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This article examines the geopolitical dimensions of the academic study of industrial relations and sketches a conceptual framework based on an analysis of this intellectual history. After a discussion of the social relations of knowledge production and geopolitics, a broad historical study is made of Anglo-American IR theory in the twentieth century within a geopolitical realist lens. Historical periods are identified and within these periods the geopolitical dimensions of industrial relations theories are examined. The article then discusses future reconfigurations of labour relations theory with a geopolitical analysis that better responds to contemporary crises, neo-imperialisms, and cascading socio-ecologic uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers have devoted great effort to explore the antecedents of altruistic behaviours (a type of organisational citizenship behaviours), the important role of technical factors (social media) remains unclear. Drawing on social comparison and organisational support theory, this study explored how social media affordances influence employees' altruistic behaviours from both positive and negative perspectives. In this study, 302 employees from organisations in China were surveyed. We found that social media affordances could facilitate employees' perceived organisational support and social comparison of ability. Perceived organisational support positively mediated the relationship between social media affordances and altruistic behaviours. Although the evidence did not support the notion that social comparison of ability could directly dampen altruistic behaviours, a post-hoc analysis found that it could dampen the positive impact of perceived organisational support on developing altruistic behaviours. This study expanded previous research focusing on only positive or negative effects of social media use in the workplace by investigating the dual effects and the interaction effect in between. Here, we discuss the results and provide practical guidance for managers and organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research shows that firms and jobs are more important for understanding gender wage inequalities than individual-level and occupational-level attributes. I investigate how two mechanisms derived from relational inequality theory, opportunity hoarding and exploitation, affect within-firm gender wage gaps. First, men might exclude women from high-paying firms or jobs (i.e. opportunity hoarding), resulting in gender wage inequalities. Second, male managers might use their relational power to redistribute wages from females to males (exploitation). Increasing the number of female managers might stop this exploitation. While previous literature focused on the effect of female managers on the gender wage gap, I contribute to the literature by also considering the impact of female managers on males' wages theoretically and empirically. Using German linked employer-employee data and fixed-effect regressions at the firm and job levels, I find evidence for opportunity hoarding at both the firm and the job levels. For the exploitation mechanism, female managers increase females' wages and lower males' wages, suggesting the existence of the exploitation mechanism. Further analyses show that the increases in females' wages are proportional to the decreases in males' wages. Thus, I find evidence for female managers redistributing males' wages to females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employers significantly influence employee travel habits through their policies and benefits, impacting workforce selection, equality of opportunities, and the environment. This study analyses what the fast-growing body of business sustainability standards and reporting frameworks (also known as Corporate Social Responsibility or Environment-Social-Governance (ESG) reporting) require from employers with respect to employee mobility. Analysing 29 leading frameworks using document analysis methods, our findings reveal that the majority (n = 19) do not address employee mobility in their reporting requirements. Among those that do (n = 10), their focus is notably limited, primarily centred on greenhouse gas emissions calculations. Only two frameworks emphasise employer responsibility for preventing transport injuries as part of workforce health and safety management. None of the frameworks mandate reporting on efforts to create an accessible workplace for all potential employees, regardless of abilities or car ownership. These results highlight a significant disparity between the limited expectations expressed in reporting frameworks and the far-reaching impacts of workplace mobility policies. We critique the GHG protocol's methodology concerning business travel and employee commuting on practical and normative grounds. We recommend that future reporting frameworks adopt broader requirements for employer transport policies, in the expectation that higher standards will trigger greener and more inclusive employer policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate frequencies of managers' reported use of work accommodations (WAs) for employees with common mental disorders (CMD), and to examine associations between manager-related characteristics and the use of diverse WAs. Material and methods: 3358 managers took part in a web-survey, of these, 1779 were included in this study. The survey listed 15 WAs grouped into seven types using principal component analysis. The relationships between managers' person-related, knowledge-related, and work-related characteristics with the seven WAs were tested with multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Reported use of WAs was high. Compared to work-related characteristics, person-related and knowledge-related characteristics were stronger associated with WAs. The two characteristics associated with most WAs types were (1) confidence in supporting employees with CMD (5 WA types) and (2) managerial training on CMD (4 WA types). Conclusion: Managers report an extensive use of different types of WAs. WAs were related to a variety of determinants, depending on the WA type, but using WAs depends on the manager as an individual rather than on their work environment. To increase equal access to WAs, organizations should encourage managers to use WAs in order to support and improve the work capacity for employees with CMD. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Managers' use of work accommodations (WAs) for employees with common mental disorders (CMDs) is highly dependent on their confidence in and knowledge about how to support these employees. Organizations should encourage the universal use of WAs, regardless of individual managers' preference. Organizations should provide training for managers to increase their knowledge on CMDs and how to find WAs for these employees. While cooperating with managers, rehabilitation professionals should pay attention to managers' potential lack of confidence regarding dealing with employees with CMDs and with WAs, and their lack of knowledge on these issues. Rehabilitation professionals should strive for an encouraging and informative approach to managers to increase their confidence and knowledge in matters of employees with CMDs and the supportive role of WAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of urban low-carbon governance on firms' capital-labor ratio. By treating China's low-carbon city pilot (LCCP) policy as an urban low-carbon governance instrument, we apply a difference-in-differences method (DID) and find that the LCCP program significantly reduces firms' capital-labor ratio, but the effect only manifests in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The mechanism result demonstrates that to intensify urban low-carbon governance, local governments adjusted fiscal expenditure structure, resulting in SOEs employing less capital and more labor. This may be a business strategy adopted by SOEs to avoid environmental regulations, as we find that urban low-carbon governance significantly improves green technology innovation in non-SOEs, but not in SOEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The automotive industry’s transition toward electric vehicles is a key challenge for organised labour in the sector. In this context, shifting production towards socially and ecologically useful products through democratic decision-making, democratic conversion, can be a proactive just transition strategy for workers and contribute to the ecological reorganisation of production. This paper investigates the limits and potentials for this endeavour in the context of the German automotive industry by conducting a multi-level analysis of (1) the sectoral union IG Metall’s (IGM) strategies and its interrelation with (2) works council strategies at a major supplier utilising a Gramscian theoretical framework. I identify the main limitations and potentials for both realms, which interact with (3) the dominant understanding of the transition and (4) internal conditions for labour organising. I show that democratic conversion is a challenging proposal questioning key tenets of German industrial relations yet can provide innovative solutions addressing labour’s contemporary challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global production network (GPN) scholars increasingly focus on examining exclusionary processes in strategic coupling. However, attention has been given to structural coupling, where uneven outcomes often evolve through lead firms exploiting power asymmetries to foster their interests over regions. Functional and indigenous coupling, although acknowledged to have exclusions, are considered to be less likely for such outcomes due to assumed symmetrical power. This assumption has led to a lack of studies exploring not only how uneven outcomes evolve in indigenous coupling but also what territorial mechanisms are involved. This article addresses this gap by conceptualizing the notion of a statist transnational community (STC) as a crucial mechanism in indigenous coupling, and with potential to explain how asymmetrical relations can emerge and foster exclusionary processes. Based on qualitative methods, this article analyzes Brazil's integration into the aerospace GPN through indigenous coupling. First, it examines how the Brazilian developmental state, under a national developmental ideology, fostered coupling in São José dos Campos (SJC) by establishing institutions, regional assets, Embraer, and an aerospace industrial cluster. Second, it elucidates how the Brazilian state facilitated the formation of an STC crucial in establishing firms and creating and harnessing regional assets. Additionally, it reveals how and why the SJC STC is marked by relative symmetrical and cooperative relations, and encourages collaboration. Lastly, this article investigates a training partnership between Embraer and the Aeronautics Institute of Technology in SJC, disclosing how asymmetrical power relations can also be present in indigenous coupling, fostering social downgrading, especially in relation to labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early years following Israel's establishment, the country's stone industry was set to advance key Zionist objectives: supplying construction materials to house Jewish immigrants and creating employment opportunities for them. However, this policy faced a significant challenge when quarry owners preferred to hire cheaper, unorganized Palestinian workers. This was particularly pronounced in the Southern Triangle region, where Palestinians lived in close proximity to Israeli Jewish urban centers. These Palestinian quarry workers, who were compelled to endure harsh working conditions, discrimination, and exploitation, are the focus of this article. By focusing on Palestinian quarry workers in the Southern Triangle between 1949–1952, the article aims to explore the origins of the political and economic inferiority of Palestinians in Israel. It delves into how this inferiority was constructed and the underlying motivations. Furthermore, the article uncovers previously overlooked Palestinian labor mobilization in the face of rigid oppression by employers and the state. This mobilization, it is argued, led to a shift in government and labor union policies towards Palestinians – from establishing and justifying a racial wage gap between Jewish and Palestinian workers to striving for wage standardization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread practice of Bring your own device (BYOD) to work significantly raises cyberse- curity risks. All organization’s employees and employers will greatly benefit from this trend. The growth of spyware, malware and other dubious downloads on individual devices has compelled the government to review its data security guidelines. Without user knowledge, hazardous apps are downloaded to personal devices. Both people and governments could suffer tragic conse- quences as a result of this. In this situation, BYODs are problematic since they can alter policies without permission and release private information. The main goal of the research was to detect fraudulent communications coming from BYOD environments. A network monitoring and man- aging information configuration settings of mobile devices in the network is established by providing policies and authenticating endpoint devices in the BYOD network using a mix of NAC and MDM. This framework deals with Security Manager (SaaS) as the second module is briefly described. The study’s early results were positive and suggested that the framework would lessen access control-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working conditions in a global context reveal a dramatic reality for workers in the Global South. In conjunction with the prevailing process of capital accumulation and economic growth and the new forms of poverty that accompany it, some contributions generate the image of an unregulated world of labor relations and a powerless workforce. Either the weaknesses and gaps in cross-border labor regulation are used to outline an almost insoluble problem, or a return to the salvation of the nation state is called for. The reaction to this view often leads to an exchange of blows and results in a dichotomous debate. Instead, this article sheds light on the historical complexities of national to transnational labor regulation, from the establishment of the first international trade union secretariats to modern multi-stakeholder agreements. Based on a historical analysis, this article argues that a gradual institutionalization can be observed over 130  years, while revealing a complex transnational regime-like governance architecture. Drawing on the Ecology approach, a framework is developed to capture this complex structure. It is shown that, despite the expansion of governance structures, there is a lack of legitimized control, sanction and enforcement mechanisms to comprehensively counteract labor rights violations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study, based on the framework of social exchange theory and sustainability, is twofold: first, to show how distinct employment relationships (ERs) can have different effects on sustainability outcomes; and second, to demonstrate how such an impact is mediated by the strength of the HRM system. The proposed model was tested using the multivariate method of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 206 companies in the chemical and metallurgical industries. Data were collected via a questionnaire composed of measurement scales previously validated in the reference literature. Each company's production and HR managers were asked to complete the questionnaire. Our results showed that mutual investment ERs can indeed produce better sustainability results, and organisations with quasi-spot contract (QSC) relationships are unable to achieve sustainable organisational outcomes. The results also confirmed that a strong HRM system reinforces the positive effects of mutual investment ERs. Moreover, a strong HRM mitigates the negative effects of QSCs. In essence, our paper shows that the strength of an HRM system is a major driver of sustainability. Therefore, when implementing working relationships, managers should foster shared perceptions of the firm's values among its employees, thus clearly defining which behaviours are expected and rewarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the adverse implications of organizational identification (OID) have received significant attention in the field of organizational behavior research, particularly as it is considered a critical factor in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Nevertheless, the findings of previous studies are inconsistent. To explain these discrepancies, we performed a meta-analysis of 54 independent studies from January 2010 to April 2023, comprising a total of 14,836 samples, to investigate the impact of OID on UPB and the moderating effects of cultural context. The results of our study demonstrated that individualism, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence play moderating roles in the OID – UPB relationship. This study makes noteworthy theoretical and practical contributions and lays the foundation for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As policymakers globally recognize aging in place as the preferred option for most adults, there is a growing need to supplement family or informal caregiving for frail older adults with formal homecare services, particularly for those who require 24/7 care due to significant physical and/or cognitive impairment. The core objective of this qualitative study was to explore family members' experiences in employing live-in care workers, particularly the nature of their engagement and the quality of their relationships with these care workers. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with 35 family caregivers revealed four themes: 1) challenges in acquiring support and developing dependency; 2) negotiation of roles, responsibilities, and moral dilemmas; 3) shifting emotions between trust and suspicion; and 4) role confusion, expectations, and disappointments. The study suggests that families might benefit from formal guidance regarding fostering and maintaining positive relationships in the homecare environment. This paper provides nuanced knowledge that may inform the development of such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family caregivers to persons living with a chronic or disabling condition often report disruption to their employment. Employment disruption can cause long-term financial difficulty and psychological distress for caregivers, high costs for employers, and exacerbates social inequities. In this commentary, we describe a community initiative to better support employees who are caregivers conducted with nonprofit employers in San Antonio, located in the central Texas region of the United States. This initiative aimed to raise awareness among local employers about the challenges employees face in balancing employment and caregiving. This led to the co-development of a pledge to guide employer efforts to support employees who are caregivers. This initiative represents a first step to mobilize employers as stakeholder allies to improve workplace support for family caregivers. The authors draw on the Shilton Model of Policy Advocacy to make the case that the mobilization of employers as advocacy stakeholders can hasten the advancement of policies that enable family caregivers to balance both roles. Further, the implementation of organization-level changes, in addition to state and federal policy changes, to support employed caregivers by employers is consistent with recommendations of the recently published National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence reveals that disabled people face discrimination during the hiring process. Nonetheless, knowledge is scarce about how employers and disabled applicants relate to the phenomenon of disability in job interviews. This article explores the understandings of disability emerging from actual job interviews for a company with an expressed diversity policy. By combining the analytical concepts of 'dialogism' and 'staring', the article illustrates the tendency to use an individualised understanding of disability, thus blocking affirmative understanding and the candidates' limited agency to perform the role of 'staree' in the job interview setting (i.e. advocating for disability as an asset). To facilitate more inclusive hiring practices, employers could explicitly link the diversity statements in their job listings to their inclusion policies in practice to show their concern about staff diversity and work-life inclusion to their candidates. Disabled people are known to face discrimination during the job hiring process. This article shows that even inclusive employers may use a person-deficit approach when talking to disabled applicants in a job interview. Educators and employment service providers should educate employers on the different understandings that exist about disability to foster inclusive dialogues and work environments. Educators and social workers should support disabled job seekers, as they strive to achieve self-awareness and build self-advocacy skills, which would enable them to inform potential employers about the assets of disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Returning to work is an important goal after stroke, not only as a recovery indicator but also for facilitating independent living and improved social identity. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of vocational rehabilitation and the return to work pathway after stroke. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with purposively selected participants who had participated in a vocational rehabilitation trial. All participants were employed at the time of their stroke and were community-living. Interviews were undertaken by occupational therapists and were transcribed verbatim before data were thematically analysed using a framework approach. Sixteen participants were interviewed, seven received specialist vocational rehabilitation and nine received usual clinical rehabilitation. Three major themes were identified which highlighted the importance of tailored vocational rehabilitation to address the challenges that arise when returning to the workplace. Stroke survivors perceived the most beneficial components of the specialist vocational rehabilitation intervention to be employer liaison support, fatigue management, and support for cognition and executive processing skills. Vocational rehabilitation was perceived to provide an opportunity to influence working after stroke, although areas of unmet need were highlighted. Findings provide direction for the development of future stroke-specific vocational rehabilitation programs. Psychosocial (emotional) and cognitive (memory and planning) changes along with post-stroke fatigue were perceived to be the greatest barriers faced on returning to work and should be key areas for intervention within a vocational rehabilitation program. Vocational rehabilitation interventions should be tailored to each participant, incorporating elements perceived to be important to stroke survivors, including workplace liaison, employer communication and psychological support. Workplaces may benefit from access to information about the range of physical, cognitive and language deficits associated with stroke, and the potential impact these may have on work skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research to date creates a predominantly positive image of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals). However, since i-deals lead to differences in employment relationships, they can trigger perceptions of unfairness and negative reactions among co-workers, thereby posing a threat to the overall effectiveness of i-deals. Against this background, it is important to gain more insights into how co-workers' perceptions of distributive justice are shaped. Building on distributive justice theory and integrating distributive justice principles with the roles of emotions and personality, this study investigates three factors that are likely to influence co-workers' perceptions of the distributive justice of an i-deal: the i-deal's content, the negotiation's timing, and co-workers' justice sensitivity. The results of the vignette-based, between-subjects quasi-experimental study with 650 employees show that these three factors influence co-workers' perceptions of an i-deal's distributive justice. In addition, the results of the study reveal interaction effects between the factors under investigation. By examining what influences co-workers' perceptions of distributive justice, this study contributes to a better understanding of i-deals from a third-party perspective and highlights that some types of i-deals, in terms of content and timing, should be approached with particular caution by supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the State's role in facing unemployment, focusing on two related aspects: the constitution of unemployment as a public problem and the development of employment policies. First, to discuss the trends observed in central capitalist countries, this article presents information from the nineteenth century onwards, using consolidated methods in the international debate. Next, the Brazilian trajectory is examined, regarding its welfare system and the low capillarity of wage relations. In Brazil, the emergence of unemployment on public debate only occurred in the second half of the twentieth century, and once constituted, the public socialization of unemployment risks always showed quite reduced indicators. Thus, this article points out the challenges of Brazilian employment policies, considering the distance between their rules, designed to structured labor markets, and the characteristics of labor relations in peripheral capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to water supply is still a problem in African cities. This has sparked discussions about how small-scale private actors could collaborate with the state to improve water supply. However, scholarly discussions on water supply have hardly examined the role of such actors in maintenance and repair. This paper shows how water infrastructures are maintained and repaired through hybrid labor relations between private and public actors where formal and informal practices are combined. These findings allow us to shift conceptualization in maintenance and repair beyond the state and explain how private actors enact and challenge the state's power through maintenance and repair practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through historical and anthropological inquiry, this paper addresses the issue of memory antagonisms involving cultural landscapes in the context of a former mining region: the Belgian Black Country. This region, which became increasingly industrialized in the 19th century through the massive development of coal mining and steel industry, subsequently experienced deindustrialization, and now finds itself mobilized in a process of 'post-industrial' mutation. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, it examines how the landscapes inherited from industry, and in particular the slag heaps of the coalfield, have over time become repositories of a working-class memory, through the living and working practices of the communities surrounding the mines. It also documents the various representations attached to these landscape objects, whose contradictions echo the oppositions between capital and labor that have marked the development of industrial capitalism. The second part of the paper, which focuses on the present situation, examines how these representations are remobilized in the valorization processes that are initiated by different actors, in the context of a 'post-industrial' urban transition strategy that seeks to produce a unified and pacified historical narrative. We'll be looking at how historical conflicts still permeate the representations of these landscapes, the question of their conservation, and their possible future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to explore structural preconditions for occupational well-being among blue-collar temporary agency workers within the Swedish manufacturing industry based on managers' views and expectations of the worker. Through 25 interviews, we investigate how blue-collar temporary agency workers are seen by management using critical realism and the concept of 'norm circles' to analyse spatial, relational, sociotechnical and normative structures. We show how structures and norm circles possess alienating or dealienating mechanisms that precondition blue-collar temporary agency workers' occupational well-being. The findings indicate management's role as an important gatekeeper in determining structural preconditions for blue-collar temporary agency workers' occupational well-being. By introducing aspects of skill and acquired skill, along with social aspects changing over time, this article contributes to the existing literature on blue-collar temporary agency workers' occupational well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how changing economic structures and the development of the financialized business enterprise has affected labor relations and distribution under the stage of money manager capitalism as described by Hyman Minsky and Charles Whalen. Key to this transformation, I argue, is the development of what David Weil refers to as the fissured workplace and what David Peetz calls "not there capitalism." In this context, the business enterprise operates as a network, with commands emanating from the center to be carried out by the periphery. Labor, then, contracts with these peripheral nodes, separating them from key economic decision-making processes. This reduction in power has significant implications for distribution. Using Christopher Brown's power-based approach to the institutional theory of distribution, I then examine these impacts, especially as it pertains to workers in the gig economy before concluding with an overview of potential policy recommendations to correct these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides direct evidence of automation's role in production using establishment-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Manufacturing Technology. The data indicate that more automated plants have lower production labor share and higher capital share, higher labor productivity, and a smaller fraction of workers in production who receive higher wages. To understand the connection between automation and total factor productivity, we estimate a CES model of production where a plant chooses the degree of automation by adjusting the relative weight of capital and production labor given their relative price. The results indicate that, in the presence of heterogeneity in the extent of automation, productivity estimates are more dispersed and skewed relative to Cobb-Douglas residuals, and that the choice of functional form affects the level of productivity estimates. Overall, broad and deep automation is concentrated in larger plants with higher total factor productivity and lower labor share, consistent with a role for automation in contributing to dispersion in input utilization and market share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of spiritual leadership style on frontline health workers' safety performance through the mediating role of safety climate. Also, leader–member exchange (LMX) was examined as a moderator of the safety climate and safety performance relationship. Survey data from 582 frontline health workers in Ghana's Greater Accra and Ashanti regions were analyzed using AMOS version 23. Findings showed that spiritual leadership dimensions significantly influenced health workers' safety performance. Altruistic love and vision also significantly influenced safety climate. However, hope did not influenced safety climate. Moreover, safety climate had an impact onsafety performance dimensions. Furthermore, safety climate mediated the relationship between altruistic love, vision, and safety performance. However, safety climate did not mediate the relationship between hope and safety performance. Lastly, LMX moderated the positive effect of safety climate on safety compliance but not on safety participation. This study offers valuable insights for improving frontline health workers' safety performance during pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether debt financing affects firm labor employment. Using Chinese listed companies between 2007 and 2021, we identify an inverted U-shaped relationship between debt financing and labor employment. Increased debt financing tends to boost labor employment. However, this positive influence gradually diminishes until a critical point is reached and the relationship turns negative thereafter, suggesting that there is a best balance between debt financing and labor employment. This inverted U-shaped association is also influenced by firm profitability and financial risk, with the former steepening the relationship and the latter making it smoother. Moreover, the impact of debt financing on labor employment is more pronounced in large firms, non-state-owned enterprises, labor-intensive companies, and firms with high solvency. Our findings imply that companies can effectively harness the positive effects of debt financing on labor employment by strategically adjusting their capital and labor resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines labor conflicts and worker resistance in the context of Chinese capital in Africa through a case study of large-scale wildcat strikes staged by local workers against the Huanan Group, a Chinese-owned manufacturing firm in Ethiopia. Beginning in January 2019, these strikes lasted for over four months and were unprecedented in terms of both the scale and duration. The authors argue that the wildcat strikes grew out of workers' discontent caused by the company's semi-militarized despotic labor regime, which was characterized by low wages, intense labor process, and militarized management style. The discontent among workers failed to materialize into effective forms of protest in previous years because the national institutions granted sufficient support for the labor regime and suppressed workers' agency. However, changes in Ethiopia's political environment from the mid-2010s led to the strengthening of worker power and the deterioration of state-business relations, which destabilized the status of the labor regime and provided the capacity for wildcat strikes to develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher Education staff in the United Kingdom (UK) work long hours to complete their duties. In a 2021 survey, staff reported a weekly average of 51 hours: a fact well understood to undermine health and educational quality. Yet, UK law sets a maximum working week of 48 hours, and failure to uphold this maximum is a criminal offence for employers. Seeking to understand this contradiction, the article reveals that staff are denied otherwise universal legal Health and Safety protection by the development and reinforcement of legal interpretation that assumes they have sufficient 'autonomy' to avoid overwork. As this is a position mutually constructed and accepted by both employers and unions, all efforts to reduce hours, including Industrial Action, have worked from this premise. However, critical analysis of university Terms and Conditions, against relevant jurisprudential developments, adds significant original value by questioning the validity of the status quo legal interpretation. Specifically, a landmark legal ruling against the UK by the European Court of Justice, and the resulting 2006 amendment to the UK Working Time Regulations, strongly suggests most University Terms and Conditions are legally noncompliant. As such, HE stakeholders should pressure powerbrokers involved in this omnipresent dispute to revisit the law: specifically with a view to re-establishing any fundamental rights of which they are currently illegitimately deprived. Where this was successful, empirically informed weekly workload modelling – rather than irrelevant, abstract annual calculations – would become a legally enforceable necessity for the benefit of staff and students alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing literature has extensively explored the causes of farmer–herder conflicts in Ghana. However, there has been limited investigation into the relationship between royal hegemony over customary lands and the persistent nature of farmer–herder conflicts in the country. This study contributes to the understanding of agrarian conflicts in Ghana by examining the interconnectedness of cultural and social practices of land access with the intractability of farmer–herder conflicts in Agogo. The study utilised a qualitative research approach, involving 33 participants recruited through maximum variation purposive sampling. Data was gathered through interviews and focus group discussions. Inductive thematic analysis revealed that social practices of land access hold greater influence than legal provisions, granting significant power over lands to traditional authorities in Agogo. We argue that the on-going intransigence of traditional rulers regarding land access, coupled with the persistent resistance from smallholder farmers through attempts to evict Fulani herders, as well as the resistance demonstrated by the Fulani herders themselves, are key factors contributing to the intractable nature of farmer–herder conflicts in Agogo. This study emphasises the need for a deeper understanding of the cultural and social dimensions underlying land access practices and their impact on farmer–herder conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored employment experiences and attitudes of adults who acquired mobility, motor, and/or communication disabilities and who use assistive technologies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven adults about their employment experiences after acquiring their disabilities. After analysis of interview results, six participants completed surveys about their attitudes towards crowdsourcing and remote work. Findings indicate that adults can continue working with accommodations when they feel supported and valued by their employer. However, participants frequently compared their pre-disability work performance with their post-disability performance and at times, left work because they did not feel they were performing to their own expectations, regardless of the support of their employer. Participants experienced feelings of loss, regret, and identity change after acquiring their disabilities and after leaving work. Most participants did not have specific knowledge of available work alternatives which could accommodate their health and accessibility needs. When presented with accessible work alternatives, the majority of participants increased their interest in learning more about those options. Whether through work or other pursuits, individuals in this population retain a strong desire to participate and contribute to society. However, it should not be assumed that adults with acquired disabilities are inherently aware of available, alternative options to traditional work. Future research on increasing awareness of accessible options for societal engagement for this population should be explored. Clinicians should not assume that clients are aware of the available range of work accommodations and alternatives. Clinicians should share a variety of accessible, computer-based, flexible work alternatives with clients, including volunteer and active leisure activities. Rehabilitation for adults with acquired disabilities should include addressing a change in identity, particularly when it comes to identity associated with contributing to society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little research has decried the chronic deterioration of the working conditions of journalists. Public service broadcasters, which are often seen as paradigms of stable employment relationships, have been influenced by a highly competitive industry characterised by the outsourcing of content generation and the erosion of working conditions. The Spanish Public Radio and Television Corporation (RTVE) is no exception, in a context also influenced by the political clientelism distinguishing Mediterranean media systems. Accordingly, this study resorts to the classical exit, voice, and loyalty model to stress the importance of employment relationships for journalists. From this perspective, the analysis of TVE newsroom discourses invites the exploration of the role of the supervisor in access to employment and career opportunities, as well as its possible polarising effects that make it difficult for journalists to offer their full loyalty to the citizenry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working time reduction (WTR) is back on the agenda, but there is no systematic knowledge of key actors in the WTR debate, their motives, the forms of WTR advocated, and their approach. Therefore, this article examines the promotion of WTR in Germany, Spain, and Ireland, countries with different industrial relations regimes. The comparative qualitative content analysis shows that WTR's promotion varies: it is an individual worker issue in Germany, a political initiative in Spain, and a social campaign in Ireland. The primary motive is workers' well-being, with additional emphases on economic, environmental, and societal aspects. These findings have implications for WTR's future prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An age-diverse sample of Portuguese workers (n = 474) reported their preference for several stereotypical personality traits of different generations in coworkers and team leaders. The results show that, overall, middle-aged traits were preferred in both cases. Only younger or highly educated participants preferred young as much as middle-aged traits. Respondents occupying a supervising role did not differentiate among age traits. These results suggest that age discrimination levels among work peers are moderate, vary widely with sociodemographic characteristics and organizational positions, and are strongly influenced by social beliefs about the "right" age for work, the middle period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the perspectives of 11 job coaches who worked with employees with autism in supported employment programs. Responses were qualitatively analysed using thematic analysis, and three top-level themes emerged: a) facilitating factors and b) barriers from their experiences working with employees with autism and c) additional resources that job coaches wished to have. Some characteristics of autism and cooperative working relationships among job coaches were facilitating factors of job coaches' work, while employers' and co-workers' lack of knowledge and understanding about autism, inevitable changes in routine, and social communication difficulties of employees with autism were identified as barriers. Job coaches also mentioned that increasing autism awareness in the workplace and more practical training for job coaches would help them provide better support to employees with autism. These findings call for more structural support for all stakeholders to collaborate on making positive changes rather than put the full burden on job coaches. The need for the provision of evidence-based training programs for job coaches is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solicit information/suggestions from prostate cancer survivors to improve survivorship experiences specific to work/workability. The study employed a qualitative/phenomenological approach. Black/African-American and white prostate cancer survivors who: (1) had prostatectomy or radiation therapy 6–36 months prior, (2) were working for pay within 30 days before having treatment, and (3) expected to be working for pay 6 months later (n = 45) were eligible for this study. Survivors were engaged in 60-to-90-minute structured interviews. Content analysis was used to ascertain prominent themes. Participants had the following recommendations for survivors: ask about research on treatment options and side effects; speak with other survivors about cancer diagnosis; and inform family/friends and employers about needed accommodations. Considerations for family/friends emphasized the significance of instrumental (e.g. help finding information) and emotional support (e.g. encouragement). Employer/co-worker considerations most often related to work-related accommodations/support and avoiding stigmatization of the survivor. Considerations for healthcare providers commonly included the provision of unbiased, plain-language communication about treatment options and side effects. No major differences existed by race. Needs of employed PrCA survivors, regardless of their race or treatment type, are commonly related to their desire for informational, instrumental, and/or emotional support from family/friends, employers/co-workers, and healthcare providers. The requested supports are most often related to the side effects of prostate cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining reasonable adjustment(s) (RAs) legally requires disabled people to disclose their impairment(s) to their employer, the provision of which can be crucial to them performing the essential duties of their job. Yet, employers report a key barrier to employing disabled people is their lack of willingness to disclose their impairment(s). This article examines the lived experiences of disabled people's employment endeavours identifying why this may be occurring. Disabled interviewees communicated that previous experiences with employers strongly influences their employment objectives, and willingness to disclose. The participants' shared ethnographic experiences of employment demonstrate that RAs can be the predominant factor in their remaining employed and that prior encounters with employers have made them aware that employers are often unwilling to approve the RAs necessary for them to seek employment, to obtain employment, to perform their duties, to fairly compete with co-workers, to preserve their health, and/or to maintain employment. Employers often claim they have few disabled employees because current employees will not disclose their impairment(s) and they face barriers to locating and hiring disabled people who want to work. Employers are often unknowledgeable about disability and don't make genuine efforts to employ disabled people. The research found that how disabled people are treated when asking an employer for reasonable adjustments impacts if they will request them in the future and influences their future employment goals. The research concludes that reasonable adjustments will remain a key barrier to disability employment if unknowledgeable employers remain those solely empowered to decide upon their provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on something not previously addressed by the literature, labour inspection in Spain in the first decades of the Franco dictatorship. Despite the Franco dictatorship's fascist-style approach of regulatory interventionism, this research shows a relapse into an abstentionist conception of labour inspection that led to worker vulnerability. The study has not only found, as was already known, normative similarities with the contemporaneous Italian and German dictatorships, but also similar (although more severe) limitations to the functioning of the inspection service. The slight improvement registered from 1947 onwards and the effort to achieve a limited equivalence with Western democracies also failed to notably improve working conditions, occupational safety and worker protection. The Labour Inspectorate suffered from understaffing and a lack of resources up to the very end of the dictatorship, something which the incipient democracy then inherited. These human and material resource shortages continue to be a problem and are currently debated in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of inflation and distribution that examines the relationship between the employment of labor and the utilization of capital. It features a structural difference between the wage Phillips curve and the price Phillips curve that gives rise to persistent changes in the real wage whenever the inflation-neutral level of activity fails to utilize the existing capital stock at its normal level. Assuming an inflation-targeting central bank that is obliged to run the system around its inflation-neutral level, these changes will reduce the gap between the inflation-neutral level and normal utilization by moving the system along a stable wage curve. In the end this implies that the inflation-neutral level of employment and full or normal utilization of capital will tendentially coincide, lending some support to the Duménil-Lévy thesis that monetary policy makes normal utilization a long-run center of gravity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woody Lovelace, the SVP and CIO of Southeastern Freight Lines, discusses the logistics industry and how his company differentiates itself by providing fast and reliable service. He emphasizes the importance of technology in optimizing resources and improving efficiency in the transportation management industry. Lovelace also highlights the role of the CIO in understanding the business needs and addressing challenges such as governance and cybersecurity. He mentions some key technologies used by Southeastern Freight Lines, including customer-facing applications and integration technologies. The organization utilizes a layered IT architecture and has implemented initiatives like the modernization of the mobile platform for drivers. Technology plays a crucial role in connecting the company's locations and benefits frontline employees by improving processes and reducing errors. Lovelace identifies AI as an emerging technology with potential applications in forecasting and route planning. He advises other CIOs to maintain a good understanding of the business, build a high-trust organization, and continue learning. [Extracted from the article]

Violence against employees in human services is a widespread problem worldwide and is reportedly on the rise. The topic in this article is organizational factors in preventing and managing violence against employees executed by service users. Data comes from 86 semi-structured and structured interviews with 101 employees and managers in one of Norway's most extensive national government agencies. The interviews were conducted in a study of an initiative against violence after an employee was murdered at work. The identified factors are related to (1) recognition of employees´ needs to feel safe and acknowledged, (2) project administration and leadership involvement and anchoring, (3) organizationally aligned and adjusted routines and understandings, (4) a generally increased focus on prevention and management of violence, (5) specific measures and (6) service delivery. The study also disclosed essential relationships between these factors, which must be acknowledged in the work to counteract violence. Workplace violence should be an issue of concern for all levels of management. Recognition of employees´ needs and anchoring in the entire organization are just as important as specific measures against violence. A good delivery of services is an important but sometimes neglected factor in the work against violence. The mentioned elements indicate that several equal organizational factors and measurements must be combined to counteract workplace violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hotel industry faced difficulties in attracting and retaining employees due to poor compensation. To develop an attractive compensation plan, this study investigates the elements of compensation plans for non-managerial employees in luxury hotels in Malaysia. Data were collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews supplemented by a short survey. The findings indicate that compensation plans differ based on their compensation structure, hotel location, and whether there is a collective agreement between the employer and employee's union. COVID-19 pandemic posed greater challenge to unionized hotels. The trade-offs between elements of compensation plan are discussed, a model of compensation plan for the hotel industry is developed, and recommendations for design of a compensation plan are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee perceptions of fairness are a critical component of organizational justice, and empirical studies have shown that both distributive and procedural justice, the major dimensions of organizational justice, play a role in work performance and life satisfaction. In this study, we surveyed perceptions of organizational justice from 120 Nigerian prison staff and examined how it impacted their life satisfaction. The findings indicated both procedural and distributive justice were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. Line staff had lower life satisfaction, but it was the only demographic variable to have a significant effect. As the costs of acting in a procedurally fair manner are minimal, interventions that increase perceptions of procedural justice are likely to improve staff's life satisfaction, a result that has clearly positive consequences for both employers and employees. Improving distributive outcomes, such as pay and benefits, are costlier but should also result in improved life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of the study are to (1) conceptualize the push-pull-mooring (PPM) framework in the context of fitness centers and (2) empirically examine how factors of push, pull, and mooring effects predict switching behavior. In Study 1, a qualitative method is used to unearth factors of push, pull, and mooring effects pertinent to fitness centers. To this end, a higher-order reflective-formative PPM framework is developed. In Study 2, a quantitative approach using two-wave survey data is undertaken to examine the PPM framework in relation to switching behavior. The results show the significant positive direct influences of push and pull effects on switching behavior. Mooring effects are found to negatively predict switching behavior and negatively moderate the positive relationships of push-pull effects and switching behavior. The findings theoretically and empirically support the conceptualization of the PPM framework and its direct and indirect influences on switching behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi-professional leagues are increasingly used to develop athletes. However, what we know of athletes' employment comes from research on professional athletes and does not translate to semi-professionalism. Thus, the purpose of this research was to explore how athletes and employers co-constructed employment relations in two new semi-professional rugby union leagues. Primary data consisted of 24 interviews with stakeholders and 30 surveys completed by athletes. Secondary data consisted of 36 publicly available interviews. Employers used control strategies to limit athletes' pay and agency. Athletes and employers co-constructed role identity positions that promoted certain attitudes, expectations, and employee behaviors. Aspiring athletes constructed an athlete identity with employers, which favored symbolic rewards instead of pay. When athletes joined teams, they constructed a professional identity with employers. Role identity position construction has implications for research on semi-professional leagues and the study of athlete labor relations more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic, a highly disruptive crisis event, significantly impacted economies, societies and organisations globally. It also brought questions of labour and its value to the fore, particularly as workers from key occupational groups sought to protect the most vulnerable individuals in society. It also triggered a mass re-evaluation of the meaning we assign to work. But to what extent has a fundamental re-evaluation of work, labour and value taken place in the aftermath of this crisis? In this introduction to the Special Issue of the 2023 AIRAANZ Conference, we examine this question, exploring new challenges facing labour and value in the aftermath of the pandemic and inviting scholarly discussion on emerging ways of valuing labour that promotes decent work and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2023 conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) provided a platform for speakers from across North and Far North Queensland to address the challenge of labour shortages in the region and present forward-looking pathways to securing a workforce with the skills needed now and into the future. Based on the presentations delivered by the expert panel, including Riccardo Welters, economist from James Cook University, Claudia Brumme-Smith and Tracey Holmes from Townsville Enterprise Limited, Hurriyet Babacan and Margaret Marty on behalf of the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE), this article in conversation with Kaylee Boccalatte, from the Burdekin Shire, will address workforce matters as they exist in rural and regional North Queensland and propose solutions to address the ongoing issue of labour and skill shortages. Through the lens of lived North Queensland experience, various policy implications are addressed within this paper. These include developing a framework for localised open data initiatives, a framework for agricultural education and skilling pathways, improving regional and rural liveability and, finally, proactive consultation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the changes in workplace-level industrial relations resulting from the recent and unprecedented labour shortages in Québec, a province of Canada. Findings are based on preliminary results of an ongoing study of private-sector industries that have been struggling with this phenomenon. Based on a keynote presentation delivered at the 2023 AIRAANZ conference held at Magnetic Island, Australia, the article provides an overview and initial discussion of the impact of labour shortages on industrial relations. The study revealed changes in the negotiation dynamics, outcomes, and actors' behaviour in the industries affected by the shortages. The balance of bargaining power shifted in favour of workers and unions, helping them to secure significant gains in collective agreements, principally – but not entirely – related to wage increases. While a tight labour market puts employers at a disadvantage, it is not all 'win-win' for workers who may, in some cases, see their working conditions deteriorate. The same is true for unions, for whom shortages can pose problems related to succession, management of members' expectations, solidarity among members, and relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. The emergence of COVID-19 has drastically changed the safety outlook of how the work world is viewed by leaders and followers. In this backdrop, the current study aimed at extending the safety leadership literature in the context of organizations operating in crisis situations by investigating the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership on the followers' extra-role behaviors through the mediation of psychological contract fulfillment. Methods. Using a time-lagged and multisource design, data were collected from 384 frontline rescue and healthcare workers dealing with COVID-19-related situations. Results. Results revealed that safety-specific transformational leadership behavior positively affects extra-role behaviors of frontline employees by enhancing their innovative work behavior, knowledge sharing behavior and organizational citizenship behavior. Also, psychological contract fulfillment plays a bridging role in translating the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership behavior on extra-role behaviors. Conclusion. The followers working in an unsafe context view the safety concern of their leader as a fulfillment of their unwritten expectations from their employers. Implications of these findings along with limitations and future research directions are also delineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]