scholarly journals The paradox of the peasantry in management and organization studies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Pina e Cunha ◽  
Stewart Clegg ◽  
Arménio Rego ◽  
Marco Berti

Purpose Burrell (2020) challenged management and organization studies (MOS) scholars to pay attention to a topic they have mostly ignored: the peasantry, those 2 billion people that work in the rural primary sector. This paper aims to address the topic to expand Burrell’s challenge by indicating that the peasantry offers a unique context to study a paradoxical condition: the coexistence of persistent poverty and vanguardist innovation. Design/methodology/approach The authors advance conceptual arguments that complement the reasons why researchers should pay more attention to the peasantry. They argue that continuation of past research into field laborers, transitioning from feudalism to industrial capitalism, still has currency, not just because of the good reasons listed by Burrell (enduring relevance of the phenomenon in developing countries; sustainability concerns; acknowledgment of common heritage) but also because some seemingly archaic practices are evident in the economically developed countries where most management and organizations scholars live. Findings The authors show that in advanced economies, the peasantry has not disappeared, and it is manifested in contradictory forms, as positive force contributing to sustainable productivity (in the case of digitized agriculture) and as a negative legacy of social inequality and exploitation (as a form of modern slavery). Originality/value The authors discuss contrasting themes confronting management of the peasantry, namely, modern slavery and digital farming, and propose that a paradox view may help overcome unnecessary dualisms, which may promote social exclusion rather than integrated development.

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Tajaddini ◽  
Hassan F. Gholipour ◽  
Amir Arjomandi

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain the potential long-term impacts of working from home on housing wealth inequality in large cities of advanced economies. Design/methodology/approach This study is descriptive research and It supports the arguments by providing some emerging evidence from property markets in developed countries. Findings The authors argue that due to the unique nature of the COVID-19 crisis, it will have a different and long-term impact on housing wealth inequality. Changes in the working arrangements of many professionals will change the housing demand dynamic across different suburbs and may lead to a reduction of the housing wealth gap in the long term. In this paper, the authors propose five mechanisms that may impact housing wealth inequality. Research limitations/implications Long-term data is required to test the proposed conceptual model in this study and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing wealth across and within suburbs of large cities. Practical implications Policymakers and regulators may benefit from the discussions and suggestions provided in this study and consider the proposed avenues on how new changes in the working environment (remote working) may result in a reduction of housing wealth inequality. Originality/value This study presents a new perspective about the potential long-term impacts of working from home that is posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on housing wealth inequality in large cities of developed economies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-233
Author(s):  
Huy Le Quang ◽  
Binh Tran-Nam

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the incidence and earning effects of the vertical mismatch between attained and required educational qualifications in a developing country’s labor market. Design/methodology/approach Following Duncan and Hoffman (1981), this paper uses the augmented Mincerian wage equation to decompose the actual years of education of a person into years of over-education, years of required education and years of under-education. These years of education are then fitted in an ordinary least squares model to measure the earning effects of an employee when his/her attained educational qualifications are higher or lower than the required educational level in his/her job. Findings Unlike studies in developed countries, this paper finds that Vietnam has a higher incidence of under-education than over-education due to a large proportion of the population in rural and remote areas not having access to formal education. Further, qualification mismatch has an asymmetric effect on earnings in the sense that the wage rate is flexible downward but rigid upward. In particular, years of schooling that are in excess or in deficit of the required level for the job are not compensated with higher earnings. This paper concludes that although qualification mismatch incidence in Vietnam is different from that in developed countries, mismatched workers also suffer from significant wage penalty. Originality/value This paper makes a significant contribution by providing the first evidence from a developing country to the vertical mismatch literature which has already been overwhelmed with studies from advanced economies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 302-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Moreno ◽  
Leonardo Marques ◽  
Rebecca Arkader

Purpose In recent years, “servitization” has been studied extensively; however, as studies of the impact of servitization on firm performance offer mixed results, the conditions under which the relationship between servitization and performance becomes more significant are contested in the literature. These mixed results have led to the term “service paradox.” The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates servitization in the assembly industry based on a multi-country survey covering 539 industry plants in 22 countries. Findings The study contributes to the research on servitization by adding a contextual perspective to this relationship, taking into account level of development of the country in which a firm is located. Besides confirming the correlation between the servitization and performance, our study unveils a counter-intuitive result: a medium level of development of the country in which a firm is based corresponds to a stronger relationship between servitization and firm performance, whereas higher levels of development seem to diminish the increase in performance. Social implications This study balances out the focus in servitization on advanced economies and help to unveil its benefits in developing countries. Fostering servitization in developing economies can lead to social impact resulting from job shifts from manufacturing to service and the correlated implications for workers’ training and higher motivation experienced in service-based jobs. Originality/value Our study unpacks the “service paradox” and indicates that industry plants in developing countries can still harness the benefits of being first-movers, whereas, in developed countries, servitization may have become an order qualifier rather than a factor of differentiation.


Subject OECD long-run growth projections are predicated on the 'secular stagnation' argument. Significance The OECD has sharply reduced its outlook for long-term rich-world growth with interest rates rising commensurately slower. Moreover, the International Labour Organization projects even weaker workforce growth than the OECD in the advanced economies in the 2020s. Impacts Trade among developing countries accounts for near 30% of all trade (from 10% in 1995) and will soon top trade among developed countries. Efforts to raise labour participation, quality and productivity are key to raising living standards. Lower growth makes it harder to stabilise debt-to-GDP ratios, just as ageing rich-world populations raise pension and health costs.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto R. Gantman

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the extent and determinants of the production of scientific management and organization studies (SMOS). Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a quantitative analysis of bibliometric data. Findings – The results of a comparison of number of authorships in a broad number of journals reveal that the share of the US production in the field is declining. However, the visibility of authors from developing countries remains at an extremely low level. Regarding the analysis of the determinants of academic production in the discipline, the estimated count data models highlight the relevance of economic, linguistic and political factors, which have a positive and highly significant effect on the countries’ published research output. Practical implications – The concluding section discusses how the quantity and quality of SMOS in developed countries could be improved. Originality/value – The paper presents new evidence about the unequal distribution of the countries’ production in SMOS as well as on its determining factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 815-834
Author(s):  
V.V. Smirnov

Subject. The article considers the symbiosis of Russia with developed countries. Objectives. The purpose is to identify conditions and possibilities for the symbiosis of Russia with advanced economies to establish a process of concentrated internationalization of financial capital for the market economy development completion, formation of full-fledged capitalism with stable dynamics of productive forces. Methods. The study rests on the systems approach, using the methods of descriptive statistics, neural network, nonparametric and cluster analysis. Results. The study reveals favorable conditions for the symbiosis of Russia with developed countries. They appear due to low requirements to the volume and connectivity of attracted high-tech capital. This enables to use the potential of small countries, motivating them to satisfy their ‘resource hunger’. Russia's transition to the said symbiosis is hindered by the policy of smooth devaluation of the national currency, which is used to increase the growth rate of total government expenditure and current GDP, and adversely affects the growth rate of gross national saving. Conclusions. The grounds for emergence of conditions and opportunities for the symbiosis of Russia with developed countries include the high values of financial development and low economic growth in Russia against the declining growth rates of the world economy and weakening of globalization process. The basis of Russia's symbiosis with developed countries is the mutually agreed necessity to internationalize capital in the form of investment financial institutions, which increase its concentration in production for the development of productive forces in conditions of the increasing risk of global recession.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (9) ◽  
pp. 1183-1198
Author(s):  
Gaurav S. Chauhan ◽  
Pradip Banerjee

Purpose Recent papers on target capital structure show that debt ratio seems to vary widely in space and time, implying that the functional specifications of target debt ratios are of little empirical use. Further, target behavior cannot be adjudged correctly using debt ratios, as they could revert due to mechanical reasons. The purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative testing strategy to test the target capital structure. Design/methodology/approach The authors make use of a major “shock” to the debt ratios as an event and think of a subsequent reversion as a movement toward a mean or target debt ratio. By doing this, the authors no longer need to identify target debt ratios as a function of firm-specific variables or any other rigid functional form. Findings Similar to the broad empirical evidence in developed economies, there is no perceptible and systematic mean reversion by Indian firms. However, unlike developed countries, proportionate usage of debt to finance firms’ marginal financing deficits is extensive; equity is used rather sparingly. Research limitations/implications The trade-off theory could be convincingly refuted at least for the emerging market of India. The paper here stimulated further research on finding reasons for specific financing behavior of emerging market firms. Practical implications The results show that the firms’ financing choices are not only depending on their own firm’s specific variables but also on the financial markets in which they operate. Originality/value This study attempts to assess mean reversion in debt ratios in a unique but reassuring manner. The results are confirmed by extensive calibration of the testing strategy using simulated data sets.


Author(s):  
Aswini Yadlapalli ◽  
Shams Rahman ◽  
Helen Rogers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritise social responsible mechanisms in apparel supply chains to extend social responsibility from large retailers in developed countries to producers in developing nations. Design/methodology/approach A framework that consists of supplier qualification and supplier relational mechanisms as two socially responsible mechanisms, with five factors and 18 dimensions is proposed. To prioritise the dimensions, analytic hierarchy process is employed by using a case study methodology of a major Australian retailer sourcing from Bangladesh manufacturers. Findings Results indicate that at the mechanism level, both retailer and manufacturers perceive qualification of manufacturer as by far the most critical element compared to the relational mechanism. However, substantial differences exist at the factor level; namely, that the social factor is critical for the retailer, whereas the economic factor is critical for the manufacturer. Within the relational mechanism, evaluation helps retailers to enforce social responsibility, while manufacturers believe collaboration helps. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of this study is the generalisation of the findings. The results obtained by focusing on a particular context in the Australian retail sector importing from Bangladesh, may not be applicable to other nations. Practical implications By highlighting the difference of opinion, this study assists managers in developing guidelines to better understand the socially responsible mechanisms in the retailer-manufacturer dyadic relationship and to propose strategies to address the differences. Originality/value This study advances the literature on inter-organisational relationship to retailer-manufacturer dyad for the implementation of social responsibility by including supplier qualification along with supplier relational mechanism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 740-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Ali Raza Shah ◽  
Khairur Rijal Jamaludin ◽  
Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib ◽  
Sha’ri Mohd Yusof

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) of integrated quality environmental management (IQEM) and analyze their impact on operational performance (OP) and environmental performance (EP) in food processing Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on collecting data using a survey questionnaire through snowball sampling technique. A total of 302 food processing SMEs operating in Punjab, Pakistan, responded to the survey. SPSS version-23 and SmartPLS-3 were used for data analysis. Findings The literature review identified leadership (LS), employee management (EM), strategic planning (SP), information management (IM), process management (PM), supplier management (SM) and customer focus (CF) as CSFs of IQEM. The results of this study found a significant relationship of all identified CSFs with operational performance in food processing SMEs whereas EM, IM, PM and SM were insignificant with the EP in the food processing SMEs. Research limitations/implications Although this study has collected data from one province, the Punjab province, it still relevant in identifying the CSFs for IQEM implementation within food processing SMEs to improve performance. Originality/value Despite the wide spread of integrated systems practices in the developed countries, little attention has been placed to implement and assess the IQEM initiatives by organizations in the developing countries. Thus, this study identified CSFs of IQEM based on empirical studies and analyzed their impact on OP and EP of food processing SMEs.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeeshan Ahmed Bhatti ◽  
Ghulam Ali Arain ◽  
Hina Mahboob Yasin ◽  
Muhammad Asif Khan ◽  
Muhammad Shakaib Akram

PurposeDrawing on social identity theory and prosocial behaviour research, this study explores how people's integration of their offline and online social activities through Facebook cultivates their Facebook citizenship behaviour (FCB). It also offers further insight into the underlying mechanism of offline and online social activity integration - FCB relation by investigating people's social identification with their offline and online social groups as possible mediators.Design/methodology/approachBased on social identity theory (SIT) literature, community citizenship behaviour and offline-online social activity integration through Facebook, we developed a conceptual model, which was empirically tested using data from 308 Facebook usersFindingsThe results confirm that the participants' offline-online social activity integration via Facebook is positively linked to their FCB. Further, the integration of offline and online social activity through Facebook positively affects how a person identifies with their offline and online social groups, which in turn causes them to display FCB. In addition, offline/online social identification mediates the integration – FCB relation.Practical implicationsIn practice, it is interesting to see people's tendency towards altruistic behaviours within groups they like to associate themselves with. Those who share their Facebook network with their offline friends can use such network to seek help and support.Originality/valueFrom a theoretical perspective, unlike past research, this study examines how individuals' offline-online social activity integration via Facebook helps them associate with groups. In addition, this study investigates social identification from an offline and online perspective.


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