E-Commerce and the Factors Affecting Its Development in the Age of Digital Technology: Empirical Evidence at EU–27 Level

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors influencing e-commerce and to evaluate the long and short-term impacts on the development of e-commerce activity. After establishing the hypotheses to verify, we use multiple panel regressions to test the influence of education level, consumer’s residence, consumer’s labour market status, internet banking, mobile and non-mobile users on the development of e-commerce. For this matter, in this paper, by adopting the fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) method and a vector error correction model (VECM), we performed an empirical analysis of the nexus between education level, consumer’s residence, consumer’s labour market status, internet banking and mobile and non-mobile users and e-commerce, based on panel data for EU–27 countries from 2011 to 2020. The results of the study indicate that all the variables involved in the two econometric models and associated with education level, consumer’s residence, labour market status, internet banking, mobile and non-mobile users, all have significant impacts on the development of e-commerce. Most of the variables positively influence the development of e-commerce except for internet purchases by individuals un-employed and for internet purchases by non-mobile users that are negatively correlated with e-commerce activity.

Bridging the gap between critical algorithm studies and the social sciences

Since the mid-2000s platforms and platform work have greatly proliferated. Although also research on platforms and platforms has expanded, there seems to be a great gulf between IT- and social research on these issues. In this article, I show, using sociologist Maurizio Lazzarato’s concepts, that the technical infrastructure of the platform, in particular the algorithm, has a direct impact on work and the agency of the platform worker. From this perspective, it is possible to ask critical questions about platforms and platform work from a multidisciplinary viewpoint. Methodologically, an ethnographic approach that sees algorithms as part of culture, with its own institutions, impact on people and intersection with different contexts, could support co-operation between different disciplines. When such an approach is combined with insights from algorithm studies, research is also relevant for existing political questions regarding platform workers’ labour market status and the functioning of platform firms.

Associations between combinations of job demands and job control among 6,16,818 people aged 55–64 in paid work with their labour market status 11 years later: a prospective cohort study

Background Given current discussions about extending working lives, more knowledge is needed on working conditions associated with labour market status in older age. Objective To explore associations between combinations of job demands and job control among workers aged 55–64 years and their labour market status 11 years later. Methods A population-based prospective cohort study using nationwide register data. The 616,818 individuals in Sweden aged 55–64 who in 2001 were in paid work were categorised using a job exposure matrix based on tertiles (reference = medium control/medium demands). Participants were followed up in 2012 regarding their main labour market status (paid work, old-age pension, no income/social assistance, sickness absence/disability pension, emigrated, dead; reference = old-age pension) using multinomial logistic regression for odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The fully adjusted analyses included adjustment for sociodemographic factors and unemployment or sickness absence/disability pension for more than half the year in 2001. Results Those in occupations with low job control at baseline were less likely to be in paid work at follow-up (OR low demands/low control 0.74, CI 0.71–0.78; high demands/low control 0.81, CI 0.75–0.87). Those in occupations with baseline high demands were less likely to have no income/social assistance at follow-up (OR high demands/low control 0.71, CI 0.52–0.96; high demands/high control 0.59, CI 0.47–0.75). Conclusion Job demands and control when aged 55–64 were associated with labour market status 11 years later: high control was associated with greater chance of being in paid work, and high demands were associated with lower risk of no income/social assistance.

The Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Stress Vulnerability of Nursing Students According to Labour Market Status

Nursing has always been a stressful job affecting the physical and mental health of the nurses, but the new medical context of the COVID-19 pandemic has enhanced this issue. The objective of this paper is to study differences between non-employed and employed nursing students in the medical system of Romania before and during the epidemic using matching methods and a sample of 526 nursing students. Stressors and strategies for coping with stress were also identified during the pandemic. The results indicated that employed students were more vulnerable to stress compared to non-employed ones before and during the pandemic. Females registered significantly higher stress scores compared to males in the period of the epidemic. The analysis of the overall sample suggested that gender and environment were significant stress factors during the pandemic, but living conditions were not relevant. The most effective coping strategies against stress for nurses during the COVID-19 crisis were based on self-control and the spiritual dimension, unlike the previous period when other colleagues’ support helped most nurses to overcome difficult working conditions. The implications of this study might help medical management in ensuring a less stressful environment for nurses during the epidemic.

Furloughs, Teleworking and Other Work Situations during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Impact on Mental Well-Being

As a consequence of the Spring 2020 lockdown that occurred in Spain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lost their jobs or had to be furloughed. The objective of this study is to analyse the influence of the latter changes in labour market status on psychological well-being. For this purpose, an ad-hoc questionnaire featuring socio-demographic and mental health criteria was created. Granted that the pandemic can be viewed as an exogenous shock, the bias caused by the bidirectional problems between the work situation and mental well-being can be tackled. Results indicate that the lockdown exerted a greater negative effect on the self-perceived well-being of unemployed and furloughed persons than on those in employment. Moreover, among those in continuous employment, teleworkers experienced a lesser degree of self-perceived well-being post lockdown as compared to those people remaining in the same work location throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Finally, the lockdown provoked worse effects on the self-perceived well-being of women as compared to men, a result that appears to be related to gender differences in household production. In conclusion, these results could be especially relevant given that the evolution of the pandemic is having ongoing effects on employment and, therefore, on the mental health of workers.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Do short-time work schemes help workers remain in the same firm?

PurposeThis paper investigates whether short-time work (STW) schemes were successful in their objective of maintaining employment and keeping workers employed within the same firms after the onset of the financial and economic crisis in 2008.Design/methodology/approachSpanish longitudinal administrative data has been used, making it possible to identify short-time work (STW) participation not only of workers but also of employers and allowing to know the future labour market status of participants and non-participants. Accordingly, treatment and control groups are defined, and Propensity Score Matching models estimated. The dependent variable is measured as the probability that an individual remained employed with the same employer in the future (one, two and three years) after implementation of a STW arrangement.FindingsOur results suggest that treated individuals are about 5 percentage points less likely to remain working with the same employer one year later than similar workers, and this negative effect of participation increases over time. Thus, STW schemes would not have the assumed effect of preventing unemployment by keeping the participants employed relative to non-participants.Research limitations/implicationsAs our analysis is based on the comparison of the employment trajectories of participant and non-participant workers in firms that have used STW arrangements, our findings cannot be interpreted as the job saving effects of either macro or micro studies carried out previously.Practical implicationsThe analysis carried out in the paper is complementary to the country-level and firm-level approaches that have been used in the empirical literature.Originality/valueWe adopt a worker-level approach. This is novel since no previous study has focused attention on the impact of STW participation on the subsequent labour market status of workers.