scholarly journals Learning to work from home: experience of Australian workers and organizational representatives during the first Covid-19 lockdowns

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samin Marzban ◽  
Iva Durakovic ◽  
Christhina Candido ◽  
Martin Mackey
Keyword(s):  
Health And Safety ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Workplace Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Productivity Losses ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The Social ◽  
Environmental Considerations ◽  
High Level

Purpose This paper aims to provide a snapshot of workers’ experience while working from home (WFH) during the Australian lockdown in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. It focuses on lessons to inform organizations, employees and the design of the workspaces post-2020, human, organizational and environmental considerations may affect satisfaction, productivity and health. Design/methodology/approach Two separate surveys were designed for this study to target Australian organizations and knowledge workers. Participants included 28 organizations and 301 employees, and descriptive and correlational analyses were conducted. Findings Organizations stated productivity losses, maintaining culture and workplace health and safety concerns with WFH setup while employees were more concerned about their social interactions, internet connectivity and increased workload. Employees also found the social aspects of WFH challenging and disclosed that face-to-face interactions with their colleagues was the most important reason they wanted to return to the office. High level of trust and value was reported amongst the organizations and workers. Originality/value In the scarcity of academic literature around negative and positives of the WFH experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic, the main sources of information have been industry-focused reports. This study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by identifying positives and negative aspects of WFH during the first wave of lockdowns in Australia in 2020 from the organization and workers’ perspective, including human, organizational and environmental considerations.

Review and assessment of factors affecting the workplace relocation process

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-747
Author(s):  
Mohammad A. Hassanain ◽  
Ahmed M. Ibrahim ◽  
Abdul-Mohsen Al-Hammad
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Workplace Health ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
High Level ◽  
Real Estate Management ◽  
Control And Management ◽  
Level Of Agreement

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to holistically identify and assess the factors affecting the workplace relocation process during its various phases, namely: pre-relocation, relocation and post-relocation. The factors assessment evaluates the perspectives and level of agreement between facilities and real estate management professionals.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review was conducted to identify the factors affecting the workplace relocation process. In total, 34 factors were identified, which formed the basis of a questionnaire survey to assess their importance. Responses to the questionnaire survey were obtained through face-to-face interviews with two groups of professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 32 facilities managers (FM) and 32 real estate managers (REM). The questionnaire utilized a 5-point Likert scale of importance.FindingsThe research delivers rankings of the identified factors for prioritization. Where a moderate (to high) level of agreement between FM and REM professionals was remarked. Significant factors include: “availability of workplace health and safety plan”, “analysis of business needs for relocation”, “cost control and management of the relocation process”, “availability of maintenance plans” and “selection of fit-out contractor”.Originality/valueThe study provides a significant contribution to research and professional practice, while no comprehensive studies have been conducted on the various phases of the relocation process. The findings of this study are genuine to keep professionals and practitioners on the ball managing their workplace relocations, overcoming their unforeseen struggles, resourcefully and efficiently.

Is this mine? Psychological ownership and the social media follower

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline S.L. Tan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Psychological Ownership ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Currency ◽  
Different Levels

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine psychological ownership (PO) experienced by followers of social media influencers toward both influencer and the product. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews that were conducted with 30 respondents and analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings The study demonstrated that the PO experienced by the follower changes under different conditions resulting from perceived value, social currency and follower activity. Social currency plays a vital role in determining the target of PO, often affecting the narrative by the follower. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the transference of PO between product and influencer as experienced by the follower. It provides an understanding on PO that is experienced in different levels of intensity and changes depending on the motive of the follower; hence, transference of PO occurs and it is not a static.

Indigenous business success: a hybrid perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 24-41
Author(s):  
Ruth Omonigho Mrabure
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Business Success ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
The Social ◽  
Indigenous Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Subjective Meanings

PurposeThis paper aims to address the notion that the relationship between being indigenous and business success is inconclusive because there are tensions between indigenous values and business success. The research questions are: How do indigenous entrepreneurs define success? Does the third space create a different meaning of success in the indigenous context?Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was adopted for this study because the ability to define success requires subjective meanings. Participants’ lived experiences and stories were the main sources of information. Open conversational-style interviews were used because they allow participants to freely share their stories.FindingsA defining line is that not all indigenous entrepreneurs have the same view of success. The homogeneity that emanates from sharing indigeneity does not equal unity in views, but shows that people from the same group can view success differently. However, the meaning and views formed are also connected to the wider community, relationships and predominant values that characterise the social cultural context of the entrepreneur.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on one indigenous group; more studies need to be conducted to gain wider variation on the meaning of success in indigenous entrepreneurship and how indigenous subculture alters these meanings.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study show that success for indigenous entrepreneurs should be defined based on individual philosophy. Hence, practitioners should endeavour to clarify what success means from the initial stage of the business to avoid misconception and make this clear to others that are connected to the business.Originality/valueThis paper suggests a different view of success in an indigenous context using the hybridity viewpoint to explain why success can be perceived using the in-between space without opposite binary.

Emotion regulation during deception: an EEG study of imprisoned fraudsters

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Krokoszinski ◽  
Daniela Hosser
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Violent Offenders ◽  
Alpha Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Emotional Processes ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Regulation Strategies

Purpose – The social interaction between a deceiver and the deceived opponent is a determining factor for deception that involves emotions. Hence, besides a great amount of cognitive control, a successful lie also requires the regulation of emotions, especially when deceiving somebody face-to-face. The purpose of this paper is to investigate emotion regulation processes in an interpersonal lying experiment and aimed to examine whether fraudsters have well-functioning emotion regulation strategies or show a lack of emotional processes when deceiving face-to-face. Design/methodology/approach – Imprisoned fraudsters (n=11), imprisoned violent offenders (n=10) and non-offenders (n=11) spontaneously deceived an interrogator in a face-to-face situation while the deceivers’ EEG was recorded. Findings – The results showed that a decrease of alpha activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) predicted a higher frequency of deceptive responses as well as less guilt about deceiving the interrogator. These findings suggest a pivotal role of the left dlPFC in emotion regulation during deception for fraudsters, violent offenders and non-offenders. Unlike violent offenders, fraudsters did not show differences in alpha activity of the dlPFC between truthful and deceptive responses, suggesting that fraudsters are better at emotion regulation while deceiving their opponents. Originality/value – This study emphasizes the recruitment of emotion regulation processes during deception. The results give first insight into the emotional processes underlying deception in fraudsters.

Corporate sustainability disclosure’s importance in China: financial analysts’ perception

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1169-1189
Author(s):  
Jhunru Zhang ◽  
Hadrian Geri Djajadikerta ◽  
Terri Trireksani
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Financial Analysts ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Environmental Aspect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Level Of Importance

Purpose Corporate sustainability in China has become a subject of increasing international concern. Corporate sustainability disclosure (CSD) is considered a useful tool to facilitate the empowerment and acknowledgement of stakeholders in the quest for sustainability. However, the degree of cultural and political influences for being sustainably orientated can be significantly different between countries. This study aims to examine the perception of financial analysts, as CSD report users, in China about the level of importance of various indicators of corporate sustainability described in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. Design/methodology/approach A set of questionnaires was developed based on GRI G4 guidelines to measure the perception of financial analysts in China on the level of importance of each sustainability indicator described in the GRI G4. A five-point Likert scale was used to measure the report users’ perceptions of each of the indicators. Findings The findings of this study increase our understanding of how Chinese CSD report users perceive corporate sustainability differently from the GRI guidelines. The main results show that the environmental aspect of sustainability was seen to be important in China, followed by the social and economic aspects. Indicator-wise, “water”, “effluents and waste”, “emissions”, “compliance” and “energy” were perceived as vital in the environmental category, while “customer health and safety”, “customer privacy” and “compliance” were considered significant in the social category. Originality/value This study addresses the need for differing corporate sustainability guidelines for different nations and cultures, specifically within the Chinese context. It also contributes to the corporate sustainability literature by adding to our understanding of how financial analysts in China, as CSD report users, perceive aspects of sustainability.

Perceived trustworthiness in using B2B digital services

2019 ◽  
Vol 120 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-607
Author(s):  
Heli Hallikainen ◽  
Saku Hirvonen ◽  
Tommi Laukkanen
Keyword(s):  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Technology Readiness ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Job Level ◽  
Digital Services ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
And Gender ◽  
High Level

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the perceived trustworthiness of a B2B service provider relates to a business customer’s intention to use digital services from that provider. The study investigates whether perceived trustworthiness, composed of ability, integrity and benevolence, explains behavioral intentions equally among all business customer segments, and how characteristics such as job level, decision-making role, technology readiness age and gender moderate these effects. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a model of trust transfer mechanism, the study explores how perceived trustworthiness established in face-to-face interaction influences the use of digital services in making B2B purchases. Hypotheses are tested using a sample of 1,866 responses collected from customers of four B2B firms. Findings Ability is the most influential on the customer’s intention to transact through digital channels, while the effects of integrity and benevolence show more variation. The effect of perceived trustworthiness on the intention to use digital services is remarkably stronger among senior and middle management, high-level decision makers, the younger age segment, men and individuals high in technology readiness, compared to other segments studied. Originality/value The study contributes to the scant research on B2B customer behavior in the digital environment and incorporates individual characteristics specific to the industrial domain.

Social mobility will fall for China’s disadvantaged

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Credit System ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
High Level

Subject Social mobility in China. Significance So far, the Communist Party leadership has only addressed the most extreme manifestations of inequality -- high-level corruption and rural poverty. It has not tackled a wide range of social, economic and institutional barriers to social mobility that affect hundreds of millions of people across the country. Impacts Members of China’s middle class are already approaching the limits of their upward mobility. The social credit system could evolve in a way that exacerbates the divide between the economically advantaged and disadvantaged. The campaign to eliminate absolute poverty will do little to address the problem of relative poverty in urban areas.

Leaving it up to the Workers: Sociological Perspective on the Management of Health and Safety in Small Workplaces

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. Eakin
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Health ◽  
Health Behavior ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Small Business Owners ◽  
Workplace Health ◽  
Workplace Hazards ◽  
Management Intervention ◽  
The Social

Small workplaces present particular challenges for the promotion of occupational health and safety. However, little is known about the social organization of work in such settings and how it relates to matters of health and safety. The research on which this article is based relates patterns of occupational health behavior to the nature of social relationships within the workplace. From a qualitative analysts of interviews with 53 small business owners, the author describes the most common approach to managing workplace health and safety: leaving it up to the workers. This posture is explained in terms of the owners' perception of risk, particularly their understanding of workplace hazards, and their assessment of the social costs of ignoring or addressing such issues. Owners tended to discount or normalize health hazards, and to believe that management intervention in employee health behavior was paternalistic and inconsistent with prevailing patterns of labor relations and norms respecting individual autonomy. Many owners understood health and safety not as a bureaucratic function of management but as a personal moral enterprise in which they did not have legitimate authority. The conceptualization of the owners' responses in terms of “social rationality” has implications for addressing problems of health and safety in small workplaces.

scholarly journals The silent practice: sustainable self-managing teams in a Norwegian context

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Rolfsen ◽  
Tobias Strand Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Shop Floor ◽  
Normative Values ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Participative Methods ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
High Level

Purpose – The purpose is to provide explanations for why some self-managing teams survive and develop over a long period of time. Design/methodology/approach – The research design is longitudinal, having worked with several research projects over a period of 20 years. Interviews, observation, field notes have been widely used, and also participative methods while one of the authors has worked on the shop floor for six weeks. Findings – The authors offer several explanations: the maturity of teams; the process of institutionalization and creation of strong normative values; practices being “infused with meaning” and decoupling of practice from official policy. Research limitations/implications – The weakness is that the research presented is from one company, and within a Norwegian context which has certain characteristics. The contribution is the emphasis on institutional elements and the methodological implications regarding informal practice where explicit information is incomplete. Practical implications – By offering an explanation for why self-managing teams can survive, one can also prescribe some important learning. Mutual cooperation and high level of autonomy prove to be important. Originality/value – The main contribution is the authors' access to unique empirical data, and that they show and explain the social mechanisms for institutionalization of teamwork through participative observation.

Stakeholders’ perceptions of book piracy’s benefits to society in Lithuania

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincas Grigas ◽  
Arūnas Gudinavičius
Keyword(s):  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Address Book ◽  
The Social ◽  
Access To Books

Purpose Book piracy represents a threat to the publishing industry, while for the society, book piracy provides some benefits. The purpose of this study is to examine views of readers, authors and publishers in Lithuania on book piracy’s benefits to society. Design/methodology/approach This study uses phenomenography to examine readers’, authors’ and publishers’ reflections on book piracy’s potential social benefits. The authors collected research data via semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 10 participants from each group (readers, authors and publishers – a total of 30 interviews). Findings Six qualitatively different categories of attitudes were revealed, namely, that book piracy provides easier and more convenient access to books, helps readers save money, pushes readers to read more, helps for authors to gain more popularity, provides wider access to books and provides consumers with moral satisfaction. The similarities between readers’, authors’ and publishers’ views on benefits of book piracy outweigh the differences. Practical implications Theoretical background indicates that stakeholders’ explicitly stated attitudes towards book piracy contribute to their book piracy intentions. This study hopes to help publishers in Lithuania confront the challenge of book piracy and develop effective strategies to attenuate a normative framework with four actionable recommendations to help professionals in the publishing industry to better address book piracy. Originality/value Book piracy continues to perplex publishers, in part because they lack a clear understanding of the social and psychological underpinnings of book piracy. This study aims to develop such an understanding by filling gap in the literature on book piracy: the lack of work on readers’, authors’ and publishers’ perceptions of book piracy’s individual and social benefits.

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