Emma Carmel, Kate Hamblin and Theo Papadopoulos
This paper seeks to evaluate the EU's “active ageing” agenda as a governance strategy for the activation of older workers, and its impact on the regulation both of those who make…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to evaluate the EU's “active ageing” agenda as a governance strategy for the activation of older workers, and its impact on the regulation both of those who make, and those who are the objects of, policy. This case study is used to reflect more broadly on the implications of governance strategies for the regulation of social subjects in the European Union (EU).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a model of governance comprising two dimensions, namely formal policy (policy aims) and operational policy (policy means). This model is used to explain how and to what effect, discourses and institutions interact in EU governance to produce particular forms of social subject regulation; in this case, activation.
Findings
For the operational dimension, the paper explores how contradictions and tensions within and between employment, pensions and social inclusion policies are reflected in, and the products of, a re‐allocation of responsibilities between the EU, member states, social partners, and individuals. For the formal dimension, it explains how employment for older workers is constructed as having a different meaning to the employment of other workers, and how EU discourse on active ageing disguises crucial inequalities between groups of older workers, both pre‐ and post‐retirement.
Research implications/limitations
The paper concludes that active ageing policy in the EU institutes a new category of social subject, apparently eliding the former distinction between employment and retirement, namely the “activated retiree”.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the efficacy of the two‐dimensional approach to the empirical analysis of governance strategies and identifies how key tensions in the production of EU social policies directly impact on the regulation of social subject categories in the EU.
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Karin Du Plessis, Tim Corney, Robyn Broadbent and Theo Papadopoulos
The aim of the paper is to locate the role of social and emotional support during the school‐to‐work transitions of apprentices, within the Australian vocational education and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to locate the role of social and emotional support during the school‐to‐work transitions of apprentices, within the Australian vocational education and training context.
Design/methodology/approach
The research reported here is based on an independent evaluation of an apprentice suicide prevention and support program. This program has been implemented in rural and regional Australia, and findings highlight the program's retention of key messages in the long‐term (i.e. 6 months to 2 years post‐completion). The work is based on both quantitative questionnaires from 119 apprentices as well as 18 face‐to‐face interviews.
Findings
The research showed that apprentices’ resilience to face school‐to‐work transitional challenges can be enhanced by increasing knowledge of suicide risk factors and sources of social and emotional support had increased. Findings indicate that a number of apprentices had made significant changes in their lives as a result of participating in the program. While 10 per cent of apprentices identify as “socially isolated”, it was encouraging to note that peer support, as a result of the program, can be considered an informal referral point to formal help‐provision and support.
Research limitations/implications
While the program has been successfully applied to building and construction industry apprentices, there is overlap in school‐to‐work transition issues of other types of apprenticeships/traineeships; this merits consideration of wider application of apprentice support programs within the Australian vocational education sector.
Originality/value
This paper draws together a focus on school‐to‐work vulnerabilities and social‐emotional support (similar to that found in youth development programs) as it can be applied to the vocational education and training sector.
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Explores the relationship between legitimate product pricing, copyright law enforcement and the formation of black markets for pirate products. The analytical framework is…
Abstract
Explores the relationship between legitimate product pricing, copyright law enforcement and the formation of black markets for pirate products. The analytical framework is illustrated using the market for sound recordings as a case study. Investigates copyright owner strategies to combat piracy, including price discounting to establish a legitimate market and lobbying for increased enforcement and infringement penalties. An elementary regression model is employed to examine the empirical relationship between legitimate sound recording price, black market distribution channels and piracy. The empirical model supports the hypotheses that piracy is directly related to legitimate price and the size of black markets.
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Robyn Broadbent, Marcelle Cacciattolo and Theo Papadopoulos
Career programmes within secondary school curriculum can impact on a young person's sense of direction and meaning in life. The purpose of this paper is to report on an evaluation…
Abstract
Purpose
Career programmes within secondary school curriculum can impact on a young person's sense of direction and meaning in life. The purpose of this paper is to report on an evaluation that was conducted in 2009 of the careers programmes in one secondary college in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Design/methodology/approach
The research team utilised a multi‐method approach collecting 273 surveys and undertaking both focus groups and interviews, ensuring the voices of young people were at the centre of the work.
Findings
Innovative careers and transition programmes create opportunities for young people to plan for their future. Similarly the absence of established careers programmes can compound the disadvantage that some students experience. The findings evidence how important it is for schools to support inclusive classrooms that enable young people to make informed decisions about their career pathways.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings were used to form a model of good practice and highlight the transformational impact of career and transition programmes for young people. The current research explores student knowledge, confidence, attitudes and perceptions while they are still at school. A longitudinal study, tracking these same young people as they progress to tertiary education and/or employment, would enable more definitive evidence on actual transitions and the actual outcomes experienced by young people.
Originality/value
This paper is of value to the education sector as it looks to respond to the need to develop a more seamless approach to young people making successful transitions to further education and/or employment.
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Vando Borghi and Rik van Berkel
The first part of the paper aimed to interpret the changes addressed by the concepts of governance and activation in their context, in order to grasp the larger picture of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The first part of the paper aimed to interpret the changes addressed by the concepts of governance and activation in their context, in order to grasp the larger picture of the societal transformation underlying them: the starting point is the assumption that new modes of governance in activation policies are a fruitful entry point for effectively understanding deep waves of change of contemporary society. The second part aims to briefly introduce the papers included in this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper insists on a perspective according to which there are two main dimension characterising the context of addressed transformations: the paradoxical torsion of the historical process of individualisation in the new spirit of capitalism; the profound redesign of the institutional programme, implying a new horizon for the instances of publicness.
Findings
Different and contradictory trends are pointed out in the actual pursuing of objectives of governance and activation, as far as the process of individualisation and the redesign of publicness are concerned. The impossibility of finding an abstract and universal evaluation of these transformations and the necessity of situated empirical inquiries are stressed.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the relevance of deepening the normative underlying dimensions (with regard to individualisation and publicness) of social processes for a better understanding of concrete transformations (specifically: operational and substantive changes introduced by new modes of governance in activation policies).
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Panayiotis Papadopoulos and Robert L. Taylor
This paper addresses the loading/unloading conditions of thediscrete initial—value problem of plastic flow at infinitesimal deformations. As in the continuum problem, it is…
Abstract
This paper addresses the loading/unloading conditions of thediscrete initial—value problem of plastic flow at infinitesimal deformations. As in the continuum problem, it is established that the strain—space formulation of the loading conditions is primary. Generalized trapezoidal and mid‐point rules are discussed. The loading conditions established for the general non‐associated flow problem are shown to naturally reduce to well‐known inequalities for flow rules obeying normality.
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Stephen F. Witt and Christine A. Martin
The objective of this study is to develop a set of econometric models for use in forecasting international tourist demand, as represented by the number of tourist visits, from the…
Abstract
The objective of this study is to develop a set of econometric models for use in forecasting international tourist demand, as represented by the number of tourist visits, from the F.R. Germany and the United Kingdom to their respective major destinations.
Amonrat Thoumrungroje, Adamantios Diamantopoulos and Nathalie Caroline Scherer
Drawing on cue utilization theory and the theory of motivated reasoning, we investigate the impact of consumer xenocentrism on product preferences in a situation where domestic…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on cue utilization theory and the theory of motivated reasoning, we investigate the impact of consumer xenocentrism on product preferences in a situation where domestic products objectively outperform their foreign counterparts.
Design/methodology/approach
We develop and test a model linking xenocentrism to consumers’ preference towards domestic vs. foreign products by (1) examining the mediating role of consumers’ ability to identify the superior product and (2) assessing the role of product involvement in potentially moderating this relationship. An experimental design was employed, whereby respondents (Thai consumers, N = 579) were asked to compare two products in the same product category, one foreign and one domestic. In one condition, the foreign product outperformed the domestic one on a range of relevant product attributes, whereas in a second condition, the opposite was the case.
Findings
Our findings provide clear evidence that xenocentric consumers often cannot recognize the superiority of domestic products and, even if they do, they still exhibit preferences toward (inferior) foreign products. Thus, for xenocentric consumers, it seems that the country of origin (COO) overrides other cues and often results in suboptimal product choices.
Originality/value
Our study adds to our theoretical understanding of the functioning of the consumer xenocentrism construct and has important implications for foreign companies targeting xenocentric consumers as well as for local firms seeking to counteract xenocentric tendencies.