Development of health and safety training for Vietnamese American nail salon owners and workers

Background: Nail salon workers are an underserved worker population that faces multiple barriers to accessing occupational health training and services. We developed a series of occupational health training modules, which were culturally tailored to Vietnamese-speaking workers, covering topics on infection control, musculoskeletal disorder prevention, chemical safety, and labor practices. We delivered the training online (due to COVID-19) to a small group of Vietnamese owners and workers in the Philadelphia metro area to obtain feedback on the training content and potential implementation challenges. Methods: Seven participants (three owners and four workers) were recruited to attend the training. Qualitative feedback was obtained after each training session, followed by a more in-depth interviewer-assisted open-ended questionnaire to gain better understanding of the potential challenges of implementing the recommended changes. The Health Belief Model was used to guide the analysis of the participants's responses to identify the perceived benefits and barriers of the training. Results: Themes of perceived benefits of the training were bridging the gap of cosmetology school training, offering practical tips to protect their health at work, and inspiring conversations about work dignity and labor practices. Themes of perceived barriers were availability of affordable safer products and lack of resources, desire to please customers, lack of commitment from owners, and ubiquitous low wage that impacts employee's job satisfaction and motivation to change, and difficulty in obtaining a work license. Conclusions: Our study revealed the multitude of social and economic barriers facing immigrant nail salon owners and workers. Potential policies and strategies to overcome some of these structural barriers are discussed for the long-term health protection of nail salon workers.

Striving for Enterprise Sustainability through Supplier Development Process

Much research has already been dedicated to the impact of the supply chain, but less attention has been paid to the potential of supplier development (SD) processes in strengthening enterprises’ sustainability performance. This study aimed to indicate how the approach to socially responsible supplier development has changed over the years (2010–2019) in the automotive sector considering the types of practices and the applied areas of social responsibility. The study was based on original and empirical content analysis research of sustainability reports of car producers. To identify changes in the approach to socially responsible supplier development (SRSD) practices, 17 criteria were identified within direct as well as indirect types of supplier development practices. Considering areas of social responsibility, we applied the core subjects of social responsibility based on the ISO 26000 standard. The findings revealed that during the analyzed period, there has been a recursive use of both direct and indirect SD practices by the car producers but to varying degrees. The environmental protection, human rights, labor practices, fair operating practices, and organizational governance issues were the major concerns. When comparing 2010 and 2019, a clear increase was observed within all identified SRSD initiatives. The study outputs and examples of SRSD practices of car producers can act as a role model for automotive suppliers as well as other industries regarding how to incorporate sustainability into supplier development processes.

PLEASURE+GENDER+PLAY

From the start, play and game studies scholars have investigated the experiences of women and girls who play games online, as well as gendered assumptions around digital as well as non-digital play (Brunner et al., 2000; Bryce & Rutter, 2002; Delamere & Shaw, 2008; Fron et al., 2007a, 2007b; Pearce, 2009). Scholars have challenged ideas such as that girls and women have weaker gameplay skills than boys and men (Jenson & De Castell, 2008), that women are not interested in competitive play (Taylor, 2006), that girls and women are different in their play experiences and interests (Royse et al., 2007) and that women are not frequent or loyal players (Consalvo & Begy, 2015; Williams et al., 2009). However, there is still more to learn about how women, girls, boys, men, nonbinary and other individuals play, as well as how gender can play an important role beyond as an identity marker in playful expressions as well as normative expectations for play. This panel offers new ways of examining how gender, games, and other forms of online play, can be analyzed and understood. These four papers argue for a more nuanced understanding of gender and play, further challenging gaming culture’s preoccupation that certain games and certain styles of play are more “valid” than others (Consalvo & Paul, 2019). To do that, we offer fresh analytical tools, different theoretical lenses and underexplored sites for study. $2 “No Need For Speed” makes a unique contribution to gaming and play literature, offering a new articulation of the temporal experiences within and external to game play - especially in COVID/pandemic times. In particular, the authors argue that the concept of “slow gaming,” might offer new possibilities for both our experiences of play and the way that time within the games industry itself is being reconceptualized. The authors offer three different games as examples of how “slow gaming” challenges our relationship to play, domesticity, notions of gender, and labor practices within the gaming industry more broadly. This paper argues that playing slow games, or playing games slowly, might provide a unique political rejoinder to contemporary life under late capitalism. $2 Two papers in this panel bring underutilized theoretical frameworks to the study of gender and games: examining how socioeconomic class and boundary keeping intersect with gender and gameplay in important ways. The presentation “Working for hearts: Social class and time management games” reads popular casual games such as Sally’s Spa through an intersectional critique. Adding to gendered examinations of casual games (Chess, 2012, 2017), this paper brings in a critique of social class. It does so through exploring the classed positions of jobs in these games, as well as how the player’s agency is limited both through classed expectations of certain occupations as well as further undermined by particular design decisions and gameplay mechanics as well as game narratives. It demonstrates how class is an important aspect of identity that can help us better understand gaming representations. The second paper to bring in underutilized theory is “Gendered expectations of playing nice, boundary keeping and problematic/toxic behaviors in casual video game communities.” This paper offers a different way of understanding the role of toxic behavior and players in game communities: through the sociological lens of boundary keeping. While not dismissing the real effects of harassment, it explores how activities such as trolling and other problematic gameplay is defined differently within different player groups, how it can strengthen some in-game communities or spur the creation of groups dedicated to combating such problems, and in the process helping to further enrich and make more inclusive gaming culture. $2 “Girls, Platforms, and Play” examines an offline form of gendered play and competition – pre-teen and teen girls riding hobbyhorses – and how the activity has been differently contested and/or constructed on two platforms: YouTube and Instagram. Legacy media video content of hobbyhorse competitions uploaded to YouTube inevitably have led – given YouTube’s largely antisocial comment culture (Burgess & Green, 2018) – to hobbyhorsers’ activities to be delegitimized for a number of reasons by commenters: mainly, because it’s just girls playing with toys, not participating in a sport; or because it is an athletic endeavor, but its participants should compete in a “real” sport, like track and field; or because it’s not real equestrianism. Instagram's affordances, which help encourage connections among subculture participants and the creation of communities (Leaver, Highfield, & Abidin, 2020), have allowed hobbyhorse enthusiasts to create a space of their own online.

THE DIGITAL CLOSET: PLATFORM CENSORSHIP AND LGBTQIA+ INDEPENDENCE ONLINE

This presentation draws on data from my forthcoming book with MIT Press to demonstrate how heteronormative and cisnormative bias pervade Silicon Valley culture, get embedded in benchmark datasets and machine learning algorithms, and get formalized in company policies and labor practices surrounding content moderation. The presentation begins with an examination of workplace culture at Google, gaining insights from Department of Labor investigations, testimonials from previous employees, and informal surveys and discourse analysis conducted by employees during the circulation of James Damore's infamous 'Google memo'. The presentation then moves on to examine bias embedded in benchmark datasets like WordNet and ImageNet, both of which served as the training datasets for Google's Image Recognition algorithms (like GoogLeNet). Lastly, the presentation turns to Facebook's heteronormative and cisnormative content moderation policies and the outsourced labor practices it uses to institute what Facebook has described as 'human algorithms' to review content in accordance with these policies. Throughout the presentation I demonstrate that we can piece together information about proprietary code by looking to leaked documents, public records, press releases, open-source code, and benchmark datasets, all of which, in this instance, instigate a systemic heteronormative and cisnormative bias that is increasingly being embedded in the internet.

The paradox of "remote working" in Covid-19 pandemic times: disability, inclusion, and accessibility in Brazil

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have adopted social isolation as a strategy to fight and limit the spread of the global crisis of Covid-19, which has impacted organization processes and employee's relationships with one another. Several issues such as the lack of accessibility and adaptations on work routines, that were already present in people with disabilities' life in the work environment are now highlighted, bringing to light theoretical debates and practical discussions about the experience of using technological accommodations as possible strategies for promoting accessibility and inclusion. Based on narratives of people with different corporalities in this contemporary shifting reality, in this article, we aim to reflect on how accessibility issues are being managed in labor practices in Brazil. More precisely, we seek to understand the role and effects of this new use of technology on social inclusion and exclusion of people with disabilities in the times and spaces where they work remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

STRATEGIC ADOPTION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON PERFORMANCE OF PLASTIC MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN KENYA

Purpose: The current study sought to establish the strategic adoption of corporate social responsibility on performance of plastic manufacturing firms in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and targeted plastic manufacturing firms registered by Kenya Association of Manufactures. A total of 23 firms were targeted where one manager, two supervisors and two junior staff from the strategic department of the respective firms were involved in the study making a total of 115 respondents. A 5 - point Likert scale questionnaire containing close ended questions was used for collecting data. The data collected was analyzed by employing both inferential analysis and descriptive statistics using MS Excel and SPSS software V22. A pilot study was conducted on three firms to assess the validity and reliability of the data collection instrument. Results: The results and findings of the analysis were presented in form of tables and figures. The study established that Environmental Conservation Initiatives, Ethical Labor Practices, Business Operators Involvement positively and significantly affects performance of plastic manufacturing firms in Kenya as depicted by Beta values of 2.874, 0.167 and 0.251 respectively. This implies that increase in one unit of each of the variables results to an increase in the performance levels with the respective beta values. Philanthropic initiatives however was found to influence performance but to insignificant levels. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommended that there is a need for plastic manufacturing firm to enhance their environmental conservation initiatives as an CSR activity, to promote ethical labor practices as an CSR activity, to enhance the level of involvement of business operators in CSR activities and to promote philanthropic initiatives as an CSR activity since the practices positively influences the performance levels of the firms.

What Is the Relationship between Online Sex Workers and Cybersecurity?

Although online sex work has become more accessible to people of all socio-economic statuses, labor practices and work safety have not improved since the widespread use of the internet. One way that we can help empower sex workers is to understand their motivations and experiences when using the internet. In a survey conducted by Sanders et al. (2017), the highest crime that 56.2% sex workers experienced was being threatened or harassed through texts, calls, and emails. Because there is no theory application to date on this marginalized group, three theories were proposed. This literature review highlights the need to explore why sex workers, as end-users, should be included in the user cybersecurity defense conversation, such as the cybercrimes that they face, their relationship with law enforcement, and what other factors affect their safety.