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Platform cooperatives, namely, businesses that sell goods or services primarily through a website, mobile app, or protocol and commit to the principles of democratic governance and shared ownership, have lately been proposed as a more sustainable, equitable and, under certain conditions, even efficient alternative to the organizational model of commercial platforms. Accordingly, they have been presented as economic institutions capable of involving all their relevant stakeholders in an extended and inclusive governance structure. Nevertheless, this emerging literature is still characterized by the lack of a holistic and analytic framework connecting the dispersed studies on the topic through the lens of stakeholder theory and detailing strategic complementarities between these different stakeholders. Related to this point, while dealing with the competitive advantages and challenges of platform cooperatives, little reference has been made to the existing debate in governance theory about the advantages and challenges of cooperative firms as compared to capitalist ones. These research gaps motivated our literature review, which is the first comprehensive systematic review specifically focused on this topic. Given the still‐emerging character of the research object, our work also makes way for future updates as new contributions are gradually published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the interconnection between the green transition and the digital transformation, known as the twin transition. The article analyses the specific role of digitalisation and its impact on a regional entrepreneurial ICT ecosystem in Sofia, Bulgaria, where the digital transformation has led to decent work in the ICT sector but is completely disconnected from the green transition. The article argues that these processes need a policy lever to develop in parallel with one another and connect, as they are rather disconnected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the process of digitalisation and outcomes from work restructuring in two banks from the United Kingdom and Luxembourg. The banking sectors in both countries have been challenged by digitalisation pressures such as online and mobile banking, pressures from 'Fintech' banks, and the automation of back-office operations. Yet, the adjustment paths in the two countries differed. In Luxembourg, there is an adjustment via limited lay-offs, and increased training and reskilling; however, in the United Kingdom, the main outcomes revolve around branch downsizing and offshoring of employment. These outcomes are explained by differences in institutional supports for collective voice institutions, as well as the role of the state. The findings demonstrate that the embedded employment relations' institutions and actors have shaped distinct paths of adjustment to digitalisation; and show how the impact of technology on work is neither deterministic nor unidirectional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a leading technology in the digital transformation. AI is expected to cause job losses in general, initially in professions associated with routine activities, and subsequently in the field of creative professions. The present article analysed the results of the authors' own empirical sociological survey of the attitude of Bulgarian translators towards AI, and the ways in which it will change their profession. Most of them perceive artificial intelligence and automatization as threats to the profession. According to them, digital technologies and AI will modify the profession by relieving human translators of the routine, technical part of the job. Hence, translators will predominantly edit machine-translated texts, and teach artificial intelligence to perform machine translation. The conclusion of the analysis demonstrates that, in the case of Bulgarian translators, such pessimistic scenarios about mass jobs destruction are not justified. In addition, expectations of a deterioration in quality of work as a result of digitalization in the near future are not justified in the case of the translating profession. The present survey results serve as a basis for further research about the impact of artificial intelligence on other creative professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work being conducted via online platforms has developed extremely rapidly in recent years and is one of the most important factors in the digital transformation of employment. While platform work in Western Europe has been a subject of increasing research interest during the last five years, contributions about Central and Eastern Europe are relatively scarce, especially concerning food delivery. The article demonstrates that while globally online food delivery platform work is most often associated with low quality, in the case of Bulgaria and Serbia delivery riders benefit from at least some dimensions of decent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate how regional entrepreneurial ecosystems have adapted to the information revolution as a techno-economic paradigm since the 1960s. Particularly, we look at how the organisation of firms and labour has changed in the automotive and ICT sectors in, respectively, the UK and Bulgaria. Findings show that, in both countries, it was the degree of cooperation between the local enterprises, research institutions and the government that enabled successful innovation in the regional clusters of the West Midlands and Sofia. The resulting ecosystems allowed, on the one hand, the already mature automotive sector in the UK to survive and, on the other hand, the newly developed ICT sector to be installed successfully in Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the dynamics of collective bargaining in the management of restructuring, drawing on the example of the banking sector in France, Luxembourg and Romania. We show that the organized decentralization of the corporatist or statist models of France and Luxembourg helped sustain employment relations systems and cushion crisis effects. Bargaining outcomes included internal mobility and training. In Romania, by contrast, disorganized decentralization meant that solutions were left to the company level and to market forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przeglad Socjologiczny is the property of Lodz Scientific Society / Lodzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This article examines how social partners in the waste sector in Austria, Bulgaria and Denmark strive to protect job quality from negative impacts of two European trends: privatisation and greening. The article uses qualitative, comparative research to examine social partners' levers for protecting and improving job quality. Three levers are identified: negotiation power, collective agreements and general regulation that facilitate negotiation and social partnership. In general, privatisation has had a negative influence on job quality and the levers of collective actors, whereas the impact of greening is ambiguous, that is, not necessarily positive. The article concludes that stakeholders' ability to improve job quality is contingent upon their activity on both a national and European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the interest in the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by trade unions, little is known about how new ICTs have changed trade union protest. In a period of austerity, in which new groups – including labour-related ones – have shown impressive mobilization using social media, we focus on a cross-country approach, looking at the impact of trade union strikes and protest in the public sector. Our findings show that new ICTs are being used at all stages of strike action and union protests in general, but do not allow us to assert that unions have changed the way they act in a fundamental way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how trade unions may address the questions of inclusion of vulnerable employees in low-wage “anchored” sectors in the European Union. Design/methodology/approach – The findings presented in the paper are mainly results of the analysis of stakeholder policies and strategies on the national level and on the European level, including both desk research and interviews with social partner representatives and other experts in the sectors as well as company case studies carried out in the examined countries in three selected sectors: cleaning, waste collection and catering. Findings – The main findings of the paper refer to the indirect way in which trade unions try to promote the inclusion of vulnerable groups in the examined sectors. On this basis are formulated policy recommendations. Research limitations/implications – The paper is based on case study research that does not cover all possible “anchored” services, vulnerable groups and types of countries, according to their employment and social models. Practical implications – This paper formulates practical recommendations to European trade unions in the services. Originality/value – The originality of the paper is related to comparative research focused on services sectors and the consequences of the spatial reorganisation of sectors for the trade union actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the methodological principles of „Action Research“ (AR), an interactive approach that goes beyond the traditional research arsenal, placing the researcher in the non-traditional role of an „active participant“ engaged in the change of social processes and the solving of particular problems that are the object of sociological research. Action Research is widely applied in different scientific fields - sociology, psychology, pedagogy, economics, management, etc. The article points out the opportunities for applying this innovative approach in sociological analysis. In this regard, the authors also present world research experience, with a focus both on the variety of research methods applied in the framework of AR and on the advantages and limitation of the approach. Some methodological challenges involved in applying this research approach in Bulgarian practice are also presented; the specific experience in AR application in the framework of the comparative research project WALQING (www.walqing. eu) is shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the question of the quality of work in the waste sector in Europe in the context of the transition towards a recycling society and formulates some recommendations for trade union strategies at the European level. Topics discussed include the framework of a European comparative project called WALQING in the waste sector and how greening, Europeanization and privatization impact the quality of work. Also mentioned is the hierarchy of waste.

Copyright of Transfer: European Review of Labour & Research is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)