Britta Ruschoff, Katariina Salmela-Aro, Thomas Kowalewski, Jan Kornelis Dijkstra and René Veenstra
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether young people’s peer networks can be an asset in finding employment during the transition from school to work. It examines…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether young people’s peer networks can be an asset in finding employment during the transition from school to work. It examines whether peer networks size and peers’ self-efficacy regarding their own job search are associated with job seekers’ career-relevant behaviors and outcomes, i.e., the number of applications completed and the number of job offers received.
Design/methodology/approach
Associations between job seekers’ peer networks and their job search behaviors and outcomes were investigated during their final year of vocational training. Sociometric measures were used to assess young people’s peer network size. Sociometric and self-report measures were used to establish the characteristics of the peers that comprise each job seekers’ network, resulting in the overall self-efficacy across each job seekers’ network.
Findings
The results show that peers’ efficacy beliefs are positively associated with young people’s engagement in job search activities (i.e. a greater number of applications completed) and indirectly associated with their job search outcomes (i.e. a greater number of job offers, which are mediated by the number of applications) that are independent of the peer network size.
Originality/value
The results underline that although peers might not provide instrumental support, encouraging interactions with (efficacious) peers may nonetheless be beneficial to young job seekers. Methodologically, the results demonstrate that the operationalization of self-efficacy as a network characteristic might provide us with valuable insights into the characteristics that turn social networks into beneficial social resources.
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Thomas Kowalewski and Britta Ruschoff
Taking a network approach, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the social antecedents of work-related engagement and exhaustion in a sample of Dutch healthcare workers…
Abstract
Purpose
Taking a network approach, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the social antecedents of work-related engagement and exhaustion in a sample of Dutch healthcare workers, examining how employees’ structural position in the team (i.e. their centrality in the network) is associated with their engagement and exhaustion. Distinctions are made between instrumental networks (i.e. structural dependencies) and expressive networks (i.e. emotional connectedness through friendships).
Design/methodology/approach
Associations between job characteristics (quantitative demands, emotional demands and influence) and employees’ centrality in the instrumental and expressive networks at work with their self-reported engagement and exhaustion were examined. Network centrality was assessed though a sociometric survey by the total number of nominations each employee received (in-degree centrality) or gave (out-degree centrality) and for both networks separately.
Findings
The results show that whereas job characteristics but not network centrality were associated with exhaustion, network centrality in the expressive network but not job characteristics was associated with engagement. In-degree centrality (being nominated by many co-workers as a friend) was positively associated with engagement, whereas out-degree centrality (nominating many co-workers as a friend) was negatively associated with engagement.
Originality/value
The results support recent findings concerning more multifaceted antecedents of engagement and exhaustion, and underline the importance considering social network characteristics in investigations of work engagement. On a methodological level, the differing results for in-degree and out-degree centrality underline the importance of not only relying on self-reported social relationships but to also capture other-reported data.
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Identification of dominant approaches and applied practices in the field of diversity and diversity management (DM) in Polish companies in the context of trends on labor market…
Abstract
Purpose
Identification of dominant approaches and applied practices in the field of diversity and diversity management (DM) in Polish companies in the context of trends on labor market. Although there is not much diversity in Poland now, it is expected that there will be more age related and ethnic diversity in future.
Methodology
Semi-structured interviews with HR specialist in 50 innovative companies (medium and large companies) were conducted. A synthesis of the current achievements of Polish research in this area was also carried out.
Findings
The concept of DM is not popular yet in Polish organizations. There are mostly observed declarative activities concentrating on image-related benefits and focusing on the equal employment opportunity. Findings are consistent with the results of other authors.
Research Limitation
The study was limited by research methodology which presented one-sided, HR managers, view of the problem. Further studies examining other perspectives are required.
Practical Implications
Observed trends on labor market require changes in attitudes toward diversity on organizations. A major challenge is to overcome the traditional approach. Potential benefits and threats ought to be documented, legal regulations adjusted to changes on labor market developed. The regulations ought to take the growing number of immigrants and problems associated with retirement age being lowered into consideration. Further studies are required.
Originality/Value
The assessment of the state of DM implementation in Polish organizations in the context of labor market changes and associated challenges constitutes an original character of the present study.
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains…
Abstract
The librarian and researcher have to be able to uncover specific articles in their areas of interest. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume IV, like Volume III, contains features to help the reader to retrieve relevant literature from MCB University Press' considerable output. Each entry within has been indexed according to author(s) and the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus. The latter thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid retrieval. Each article or book is assigned its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. This Volume indexes 29 journals indicating the depth, coverage and expansion of MCB's portfolio.
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Arrick Jackson and Alynna Lyon
Images of “blue‐helmets” and multilateral peacekeeping missions are pervasive in today’s world. The goal of intervening parties is often to re‐establish order; one way to…
Abstract
Images of “blue‐helmets” and multilateral peacekeeping missions are pervasive in today’s world. The goal of intervening parties is often to re‐establish order; one way to accomplish this is to rebuild political institutions. Rehabilitating policing agencies within failed states is an essential component to establishing a peaceful and productive society. Discusses four issues that are important to policing after ethnic conflict: police culture, democratic participation, the political environment the police operate within, and the perceptions of the population about law enforcement. Applies current perspectives on policing in stable states to some of the challenges facing creating law enforcement structures in unstable and often ethnically charged states. Argues that until we understand the impact each of these components play, intervening parties will continue to lead failed governments and their policing agencies into the cycle of violence.
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Arrick Jackson and Alynna Lyon
Images of “blue helmets” and multilateral peace‐keeping missions are pervasive in today’s world. The goal of intervening parties is often to re‐establish order, one way to…
Abstract
Images of “blue helmets” and multilateral peace‐keeping missions are pervasive in today’s world. The goal of intervening parties is often to re‐establish order, one way to accomplish this is to rebuild political institutions. Rehabilitating policing agencies within failed states is an essential component to establishing a peaceful and productive society. Discusses four issues that are important to policing after ethnic conflict – police culture, democratic participation, the political environment the police operate within, and the perceptions of the population about law enforcement. Applies current perspectives on policing in stable states to some of the challenges facing creating law enforcement structures in unstable and often ethnically charged states. Argues that until we understand the impact each of these components play intervening parties will continue to lead failed governments and their policing agencies into the cycle of violence.
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Previous studies of late adolescent protesters on university campuses have generally focused on the social, psychological, and political differences between protesters and…
Abstract
Previous studies of late adolescent protesters on university campuses have generally focused on the social, psychological, and political differences between protesters and non‐protesters. Yet differences among the protesters themselves have rarely been the topic of intensive inquiry. Caught by surprise at the rapid surge of New Leftist campus protest, social scientists and psychologists hurriedly attempted to explain the phenomenon by discovering the differences between activists and non‐activists. Thus university protesters have generally been conceived as a somewhat homogenous mass set against their less radical fellow students.