scholarly journals Barriers and facilitators to extended working life: a focus on a predominately female ageing workforce

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Clare Ellen Edge ◽  
Margaret Coffey ◽  
Penny A. Cook ◽  
Ashley Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Gender Profile ◽  
Predominately Female ◽  
Purposive Sample

Abstract Many countries are reforming their pension systems so people stay in work for longer to improve the long-term sustainability of public finances to support an increasing older population. This research aimed to explore the factors that enable or inhibit people to extend working life (EWL) in a large United Kingdom-based retail organisation. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample (N = 30): 15 employees aged ⩾60 and 15 supervisors supporting these employees. Older workers were predominately female, reflecting the gender profile of the older workers in the organisation. Older workers and supervisors reported that key facilitators to EWL were good health, the perception that older workers are of value, flexibility and choice, the need for an ongoing conversation across the lifecourse, the social and community aspect of work as a facilitator to EWL and the financial necessity to EWL. Perceived barriers to EWL included poor health, negative impacts of work on health, and a lack of respect and support.

Social work interventions for human trafficking victims’ in Nigeria

2020 ◽  
pp. 002087281990116
Author(s):  
Solomon Amadasun
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Social ◽  
Trafficking Victims ◽  
Social Work Interventions

Human trafficking victims require holistic and long-term services if their social conditions are to be improved. This study aims to explore the nature of social work services for human trafficking survivors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a cohort of social workers in a statutory anti-trafficking organization in southern Nigeria and the results were analyzed using thematic analysis. While the social workers reported providing services to trafficking survivors, these services were mainly rehabilitation-driven and short-term-focused. Although the research relates to a small-scale study, it has far-reaching implications for social work professionals and the Nigerian political leadership.

scholarly journals Examining the Xayabouly dam: Impacts of hydropower dam construction on downstream communities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Yia Yang
Keyword(s):  
Dam Construction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Hydropower Dam ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Downstream Communities

<p>Hydropower power dam development is a booming industry in Laos and it has the potential to tackle poverty in an environmentally sustainable way. However, currently there is a lack of research that thoroughly analyses the negative impacts of a hydropower dam’s construction phase. This research explores some of these negative impacts of hydropower dam construction on downstream villagers by using the Xayabouly hydropower dam on the Mekong River as a case study. Understanding the impacts of the construction phase is vital in forming policy and developing effective strategies to mitigate future negative impacts from dam construction.   This thesis employs a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews were conducted with downstream villagers about these negative impacts. This research is based on a pragmatist epistemology and employs the matrix conceptual framework to guide this thesis. The results from this study show that the Xayabouly hydropower dam’s construction phase has many negative impacts on downstream villagers’ daily lives. For example, the construction phase has caused irregular flooding, which has destroyed downstream villagers’ agricultural gardens and riverbank erosion has also occurred. Moreover, the results from this thesis show that the construction phase of this dam significantly reduced villagers’ income and nutrition consumption. The construction phase also created significant problems with regards to daily commuting and damaged fishing gear. These results offer important recommendations and implications, which have the potential to inform government policy in the future and to help develop strategies to mitigate the social and economic impacts from future hydropower dam construction in Laos.</p>

scholarly journals The Netherworld between Work and Retirement

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McGann ◽  
Helen Kimberley ◽  
Dina Bowman ◽  
Simon Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Working Life ◽  
Retirement Age ◽  
Major Theme ◽  
Narrative Interviews ◽  
Social Gerontology ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Part Time

A major theme within social gerontology is how retirement ‘is being re-organised, if not undone’. Institutional supports for retirement are weakening, with pension ages rising in many countries. Increasing numbers of older workers are working past traditional retirement age on a part-time or self-employed basis, and a growing minority are joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed. Drawing upon narrative interviews with older Australians who are involuntarily non-employed or underemployed, this article explores how the ‘unravelling’ of retirement is experienced by a group of older workers on the periphery of the labour market. While policy makers hope that higher pension ages will lead to a longer period of working life, the risk is that older workers, especially those experiencing chronic insecurity in the labour market, will be caught in a netherworld between work and retirement.

Using UV photoaged photography to better understand Western Australian teenagers’ attitudes towards adopting sun-protective behaviors

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myra F. Taylor ◽  
Dominique Westbrook ◽  
Paul Chang
Keyword(s):  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Facial Image ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Attitudinal Barrier ◽  
The Media ◽  
Western Australian

Abstract Background: This study aimed to determine whether the viewing of a personal photoaged photograph had the capacity to alter Western Australian teenagers’ pro-tanning attitudes. Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen teenagers. Findings: The teenagers’ pro-tanning attitudes prior to viewing their photoaged photograph are encapsulated in the study’s central theme: ‘You’ve got to look after your skin and use sunscreen, but I always forget!’. Post-viewing their photoaged facial image many teenagers reiterated their intentions to adopt (when they remembered) skin-protective measures. However, photoaged photography did not alter other teenagers’ intention to tan. New knowledge: Teenagers who choose to continue to tan were aware of the long-term health risks associated with ultra-violet over-exposure. However, their desire remained strong to emulate the media promoted image of bronzed youth being popular individuals. Indeed, the social benefits of being considered attractive to their peers became an attitudinal barrier to the teenagers’ adoption of skin-protective behaviours. Those teenagers who changed their pro-tanning attitudes following their viewing of their ultra-violet photoaged photograph did so because of the shock they received when they saw their sun-damaged facial image. This suggests that photoageing photography can be effective with many adolescents because it reduces the cause-and-effect delay that exists between the occurrence of sun-damage and its visual presentation in later-life. Conclusion: Greater effort needs to be focused on increasing teenagers’ understanding of how sun-damage occurs, when it is appropriate to apply sunscreen, as well as in changing the prevailing media image of an attractive body being a tanned body.

Employers and older workers: attitudes and employment practices

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 641-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP TAYLOR ◽  
ALAN WALKER
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Social Closure ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Younger Workers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Educational Campaigns

The research on which this article is based examined the relationship between attitudes towards older workers held by personnel managers and directors in large organisations (500 or more employees) across virtually the whole range of industrial sectors (excluding agriculture), and their employment practices. The aims of the research were to explore the operation of workplace social closure and the social construction of age in organisations, and to provide practical information to better inform policy making towards older workers. Analysis indicated that attitudes associated with recruitment, training and promotion practices were: perceived trainability, creativity, cautiousness, physical capabilities, the likelihood of having an accident, and ability to work with younger workers. Attitudes which showed no relationship with employment practices were: perceived productivity, reliability, ability to adapt to new technology, interest in technological change and flexibility. It is argued that these findings stress the need to target stereotypical attitudes towards older workers if age barriers in employment are to be removed. However, it is also argued that educational campaigns alone are likely to exert only limited influence against a background of a long-term decline in economic activity rates among older workers. The research also indicates that future research studies need to take greater account of potential differences between different groups of older workers.

scholarly journals The Role of Internal Migration in Sustaining Rural Communities in Japan: The Case of Aso City in Kumamoto

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Antonia Miserka
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Demographic Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
Term Basis ◽  
New Residents

AbstractThe shrinking of Japan’s rural areas, caused partly by continuous out-migration of younger people to the major cities, is an amply discussed topic in Japanese society and popular media. Even though a certain trend of counter-urbanisation exists despite larger depopulation patterns, many of these migrants do not stay permanently and therefore cannot contribute to sustaining rural areas in the long term. Previous studies argue that considering each community’s characteristics is important in order to find possible ways to sustain rural areas and attract new residents. Therefore, this study focuses on the case of Aso City, aiming to clarify the criteria that makes migration to Aso City appealing or unappealing, and to identify the factors responsible for enabling (or complicating) the act of permanently settling there. In order to do so, the author conducted a survey in Aso City using semi-structured interviews. While the beauty of the natural surroundings, quality of life, and social connectedness are the main positive qualities of Aso City, its infrastructure, demographic development, and economic situation are assessed more negatively by its residents. Further, this study shows that the better a person’s local social connections upon arrival, the more likely they are to find a place to live and work, and stay on a long-term basis. In order to attract new residents to rural areas and support their permanent settlement, it is important to help them obtain the resources necessary for settling and assist their transition into the social structure of the community.

scholarly journals Rewilding – the farmers perspective. Perceptions of rewilding impacts among English farmers using a socio-ecological wellbeing and values approach.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Mikołajczak ◽  
Nikoleta Jones ◽  
Christopher J. Sandom ◽  
Sophie Wynne-Jones ◽  
Antonia Beardsall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Value Orientations ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Farming Community ◽  
Intervention Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Uk

1. Minimal intervention, process-oriented ecological restoration, popularly called rewilding, is rapidly gaining traction in the UK as a forward-looking, optimistic agenda for ecological recovery and reversing biodiversity losses. However, proposals for projects of this nature have also created polarisation between people with differing views on the future of the countryside. 2.To increase the social equitability of rewilding, reduce conflict and improve the success of such programs, it is necessary to ensure that stakeholder views are deeply understood. The farming community is a key stakeholder group in the debate about how restoration and rewilding should be done. However, the way farmers perceive rewilding to affect them is not well documented. 3.We combined an integrative social-ecological wellbeing perspective with farming values to examine the perceived linkages between rewilding, farmers’ wellbeing, and factors affecting support for different rewilding scenarios (beaver release, a farm restoration, and landscape restoration). We conducted semi-structured interviews (n = 36) with farmers, land managers and farming association representatives. 4.Using thematic analysis, we identified the perceived wellbeing impacts of different rewilding scenarios, farming values, factors affecting the extent of support or opposition, and mitigation options available to lessen the negative impacts. 5. Our results detail the range of rewilding impacts perceived by farmers, including little-explored issues regarding autonomy and agency in farm management; food security and ethics of food production; and conservation of existing wildlife. We show that farm-scale enclosed projects are perceived to retain greater control of potential impacts and to be more compatible with farming than landscape-scale rewilding or unenclosed species reintroductions. However, our findings demonstrate a variety of positions towards rewilding among the farmers, underpinned by different value orientations. Our results can usefully inform rewilding policy and practice to account for the needs of different stakeholders and navigate conflicts between them.

scholarly journals Social capital, language and host country nationals (HCNs) as global talent

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Bala Kuki ◽  
Susan Kirk ◽  
Maranda Ridgway
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Host Country Nationals ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Purposive Sample

PurposeIn expatriate-reliant countries, the challenge of attracting and retaining overseas talent remains, despite the COVID-19 global pandemic restricting international travel. Expatriates depend on formal organizational and host country national (HCN) support to facilitate their adjustment when moving abroad. To date, there has been a limited focus on the centrality of language in spanning boundaries between HCNs and expatriates that enables bridges to be formed. This study explored how language influences the social capital accrual and the support received by expatriates from HCNs.Design/methodology/approachRooted in social constructionism, the authors used semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 Nigerian HCNs from two Italian organizations in the construction industry.FindingsThe findings highlight how language is key to effective social capital bridging and show how HCNs act as boundary spanners between local talent and expatriates on assignment. In this study, HCNs have superior language skills and can thus fill the semantic void in communication between the two parties. It emerged that expatriates receive more significant support and higher levels of social capital accrual than HCNs from this relationship.Practical implicationsConsideration should be given to providing formal language training to both expatriates and HCNs. Embedding networking relationships, such as buddying schemes or reverse mentoring, would enhance the social capital of both parties and improve performance. In addition, global talent management policies should be adjusted to provide definitive career paths and clearer promotion criteria for HCNs.Originality/valueThe authors find that through their language ability, HCNs may have more power over expatriates than previously considered, repositioning their status from a talent perspective. The authors argue that expatriates should not be considered by organizations the only source of global talent in such a context, and that organizations need to offer more definitive talent policies and support that accounts for both expatriates and HCNs.

scholarly journals How Transgender Adolescents Experience Expressing Their Gender Identity Around New People: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110438
Author(s):  
Hannah Wilson ◽  
Aiysha Malik ◽  
Sam Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Gender Expression ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
Negative Impacts

The literature suggests gender expression to be a key experience of transgender young people that may impact upon the development of their gender identity and psychological well-being. The present study aimed to explore participants’ experiences of expressing their gender identity around others, with a focus on interactions with new people (with whom they do not have an existing relationship). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight young people aged 16 to 17 who identified as male and were assigned female at birth. Three superordinate themes were identified: (a) using gender expression to shape identity; (b) experiencing and making sense of others’ responses; (c) a changing relationship with gender expression. The process of gender expression enabled participants to explore, develop, and strengthen social and self-identity, and had both positive and negative impacts upon their well-being. Initially gender expression seemed to be an effortful process in which participants felt pressured to conform to social expectations to be viewed as male, yet over time they navigated a way to express themselves in a manner that felt more comfortable and authentic. Findings highlight the need to facilitate young people to express and be affirmed in their gender identity, and to provide adequate support with the social experiences surrounding it.

scholarly journals Corporate Social and Environmental Strategy and Reporting in Indonesian Plantation Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Intan Belinda Lestari ◽  
Noradiva Hamzah ◽  
Ruhanita Maelah
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Corporate Image ◽  
Environmental Strategy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Social And Environmental Reporting ◽  
Corporate Social

This study aims to investigate how corporate social and environmental strategy can contribute to corporate social and environmental reporting (CSER) in the plantation industry in Indonesia. This study employed a case study approach by using semi–structured interviews to collect data from Indonesian plantation companies listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and state–owned plantation companies that included CSER in their annual report. The motivation of CSER implementation in Indonesian plantation companies was influenced by proactive and reactive strategies. The corporate social and environmental strategy of proactive principles would publish CSER due to the social discretion beyond the regulatory requirements or pressure of certain stakeholders, and prior to any negative information being received by the public. Moreover, the corporate social and environmental strategy of reactive principles would also publish CSER to meet stakeholders’ needs and demands, obtain good corporate image and reputation, and avoid negative impacts (e.g., harm, hazards, mishap, complaints, etc.). Therefore, corporate social and environmental strategy can contribute to CSER depending on whether the company has proactive or reactive principles. This research contributes to the knowledge of social accounting literature in which CSER practices can be influenced by corporate social and environmental strategy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document