Bolong He, Snezana Mitrovic-Minic, Len Garis, Pierre Robinson and Tamon Stephen
The Surrey (British Columbia, Canada) fire department has an annual cycle for hiring full-time firefighters. This paper optimizes the timing of the annual hiring period. A key…
Abstract
Purpose
The Surrey (British Columbia, Canada) fire department has an annual cycle for hiring full-time firefighters. This paper optimizes the timing of the annual hiring period. A key issue is handling workplace absences, which can be covered by overtime cost or full-time hires.
Design/methodology/approach
Short-term and long-term absences patterns are analyzed according to season and age cohorts of the firefighters. These are then used in both an explanatory and time series model to predict future absences. The hiring schedule is optimized based on these predictions and additional constraints.
Findings
The current practice fares well in the analysis. For the time period studied, moving to earlier hiring dates appears beneficial. This analysis is robust with respect to various assumptions.
Originality/value
This is a case study where analytic techniques and machine learning are applied to an organizational practice that is not commonly analyzed. In this case, the previous method was not much worse than the optimized solution. The techniques used are quite general and can be applied to various organizational decision problems.
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Maria Merisalo and Teemu Makkonen
The purpose of this paper is to create a research framework to scrutinize how individuals' digital technology use produces tangible and intangible outcomes in online (digital) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to create a research framework to scrutinize how individuals' digital technology use produces tangible and intangible outcomes in online (digital) and offline realms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies the Bourdieusian e-capital perspective to create a theory-based framework. The framework was used to guide a survey design to explore women's “social media-assisted reuse” at the micro-scale in Helsinki, Finland.
Findings
The paper argues that a new form of capital emerges when individuals utilize digital technologies in correspondence to their goals to gain added value that would be impossible or significantly more arduous to gain without the digital realm. The survey indicates that the respondents utilize the digital space – set objectives and gain capital-related outcomes – in correspondence to their differing social, economic and cultural positions and related resources in- and outside of the digital realm.
Practical implications
If digital spaces – due to social inequality and underlying power structures – become increasingly stratified, there will be significant impacts on how individuals from differing backgrounds gain accumulated forms of capital through the digital realm. The question is of great importance for battling inequality.
Originality/value
The paper enhances and synthesizes recent discussions on different forms of capital and outcomes of the use of digital technologies and presents a combined “e-capital–digital divide” framework that offers a more complete agenda for investigating the finely nuanced links between the inputs, outputs and outcomes of digital technology use.
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Kumudu Nanayakkara Wasam Mudage, Nipuni Weerasinghe, Mahesh Madusanka, Candauda Arachchige Saliya, Anuja Akalanka Lokeshwara and C. Dilshanie Jayatissa
While extensive research has explored poverty in various dimensions, there remains a notable dearth of studies focusing on success stories of slum dwellers overcoming adversity…
Abstract
Purpose
While extensive research has explored poverty in various dimensions, there remains a notable dearth of studies focusing on success stories of slum dwellers overcoming adversity. This research seeks to address this gap by investigating the strategies employed by individuals to transcend poverty. Moreover, it evaluates the practicality and effectiveness of existing theories in real-world contexts through careful interpretation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from two distinct cases through comprehensive, in-depth interviews. These narratives were subjected to scrutiny employing the Description Analysis Interpretation method. Subsequent interpretation and theoretical exploration were guided by Bourdieu’s class theory. The overarching goal was to shed light on the remarkable journeys of specific slum residents who surpassed the constraints of poverty. This endeavor not only highlighted the practical efficacy of these theories but also underscored their relevance in illuminating real-world scenarios through interpretation.
Findings
The findings underscore the capacity of slum dwellers to rise above poverty, thereby emphasizing the practical utility of specific theories aimed at poverty alleviation in elucidating their experiences. Notably, social capital, a cornerstone of Bourdieu’s class theory, emerges as equally pivotal as economic capital in shaping individuals' trajectories.
Research limitations/implications
The study’s scope is confined to narratives within the Colombo slums, offering a platform for future researchers to extend their investigations beyond this context. By employing alternative methodologies and exploring diverse geographical regions, scholars can broaden their understanding of poverty alleviation strategies and their applicability across varied socioeconomic landscapes. This calls for wider research for comprehensive exploration and comprehension of poverty dynamics beyond singular locales.
Practical implications
The study provides invaluable insights for policymakers, governmental bodies and nongovernmental organizations, urging them to reconsider and reformulate policies, educational strategies and community development programs tailored to the needs of slum dwellers and their children. These insights offer a pathway toward more effective interventions aimed at fostering sustainable upliftment within these marginalized communities.
Originality/value
This research fills a critical gap in poverty literature by exploring success stories of slum dwellers overcoming adversity, an area often overlooked. It uniquely investigates the strategies these individuals employ to transcend poverty, offering fresh insights into the practical application of poverty alleviation theories. Utilizing Bourdieu’s class theory, the study highlights the importance of both social and economic capital in these success narratives. By focusing on real-life experiences, it underscores the relevance and utility of these theories in real-world contexts, enriching the theoretical discourse and providing valuable perspectives for policymakers and practitioners.
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Ibticem Ben Zammel and Tharwa Najar
Emphasis is placed on knowledge-sharing practices and their influence on the power structure influenced by the technological background of the organization. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Emphasis is placed on knowledge-sharing practices and their influence on the power structure influenced by the technological background of the organization. This paper aims to focus on technological skills institutionalized to build organizational technological capital favoring the knowledge-sharing practices. It aims to extend the sociology literature by providing a conceptual background to explain the restructuring initiatives through the stabilizing role of technological capital.
Design/methodology/approach
Two comparative case studies have been conducted: the first study took place in a public company and the second study was carried out in a private company of telecommunication involving a documentary study, an observation and semi-structured interviews.
Findings
The findings in this paper show that the knowledge-sharing practices in the organizational field are stabilized by the technological capital. The technological capital promotes a knowledge management system and plays an important role in restructuring the established power within knowledge intensive organizations.
Practical implications
Chief executive officers are encouraged to promote sharing practices through developing an innovation culture and valuing technological skills. Relevance should be granted to the technological capital, which aligns the restructuring of a learning organization and promotes the knowledge management systems and stabilizes the organizational structure. Organizations should capitalize a set of technological skills as part of their organizational relevant capital.
Originality/value
Based on the practice theory of Bourdieu, this paper lights on the triad relation between knowledge sharing/organizational structure/technological capital through comparing between public/private management modes. A theoretical framework is proposed to overlap the ambiguity of the relation between knowledge and power.
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In this research, we apply a sociological lens to reconstruct the perspectives of disabled workers in their use of digital technologies within the organizational setting. Our…
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, we apply a sociological lens to reconstruct the perspectives of disabled workers in their use of digital technologies within the organizational setting. Our study has two objectives. First, we aim to investigate how disabled workers use digital technologies to enact socially valued roles, thereby helping to counteract internalized societal norms through enhancing workplace inclusion. Second, we seek to explain under which conditions disabled workers can better approach the digital imperatives in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
This research has a qualitative research design, employing the thematic-content analysis method. We conducted one-to-one interviews with 33 disabled workers in various positions who used a variety of digital technologies in their work.
Findings
Our findings outline how the digital environment in the workplace creates a distinct set of rules and expectations that disabled workers must navigate. These rules reflect the structures and practices inherent in digital technologies (logic of practice), which either empower or constrain disabled workers based on their habitus and the ability to leverage various forms of capital. This study discusses how some disabled workers who have greater access to cultural capital (such as digital skills) are better positioned to navigate the digital environment, whereas those with limited access to such capital face additional challenges. It explained how symbolic violence arises in the experiences of some disabled workers by revealing how the implicit rules of the digital workplace reinforce power dynamics that marginalize them, thereby perpetuating social domination.
Originality/value
In examining the ambivalent role of digital technologies for disabled workers, this research navigates the complex interplay between empowerment and barriers within the digital workplace. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, this study explains how the enactment of digital technologies can enhance the sociability and inclusion of disabled workers. Thanks to his concepts of habitus, forms of capital, field, illusion and symbolic violence, we highlight the disruptions that can emerge in reconciling disability with digital requirements. Moreover, the study makes pivotal contributions to the discourse on diversity, inclusion and equality. It underscores the empowerment aspect, wherein digital technologies serve as critical enablers for communication, productivity and independence for disabled workers and critically evaluates the persistent barriers to digital inclusivity.
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Tanya Jurado, Alexei Tretiakov and Jo Bensemann
The authors aim to contribute to the understanding of the enduring underrepresentation of women in the IT industry by analysing media discourse triggered by a campaign intended to…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors aim to contribute to the understanding of the enduring underrepresentation of women in the IT industry by analysing media discourse triggered by a campaign intended to encourage women to join the IT industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Internet media coverage of the Little Miss Geek campaign in the UK was analysed as qualitative data to reveal systematic and coherent patterns contributing to the social construction of the role of women with respect to the IT industry and IT employment.
Findings
While ostensibly supporting women's empowerment, the discourse framed women's participation in the IT industry as difficult to achieve, focused on women's presumed “feminine” essential features (thus, effectively implying that they are less suitable for IT employment than men), and tasked women with overcoming the barrier via individual efforts (thus, implicitly blaming them for the imbalance). In these ways, the discourse worked against the broader aims of the campaign.
Social implications
Campaigns and organisations that promote women's participation should work to establish new frames, rather than allowing the discourse to be shaped by the established frames.
Originality/value
The authors interpret the framing in the discourse using Bourdieu's perspective on symbolic power: the symbolic power behind the existing patriarchal order expressed itself via framing, thus contributing to the maintenance of that order. By demonstrating the relevance of Bourdieu's symbolic power, the authors offer a novel understanding of how underrepresentation of women in the IT sector is produced and maintained.
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Puxin Zhang, Lian Wang and Chun Liu
Existing researches find that a gender difference exists in terms of Internet usage. In China, the singleton daughters resulting from China's one-child policy enjoy unprecedented…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing researches find that a gender difference exists in terms of Internet usage. In China, the singleton daughters resulting from China's one-child policy enjoy unprecedented parental support. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether singleton daughters can, to some extent, break through the predicament of the digital divide.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected data from a sample of 865 college students and obtained 811 valid questionnaires. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is used to identify clusters of Internet usage from the perspective of statistical associations in various daily online activities. Two-way ANOVA and mean-comparison tests are used to analyze how singleton and non-singleton students use the Internet differently.
Findings
This study finds that singleton female students showed no significant differences from male students in aspirational activities of informational, educational use and social media use, which means that singleton female students have caught up with male students in these activities. However, female college students from multi-child families were still found to be disadvantaged in those activities.
Originality/value
There is a lack of consensus on the classification of Internet activities. We used EFA to cluster the varieties of Internet activities into three types: utilitarian use, exploratory use and aspirational use. The three identified types of Internet usage require different degrees of user initiative. We argue that initiative provides a useful lens through which to classify Internet usage. In addition, this study is among the few studies to investigate the impact of the one-child policy on the gender digital divide.
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Pascale Benoliel and Chen Schechter
The need to innovate and apply alternative forms of school organization is evident as the COVID-19 pandemic has generated a need to establish new conceptualizations of schools and…
Abstract
Purpose
The need to innovate and apply alternative forms of school organization is evident as the COVID-19 pandemic has generated a need to establish new conceptualizations of schools and education management. The paradigm shift in learning inexorably necessitates a corresponding paradigm shift in educational organization, administration and management in order to build organizational resilience and capital. This study proposed framework seeks to address this issue by proposing a transformation of educational organization and management, shifting away from the unilateral, hierarchical school models and towards a unique, smart collaborative school ecosystem in which residents, industries, schools, universities and research centers can create new digital knowledge and inventive products, services and solutions by enlarging their capitals.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon Bourdieu's theory of social capital, our theoretical contribution is to present the influence of three forms of capital (social, economic and cultural) in cultivating educational capacity and resilience in the school ecosystem, with a particular focus on the role of digital capital in reinforcing the school ecosystem capitals. The authors also argue that ecosystem leaders and principals as boundary spanners play an important role in promoting capital exchange and enlargement as they balance the permeability of organizational boundaries at times of crisis by maneuvering across fields.
Findings
Achieving educational improvement and building organizational capacity and resilience through the enlargement of system (and subsystem) capitals requires that key actors develop synchronized interpretations of educational aims and functions in various contexts. The authors delineate the importance of developing a synchronization strategy in the proposed conceptualization of smart and resilient school ecosystems.
Originality/value
By integrating research from both non-educational and educational literature, the proposed framework provides a new perspective for educational administration, organization and management, shifting away from the unilateral, hierarchical school models toward a unique, smart collaborative school ecosystem in which members can create new knowledge by enlarging their capitals. Practical lessons for leaders and policymakers from our conceptual framework are proposed.