Psychological Weil-Being Among Unemployed and Employed People After a Company Closedown: A Longitudinal Study

In a three-year longitudinal study, we examined the effects of unemployment and the fear of becoming unemployed on the psychological well-being of 1153 employees at a shipyard that was closed down, and a control group of 441 employees from another, operative shipyard. On all three questionnaires, unemployed people were significantly lower in psychological well-being than employed people. Change to or from employment was significantly associated with changes in psychological well-being, whereas remaining employed or unemployed did not lead to any systematic changes in psychological well-being. Among employed people, the fear of unemployment was strongly associated with reduced psychological well-being. Thus, the health-related consequences of unemployment affect not only the unemployed but also employed people who have little job security. Consequently, we stress the need to create new workplaces and to implement reforms that can reduce job insecurity in the labor market.     

Finite-Sample Properties of Some Alternative GMM Estimators

We investigate the small-sample properties of three alternative generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators of asset-pricing models. The estimators that we consider include ones in which the weighting matrix is iterated to convergence and ones in which the weighting matrix is changed with each choice of the parameters. Particular attention is devoted to assessing the performance of the asymptotic theory for making inferences based directly on the deterioration of GMM criterion functions.     

Rationing in the presence of baselines

We analyze a general model of rationing in which agents have baselines, in addition to claims against the (insufficient) endowment of the good to be allocated. Many real-life problems fit this general model (e.g., bankruptcy with prioritized claims, resource allocation in the public health care sector, water distribution in drought periods). We introduce (and characterize) a natural class of allocation methods for this model. Any method within the class is associated with a rule in the standard rationing model, and we show that if the latter obeys some focal properties, the former obeys them too.     

Diversity,dialogue, and identity in designing globally relevant social work education

This article reflects on how to design social work education for internationally diverse cohorts of students. It draws on insights from a Master program for social work practitioners from around the world that has been delivered by a partnership of five European universities since 2013. Three particular issues are explored: developing curricula that achieve a local–global balance and emphasize the significance of context sensitivity in social work; the need for teaching approaches that promote dialogue, critical analysis, and student well-being; the importance of providing students with a strong identity, value base, and connection to the global social work profession. The article is targeted at social work educators involved in international and cross-country teaching as well as scholars interested in debates about the balance of local–global dimensions in social work.     

News: University prizes

Abstract

Stressful working environments are often assumed to create conditions that may lead to bullying. However, few studies have investigated how factors experienced in the work environment may trigger perpetrators to engage in bullying of others. Drawing on Spector and Fox's (2005) stressor–emotion model of counterproductive work behaviour, the present study investigated the predictive effects of both individual and situational factors as predictors of being a perpetrator of workplace bullying, as applied to a representative sample of the Norwegian workforce (N=2359). Results from logistic regression analysis show that being oneself a target of bullying, regardless of the frequency, and being male strongly predicted involvement in bullying of others. Among the situational factors, only role conflict and interpersonal conflicts significantly predicted being a perpetrator of bullying. The present findings support the notion that bullying will thrive in stressful working environments and thus yield an important contribution in identifying antecedent conditions to counteract the development of bullying at workplaces.     

Scoring strategic performance: a pragmatic constructivist approach to strategic performance measurement

This paper analyses the characteristics of good strategic performance that contribute to the overall performance of a successful company. We apply a framework of pragmatic constructivism in order to analyse and measure strategic performance. We use the model for performance measurement based on pragmatic constructivism for the more specific topics of measuring, assessing and analysing strategic performance as opposed to operational performance. This paper analyses the characteristics of strategic performance that successfully enhance the overall performance of the company. The purpose is to outline a framework for strategic performance measurement that can be used to guide and measure strategic leadership. The framework focuses on the concepts of coherence and coherence tracing as the basic concepts for strategic performance and thus the task for strategic performance measurement.     

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE IN WELFARE STATES: THE IMPACTS OF SOFT DURATION CONSTRAINTS

Abstract Based on a major reform of Norwegian unemployment insurance (UI), we examine the behavioral impacts of soft and hard UI duration constraints. A constraint is interpreted as hard if a claimant cannot rely on any form of income support after exhaustion, and as soft if UI is replaced by follow‐on benefits or participation in active labor market programs (ALMP). We find that both hard and soft constraints raise the job hazard significantly, with surprisingly similar spikes at UI exhaustion. Participation in ALMP raises the probability of eventually finding a job, but at the cost of lengthening the overall job‐search period.     

Gender Differences in the Development of Dieting From Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study

This study examines gender differences in the development of dieting among a representative sample of 1,368 Norwegian boys and girls. The respondents were followed over 3 time points from ages 13/14 to 20/21. Latent growth curve analyses were conducted showing that girls' dieting scores increased while boys' scores remained constant. Gender differences in the development of dieting could be explained neither by differences in the development of appearance dissatisfaction nor by changes in relation to parents. In contrast, the dieting differences between boys and girls could be partially explained by a greater increase in emotional problems among girls compared with boys. Further research is needed, targeting in particular younger age groups, in order to acquire knowledge on whether appearance dissatisfaction serves as mediator of gender differences in dieting at other ages.