Search

Observers of Ethiopia's entry into export-oriented global value chains generally agree that social upgrading is crucial if these chains' largely female workforce is to reap the benefits of participation. They disagree, however, on the extent to which a 'business case' can be made to involve in this upgrading the managers who link frontline workers to international buyers. This article takes a novel approach to these questions by directly asking these managers and those who advise them on human resources how they understand the well-being of their frontline workers. Drawing on 37 qualitative semi-structured interviews, we find great variation in the extent to which such actors are interested in pursuing worker well-being and social upgrading beyond basic compliance. This is indeed due in part to the sectoral dynamics that have shaped managers' views of what constitutes a profitable labour regime but also by sociocultural factors that include managers' own national contexts, gender and class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is still unknown whether the mechanisms proposed by the Reserve Capacity Model (RCM) explaining socio-economic health and wellbeing inequities in high income countries can be applied to low-income countries. This study investigates whether different reserve capacities (intra-, inter-personal, and tangible) can explain the association between relative socio-economic position (SEP) and wellbeing outcome measures among Ethiopian women working in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)., Method: Using a cross-sectional design, we collected quantitative survey data among 2,515 women working in the apparel and floriculture sectors in Ethiopia, measuring GHQ-12 mental health problems, multi-dimensional wellbeing, relative SEP, psychological capital (PsyCap), social support (emotional and financial social support network), and tangible assets (e.g., owning mobile phone, having access to toilet facilities). We used cluster-adjusted structural equation modelling to test whether PsyCap, social support, and/or tangible assets mediate the association between relative SEP (IV) and GHQ-12 mental health problems and multi-dimensional wellbeing (DVs)., Results: PsyCap and the size of the financial support network significantly mediate the socio-economic gradient in both wellbeing outcomes. The size of the emotional social support network shows no association with multi-dimensional wellbeing and shows an unexpected negative association with GHQ-12 mental health problems scores, including a significant mediation effect. Tangible assets show no association with the wellbeing outcome measures and do not mediate socio-economic mental health problems and wellbeing inequities., Conclusions: The RCM can be applied in low-income countries, although in unexpected ways. Similar to findings from high-income countries, PsyCap and size of the financial social support network show significant mediation effects in explaining mental health problems and wellbeing inequities in Ethiopia. These reserves could therefore serve as a buffer for socio-economic inequities in mental health and wellbeing and can therefore assist in decreasing these inequities for women working in FDI sectors in Ethiopia., (© 2024. The Author(s).)