Laura Peutere, Päivi Rautava and Pekka Virtanen
The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether high responsibility for housework or childcare is related to weak labour market attachment.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether high responsibility for housework or childcare is related to weak labour market attachment.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data on domestic responsibilities in 1998 and 2003 were linked to register data on respondents’ employment spells for 2004-2011. Effects of the responsibilities on labour market trajectories – identified with latent class growth analyses – were analysed with multinomial logistic regression analyses.
Findings
Four trajectories for labour market attachment were identified among both genders. When adjusted for prior labour market attachment and other control variables, a high responsibility for housework predicted weak labour market attachment, compared to the trajectory of strong attachment, only among men. Compared to the trajectory of strengthening attachment, a high responsibility for housework was related to weak attachment among both men and women.
Research limitations/implications
Personal orientations may, to some extent, explain both the division on domestic responsibilities and attachment to the labour market. In the Finnish type of welfare state, domestic responsibilities have long-term effects, especially on men’s careers. More attention should be given to men’s roles in families and their possible consequences.
Originality/value
This is the first study analysing the division of domestic responsibilities on later labour market attachment among both genders. The strength of this study is the long follow-up time and methodology; it combines survey data at two time points and register data on employment spells over eight years, identifying patterns in employment with latent class growth analyses.
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Anna Siukola, Clas‐Håkan Nygård and Pekka Virtanen
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the associations of employees’ attitudes and human resource arrangements to sickness absence from the perspective of absence culture and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the associations of employees’ attitudes and human resource arrangements to sickness absence from the perspective of absence culture and work ability.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in one of the largest food industry companies in Finland. Sickness absence register data were obtained from the years 2003 to 2005 and a survey from 2005. This survey included single propositions about work arrangements (five propositions) and attitudes (three propositions) during sickness absence. These were analysed by absence days and short (1‐7 days) and long spells (>7 days).
Findings
The attitude of blue‐collar workers who agreed that it is a matter of course that someone is absent was statistically significant regarding sickness absence. They had increased risk for sickness absence days and for short spells. From work arrangements during absence the fact that jobs will wait returning to the workplace decreased the risk for short and long sickness absence spells in both groups. In addition, the fact that the employer will take a substitute during workmates’ absence increased the risk for all measured sickness absence rates among white‐collar workers.
Practical implications
These findings should be noted in enterprises’ human resource management and occupational health services to manage and understand sickness absence.
Originality/value
Although sickness absence has been widely studied, very little is known about sickness absence related work arrangements and attitudes associated with sickness absence. This study increases knowledge about these issues.
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Purpose – This chapter focuses on ways urban – and other non-local – pressures have influenced a rural archipelago area by studying changes in fisheries-related livelihoods, use…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter focuses on ways urban – and other non-local – pressures have influenced a rural archipelago area by studying changes in fisheries-related livelihoods, use of natural resources and regulatory regimes.
Design/methodology/approach – The material for this chapter comprises mainly of structured and semi-structured interviews with fishers and other stakeholders in the Archipelago Sea and in the Åland Islands, SW Finland. A governance approach is used, taking into account the interactive social, economic and ecological systems embedded in institutions, social networks and cultures.
Findings – The economic importance of traditional fishing livelihood has diminished, but fishing still holds a strong position in the culture and life mode of the local people in the studied archipelago areas. In families selling fish, this income stands typically for a part of the household income and especially wage work has become an important income source in the pluriactivity. Providing services for the tourists and summer cottage dwellers is a potentially growing source of livelihood. The increased recreational use of the Finnish Archipelago Sea has changed the ownership structure of the land area, mostly due to the popular summer cottage dwelling. New public fishing rights for (often urban) recreational fishers have narrowed the scope of the local decision-making and aroused resistance among the local archipelago people.
Originality/value – Rural–urban relations and governance aspects have been rarely studied in relation to the use of natural resources. This chapter gives new insights into the multifaceted roles of new urban influences in rural settings.
The paper aims to describe creation of knowledge capital and innovation culture within the field of regional development. This covers the development process of the Living Lab…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to describe creation of knowledge capital and innovation culture within the field of regional development. This covers the development process of the Living Lab environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines knowledge creation in innovation network based on Nonaka and Takeuchi's SECI model and Harmaakorpi's Rye‐bread model. The paper describes the role of Koulii project (funding European Social Fund by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment) in understanding, advancing and developing the sense of communality and human sized services in Suurpelto in Espoo. Emphasis is on the project's role and practices in the evolution of knowledge capital. Examination and assessing is based on a practice‐based innovation activity model within multi‐actor and multi‐disciplinary innovation networks.
Findings
The innovation arena model involves different actors in a growing and deepening process, which benefits and uses strong and weak ties in those networks. The paper also discusses regional development from structural and symbolic perspectives. Creation and development of the innovation culture of Omnia and Laurea and in Suurpelto is examined.
Originality/value
The case study confirms in practice the usability of both the SECI and the Rye‐bread models in innovation and regional development work. The paper summarizes the accomplishments and results achieved or in horizon during the innovation project at Suurpelto.
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Pekka Varje, Jussi Turtiainen and Ari Väänänen
The purpose of this paper is to study the historical emergence of psychological management in Finnish working life from the viewpoint of recruitment process by examining the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the historical emergence of psychological management in Finnish working life from the viewpoint of recruitment process by examining the changing qualities of the ideal manager in Finland in the post‐Second World War era.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is conducted through an analysis of 1,305 manager position job advertisements in the major Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat between 1949 and 2009.
Findings
The average number of references to personal skills and traits in manager position job advertisements grew from 0.7 to 3.8 between 1949 and 2009, and by the end of the 1990s exceeded the average number of references to technical and cognitive skills. During the same period, intrinsic job benefits largely replaced extrinsic benefits in job advertisements. The results suggest that the anthropocentric management of personalities and subjectivities was gradually introduced to Finnish organizations over a period of several decades. The complex historical process, deeply interlinked with organizational and societal developments, resulted in a highly multi‐dimensional ideal manager of 2009.
Originality/value
The study offers original knowledge regarding the emergence of psychological management, and sharpens the picture of changing management ideals in a national context.
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Sari Merilampi, Toni Björninen, Leena Ukkonen, Pekka Ruuskanen and Lauri Sydänheimo
The purpose of this paper is to develop a wireless strain sensor for measuring large strains. The sensor is based on passive ultra high‐frequency radio frequency identification…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a wireless strain sensor for measuring large strains. The sensor is based on passive ultra high‐frequency radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and it can be embedded into a variety of structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Silver ink conductors and RFID tags were printed by the screen printing method on stretchable polyvinyl chloride and fabric substrates. The development of the strain‐sensitive RFID tag was based on the behavior of the selected antenna and substrate materials. Performance of the tags and the effect of mechanical strain on tag functioning were examined.
Findings
The results showed that large displacements can be successfully measured wirelessly using a stretchable RFID tag as a strain‐sensitive structure. The behavior of the tag can be modified by selection of the material.
Research limitations/implications
New tag designs, which are more sensitive to small levels of strain and which have a linear response will be the subject for future work. Tag performance under cyclic loading and in a real environment will also be investigated. Future work relating the investigation of practical applications and the system designing for the strain sensor will also be required.
Practical implications
Printing is fast and simple manufacturing process which does not produce much waste or material loss. The sensor is a new application of printed electronics. It also provides new opportunities for system designers.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new kind of wireless strain sensor which can be integrated into many structures (i.e. clothes). The sensor is a new application of printed electronics and it is made from novel materials.
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Taru Lindblom and Pekka Mustonen
The purpose of this paper is to study a wide range of culinary tastes and their legitimacy in a contemporary urban context. The authors aim at finding out which cuisines are the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study a wide range of culinary tastes and their legitimacy in a contemporary urban context. The authors aim at finding out which cuisines are the most popular and to what extent this popularity translates into eating out.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data (n=1715) gathered among young adults residing in Helsinki (aged 25-44) measuring preferences and restaurant visits for 19 cuisine types. Measures for expressed legitimacy and actualised legitimacy for all the 19 cuisine types.
Findings
The most preferred cuisine types are pizza, other Italian fare and traditional Nordic fare, including home cooking. The most visited restaurants by cuisine type are pizza, fast food and Italian. However, the most legitimate (both expressed and actualised) cuisines are Korean, African, fine dining and French. Several dissonances were found between stated likes and actual consumer behaviour. The results suggest that although fast food bears a stigma as socially unacceptable cuisine, it is, nonetheless, very frequently eaten in the restaurants.
Research limitations/implications
As the data account only for a fraction of the population, limited by both age and region, it would be relevant for future research to investigate this on a larger scale in order to make (inter)nationally representative conclusions.
Originality/value
A research design taking into account such a wide range of cuisine types has not been presented before.
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Henri Pesonen, Tiina Itkonen, Mari Saha and Anders Nordahl-Hansen
Media play a significant role in the process of raising public awareness about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite an increase in ASD media coverage, there is scarcity of…
Abstract
Purpose
Media play a significant role in the process of raising public awareness about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite an increase in ASD media coverage, there is scarcity of research that examines how the actual frame is constructed and how the news stories are narrated. This study aims to examine the extent to which Finnish print media papers extend medical and societal narration of ASD to other issue domains and the extent to which newspaper stories use a positive, negative or neutral narrative.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyzed 210 full newspaper reports from the largest daily appearing newspaper by circulation in Finland from 1990 to 2016. The authors used the newspaper’s electronic database to conduct a systematic papers search. The authors then used coding scheme about news story framing, which was followed by a detailed content analysis of the papers.
Findings
Approximately two-thirds of the papers consisted of a straightforward informational or clinical lens to educate the public (n = 110). This is in line with international studies. However, the authors’ analysis revealed four additional themes of medical and societal ASD reporting.
Social implications
The study increases understanding about how the media can shape the public perception of ASD, which in turn might influence how autistic individuals are accepted in the society, as well as how they feel that they belong.
Originality/value
While ASD itself is at the center of neutral news reporting, this study’s results imply how to construct ASD from new paradigms. Linking ASD to a culture, and thus extending it to the more commonly accepted notion of deafness as a culture, might shape the public’s perceptions about ASD.
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Maria Närhinen, Aulikki Nissinen and Pekka Puska
To test the feasibility of the use of supermarket sales data in evaluating a local point of purchase intervention and to assess the impact of the intervention six and 12 months…
Abstract
To test the feasibility of the use of supermarket sales data in evaluating a local point of purchase intervention and to assess the impact of the intervention six and 12 months later. Staged point of purchase intervention pilot study followed by a longitudinal observational study. The study was carried out in one supermarket in Mikkeli, Finland. Foods were classified as healthier or reference products based on their labelled content of salt and saturated fat. The sales of packaged foods containing reduced amounts of salt and/or saturated fat were promoted with a stepwise increasing intervention culminating in a “heart week”. In addition all unplanned promotional activities during the intervention were surveyed. Information on the sales of both the promoted products and reference products was collected daily from the supermarket’s computer system. Direct and proportional sales of both single products and whole food groups were analysed during the intervention and at follow‐up. In addition the supermarket environment and the supermarket’s advertising in the local newspaper were checked. Short‐term variations in the sales could be seen related to the promotion activities. During the heart week the sales of actively promoted healthier products increased by 37‐49 per cent. Variations in the sales of reference products could also be seen; the proportional sales of some healthier products declined significantly when the reference products were actively promoted. The supermarket environment was still affected by the intervention at both follow‐ups. The mean percentage salt content of the weekly sales had declined in all food groups and the mean percentage fat content had either declined or remained unchanged. Computerised sales data provide a useful and rapid means of evaluating supermarket based interventions. The intervention had an impact on the supermarket environment which was visible at follow‐up.
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Pasi Pohjolainen, Markus Vinnari and Pekka Jokinen
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the barriers perceived by consumers to lowering their meat consumption levels and adopting a plant-based diet, which means a diet that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the barriers perceived by consumers to lowering their meat consumption levels and adopting a plant-based diet, which means a diet that includes mainly non-meat foods, yet it can contain both vegetarian and meat meals.
Design/methodology/approach
The prevalence of different barriers for following a plant-based diet is addressed, as well as consumer profiles considering socio-demographics, values and meat consumption frequencies. The data were collected in 2010 by a survey questionnaire, sent to 4,000 randomly selected Finns (response rate=47.3, n=1,890).
Findings
Different types of barriers are perceived to hinder the adoption of a plant-based diet, including meat enjoyment, eating routines, health conceptions and difficulties in preparing vegetarian foods. These barriers are strongly correlated, indicating that consumers may not make qualitative difference between different barriers. Furthermore, there are distinct socio-demographic, value and especially meat consumption frequency elements that strengthen the barrier perception, these being male gender, young age, rural residence, household type of families with children, low education, absence of a vegetarian family member or friend, valuation of traditions and wealth and high meat consumption frequency.
Social implications
High meat consumption is related to many environmental and public health problems. The results call for multifaceted policy implications that should concentrate on different barriers and certain socio-demographic, value and meat eating groups. Importantly, focus should be not only on the group with the strongest barrier perception but also on those particularly willing to make changes in their meat consumption patterns. One practical implication could be to increase the availability of vegetarian foods in public cafeterias or school canteens, as a decrease in meat consumption frequency is strongly correlated with the alleviation of the barrier perception.
Originality/value
Information about differences in socio-demographics, values and meat consumption frequencies between consumers provide opportunities for focussing policy actions to aid the adoption of a plant-based diet.