, whilst also highlighting the importance of the role of knowledge workers with global mobility in this process, including their perceptions of career identities and development.
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Olca Surgevil and Evrim Mayaturk Akyol
In this study, the aim is to put emphasis on a specific discrimination area that is evaluated both as a disability and a diversity dimension. Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired…
Abstract
Purpose
In this study, the aim is to put emphasis on a specific discrimination area that is evaluated both as a disability and a diversity dimension. Human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) disease should be considered beyond the scope of health as a social issue. However, the main purpose of the study is to determine the influence of information levels on HIV/AIDS on attitudes and views towards people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in work life. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assess this influence by means of a pilot study. Additionally, one of the basic assumptions of the study is that career and identity developments of PLHIV will be positive as a result of the increase in knowledge amongst human resource (HR) managers and career counselors about HIV and PLHIV.
Design/methodology/approach
Disinformation about HIV/AIDS may cause stigmatization and discrimination. Thus, this paper seeks to indicate the effects and results of the discrimination and tries to create awareness. Consequently, discrimination against PLHIV in work life is emphasized in the study in parallel with the information levels related to the disease. Additionally, survey technique is used on the sample of HR employees and managers who are members of The Association of HR Managers (PERYON).
Findings
The paper finds that 50 percent of the respondents stated that it was right to request a HIV test whereas 36 percent of them declared that it was not right. The respondents' information level about the transmission of HIV was evaluated as medium or high. Respondents mostly think that HIV is not a punishment to people for their misbehaviors, and that sufferers should not be ashamed of themselves; PLHIV are not guilty and do not have marginal life styles. They also showed sensitivity towards the right for treatment and protection of the human rights of PLHIV. The majority of respondents stated that they could work in the same workplace with PLHIV and also that they did not associate HIV with homosexuals.
Research limitations/implications
As a limitation, there is a possibility that social desirability had an effect on some of the respondents' answers. Second, the respondents have never met PLHIV in their workplaces. Because of these limitations it was not possible to get answers regarding discriminative behaviors in the workplace towards PLHIV in terms of HR functions. Thus, it is suggested that a study on PLHIV or people who work with PLHIV should be conducted. Additionally, the study could be replicated with different and larger samples.
Originality/value
A contribution to increasing awareness and the cautions against discrimination towards HIV/AIDS is one of the values of this study. Another distinctive characteristic of this study is the investigation of this issue from the context of an emerging country, Turkey.
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Maria Tsouroufli, Mustafa Özbilgin and Merryn Smith
Attempts to modernise the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK involve promoting flexible approaches to work and training, restructuring postgraduate training and increasing…
Abstract
Purpose
Attempts to modernise the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK involve promoting flexible approaches to work and training, restructuring postgraduate training and increasing control and scrutiny of doctors' work. However, the medical community has responded with expressed anxiety about the implications of these changes for medical professionalism and the quality of patient care. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on literature on nostalgia, gender, identity and organisations, the paper explores the narratives of 20 senior NHS hospital doctors to identify ways in which doctors use nostalgia to react to organisational and professional challenges and resist modernisation and feminisation of medicine.
Findings
This paper illustrates how senior hospital doctors' nostalgic discourses of temporal commitment may be used to constitute a highly esteemed professional identity, creating a sense of personal and occupational uniqueness for senior hospital doctors, intertwined with gendered forms of othering and exclusionary practices.
Practical implications
Nostalgia at first sight appears to be an innocuous social construct. However, this study illustrates the significance of nostalgia as a subversive practice of resistance with implications for women's career and identity experiences. Change initiatives that seek to tackle resistance need also to address discourses of nostalgia in the medical profession.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study is that we illustrate how supposedly neutral discourses of nostalgia may sometimes be mobilised as devices of resistance. This study questions simplistic focus on numerical representation, such as feminisation, as indicative of modernisation and highlights the significance of exploring discourses and head counts for understanding resistance to modernisation.
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This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative design, using data collected from semi‐structured interviews with four lesbians and eight gay men, all employed in managerial roles in the UK.
Findings
Data reveal the importance of workplace friendship as a resource for mentoring, climbing managerial career ladders, fitting into existing work cultures and developing gay and lesbian managerial identities. A significant finding is that participants preferred to befriend heterosexual colleagues, to that end complicating previous research that suggests gay and lesbian friendship preferences tend to be marked by similarity in regard to sexual identity. Work friends enable and constrain the development and visibility of gay and lesbian managerial identities and careers.
Research limitations/implications
Although the data are not generalisable, it is of concern that gay men and lesbians continue to be disadvantaged by heteronormative constructions of gender and sexuality. While gender and sexual norms can limit the visibility and embodiment of gay and lesbian managers in the workplace, the study reveals also how gay sexualities can be utilised as a resource for developing influential friendships.
Originality/value
This article provides insights into issues not previously covered or understudied in the organisation studies literature such as the agency of gay men and lesbians in constructing different types of workplace friendships as a resource for developing managerial identities and careers.
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Roger Johnston and Orthodoxia Kyriacou
This paper seeks to explore the ways in which discrimination is exercised institutionally. The paper takes as its focus the UK institutional structures of accountancy.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore the ways in which discrimination is exercised institutionally. The paper takes as its focus the UK institutional structures of accountancy.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a conceptual framework which explores the connections between institutional structures of UK accountancy and the rich experiences of individuals.
Findings
The narrative themes clearly illustrate the intersection of gender, ethnicity and identity across the institutional structures. Varying degrees of inclusion and exclusion are visible in the accountancy workplace.
Research limitations/implications
The oral history approach has its inherent limitations and many of the respondents were “snowball” contacts rather than drawn from a large randomly chosen selection.
Practical implications
This paper prioritises individual experience of unfair discrimination. Although research in this area of accountancy is emergent, it argues that the voice of the individual needs to be listened to by the institutions which form UK accountancy in order to facilitate equality and diversity.
Originality/value
The value of this study rests with the illumination of accountancy experiences which otherwise may have been silenced by the institutional structures of accountancy.