Search results

Positive examples of situations in which young adults new at work experience feeling secure in the role as novice in the work force are here focused. The aim is to analyze how young adults who are new to the labor market express having a sense of security in the workplace. The long-term goal is to strengthen the conditions for the health and wellbeing of workers entering the retail labor market.

Thirteen individual in-depth telephone/video-interviews were conducted with young adults (aged 18–28) working within the retail sector in Sweden. Using a thematic interview schedule, the interviews focused how the interviewees contextualizing stories on being novice at the labor market. The study is based on those parts of the material in which stories on feeling secure was expressed.

The analysis resulted in two themes: A sense of security is related to carrying out work safely and a sense of security is related to receiving support. The first theme illuminates how work is structured and safety training respectively contributes to a sense of security and the latter reveal how social support from a variety of sources (managers, colleagues and others outside the work environment) contributes to a sense of security when new at work.

Using a health promoting perspective, the study complements the existing perspectives of challenges faced by novices as they enter working life. Also, the study highlights the importance of including relations outside the workplace when searching for the understanding of the experiences of being new at work. The study indicates that focusing on the sense of security by well-structured work, safety training and social support might contribute to the strive for a sustainable working life for young adults.

The purpose of this study is to analyse levels of generalized trust among employees who have adapted to increasing demands for flexibility in their working lives (nonstandard work) compared with employees in traditional employment (standard work).

Data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire distributed to randomly selected individuals in Sweden (2004, n=5,080) and a workplace survey study of temporary agency workers (2008, n=119). Data were analysed using chi‐square tests and logistic regression analysis.

The results reveal that people in nonstandard positions display significantly lower levels of generalized trust compared to standard employees, where age, gender, and socio‐economic position are constant.

Since trust has proved to be a prerequisite for innovativeness, and both flexibility and innovation are officially accepted solutions for the troubles of post‐industrial society, the findings point to a possible paradox in the “new economy”.

The results of this study are unique in that they provide valuable support for the theory that flexible working conditions lead to decreasing levels of trust in society.

The aim of this article is to test the assumption that both management and co‐workers constitute multiple contract constituencies, as advocated for in recent research on psychological contracts. It also aims to test the theory of cognitive schemas as predictors of psychological contract development. Finally, it aims to examine the validity of the relational subscale of psychological contracts.

Data were collected through three survey studies in different workplaces, areas and settings and were analyzed through Fisher's exact test, principal component analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.

The results supported the notion of multiple contract constituencies. Partial support was found for the theory of cognitive schemas and their influence on psychological contract development. The study also revealed new sub‐dimensions of the psychological contract, here called “Fellowship” and “Challenge/Development”. These new sub‐dimensions respond differently to predictors that, according to psychological contract theory, are supposed to generate similar effects.

Since the findings of this study call into question some of the earlier research: it would be desirable to study psychological contracts, using a multiple foci approach, with a greater, random, sample.

The results indicate a need to draw further attention to the role of the co‐workers in the integration of agency staff in client companies.

Since no previous study has tested the notion of co‐workers as constituencies of the psychological contract, these empirical results will challenge much previous research on the concept of psychological contracts.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The adoption of mobile and flexible working is revolutionizing the relationships between organizations and their employees but not everyone is content to embrace the changes.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to validate or refute the previous empirical findings of a TBL dominant logic for business sustainability and to expand the TBL dominant logic for business sustainability with additional dimensions and items. The study aims to provide bottom-up-based multi-dimensional framework in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDG) of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Key corporate informants in top Spanish companies were requested to participate in the study. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating an initial response rate of 42.4%.

A framework for a TBL-dominant logic in the context of business sustainability has been empirically tested successfully across contexts and through time, thus providing substantiation for universal applicability.

This study provides a relevant and important substantiation for validity and reliability across contexts and through time. It is important in research to establish a theoretical framework at the corporate level for business sustainability in connection with SDGs. This study is not without its limitations, but offers opportunities for further research.

The framework provides practitioners with a foundation to assess their efforts at business sustainability, taking into account a broad selection of aspects across environmental, social and economic elements that contribute to SDGs.

This study makes two relevant and valuable contributions to developing a framework of TBL dominant logic for business sustainability, namely, validation and expansion. It offers also multiple opportunities for both research and practice to assess business sustainability efforts across environmental, social and economic aspects in relation to SDGs.

Why did peasants in old-regime Europe scatter their land in small strips within open fields? According to an influential theory advocated by Deirdre McCloskey, the system’s main aim was risk reduction. By spreading out land, peasants were less exposed to the caprices of nature: heavy rains, droughts, frost, or hailstorms. In a time when other insurance institutions were lacking, this approach could be a rational solution, even if, as McCloskey suggests, it could be achieved only at the expense of overall agricultural productivity.

Over the years, McCloskey’s theory has repeatedly been debated. Still, it has never been empirically established to what extent the open fields actually reduced risk. McCloskey offered only indirect evidence, based on hypothetical calculations from short series demesne level yields. Risks on enclosed and open-field land farms were thus never compared.

This chapter presents farm-level harvest variation series, including observations from both types of land. It is based on tithe records of 1,700 farms in Southern Sweden from 1715–1860. Results show that scattering had a limited effect on agricultural risk. The system did protect against small-scale local crop failures. It was less efficient, however, when it came to the large-scale regional harvest disasters that constituted a much more serious threat to peasants of the time. From this perspective, the inner logic of the open-field system is taken up for renewed consideration.

Destinations have in the scholarly literature been labeled as communities of interdependent organizations that collectively coproduce a variety of products and services. The paradigm comes close to describing destinations as firms which are embedded in interfirm networks. Recent studies provide crucial insights into an understanding of destinations' orchestration and structuration as coproducing interfirm networks. However, systematic knowledge about how these systems evolve and develop is lacking. This chapter addresses this issue and elaborates how the concepts of scale-free and small-world networks together can explain the process of destination evolution. The discussion also suggests how such theorizing can spur avenues for future research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and construct a model for the mechanisms for authorization of actors in contemporary society performing in the role of the expert.

The study used qualitative analyses of about 70 interviews with management consultants in small/middle‐sized nationally based (in Sweden) consultancies, and with buyers in public organizations of their services. The data are, however, expected to represent more general tendencies of the mechanisms for authorization of experts such as management consultants. The interviews were seen as narratives from the field and interpreted qualitatively in order to search for patterns and categories.

Systems for professionalism in practice among experts such as management consultants do not follow the routes suggested by traditional theories of professions. It is another system for professionalism where success in commercialisation means authorization in the role of the expert on the market. The mechanism for authorization is trust and the way to construct this is that the single expert and the organizations he or she represents emphasize versatility, availability, relevance and differentiation in their practice as experts.

There is a growth in numbers, competence areas and importance of these forms of expert work in contemporary society. Understanding this is necessary and this study offers a model that explains this.

Markets for vague forms of experts, such as management consultants, are emerging. These are challenges faced by many individuals and organizations today.

More individuals work under consulting conditions, more organizations tend to hire more external experts of various kinds on temporary bases instead of employing them, and the number of expert organizations is emerging and their size is increasing.

Little attention has been devoted to explanations of how authorization in practice is constructed and achieved among the new experts. This study offers a model for how this can be understood.

A longitudinal study of the international behaviour of Swedish suppliers is presented. Three different types of supplier are identified: simple suppliers, advanced suppliers, and own product suppliers. Factors influencing the internationalisation of these suppliers are discussed. It is concluded that the firms’ offer and the customers’ buying strategies influence the firms’ international behaviour. However, these factors do not determine the international strategies completely. Various entrepreneurs will choose various strategies. Three different types of entrepreneurs are identified: the marketing, technical, and structural entrepreneurs. The type of entrepreneur influences the firms’ international strategies in different directions.

The purpose of this research is to examine the concept of “potential quality” – that is, a company's tangible search qualities (such as the physical servicescape and virtual servicescape) – within the context of the real‐estate industry in the USA.

This qualitative study collects data by conducting personal in‐depth interviews with 34 respondents who had been recent buyers or renters of property. The data are then coded and themed to identify quality dimensions relevant to this industry.

The results indicate that a buyer's perception of the overall service quality of real‐estate service consists of two components: the interaction with a realtor (process quality); and the virtual servicescape, especially the firm's website design and content (potential quality). The study concludes that existing scales (such as SERVQUAL and RESERV) fail to capture the tangible component of service quality sufficiently in the real‐estate industry.

The study uses data from only one industry (real estate) and from only one demographic segment (professionals in higher education).

Service providers of intangible, high‐contact services must appreciate the importance of the virtual servicescape as a surrogate quality indicator that can help to reduce information asymmetries and consumers' uncertainty with regard to initiating a business relationship. Real estate firms need to pay attention to the training of agents and the design and content of their e‐service systems.

This study integrates potential quality, process quality, and outcome quality in a comprehensive proposed model. In particular, the study identifies “potential quality” as a combination of the attributes of the virtual service environment and the physical service environment.