Social security and firm performance: The case of Vietnamese SMEs

This article investigates how social security provision – a key determinant of formality – impacts on small and medium‐sized firm performance in Viet Nam. Based on enterprise census data covering all registered firms from 2006 to 2011, the authors find that firms which increase their social security coverage by 10 per cent experience a revenue gain of 1.4–2.0 per cent per worker and a profit gain of up to 1.8 per cent, depending on the survival time of the firm. However, given the time lag between “investment” (in social security contributions) and returns (enhanced firm performance), specific policy measures such as initial social insurance subsidies for small firms could increase participation in mandatory schemes.     

Mixed Methods – Stand der Debatte und aktuelle Problemlagen

While mixed methods research is already much advanced and institutionalized in textbooks, handbooks and its own journal on an international level, the German-language debate on mixed methods lags behind. Thus, this introductory paper starts with outlining the history and key concepts of mixed methods designs as well as the current state of the international debate. Next, we explain the aims and concept of this special issue as well as the crucial arguments of the single papers in the overall context of the special issues. Namely, the debate in this special issue of the Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie circles around the following four topics: philosophical, methodological and methodical foundations of mixed methods research; mixed methods designs and mixed methods sampling; modes of combining data and issues of validity; and process-oriented analysis, longitudinal analysis and evaluation. Based on the observations that, firstly, both the international social science research community and social problems are globalizing and, secondly, that social research itself is changing, especially by the increasing relevance of social media and big data, the paper concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Caring or Vulnerable Children? Sibling Relationships When Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Drawing on qualitative interviews with the children about how they and their siblings have responded to intimate partner violence, this paper explores processes of victim positioning. In their narratives, some children positioned themselves in line with notions of vulnerable victims, while others positioned themselves as caregivers or changed their positions vis‐à‐vis their siblings. In their stories, they assigned and assumed positions in interaction with their siblings. Receiving sibling support and care was in the narratives related to the quality of the sibling relationship, the shared experiences of violence and the age order.     

Problematic Integration and Family Communication about Decisions at the End of Life

Making a decision on behalf of a family member at the end of life (EOL) is a highly uncertain and anxiety-ridden experience. To examine how families navigate this complex, emotionally stressful situation, Problematic Integration theory was applied as a lens for understanding EOL decision experiences managed in the context of the family. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 22 family members who participated in family conversations about an end-of-life decision, this study demonstrated that family members encounter multiple sources of uncertainty and divergence, including questions regarding whether or not a family member’s life is ending, what the decision should be, and who should make or participate in the decision. Family members’ stories also identified ways in which medical professionals and communication about the wishes of the patient helped family members manage problematic integration. Finally, findings revealed experiences where problematic orientations were not transformed after family members made an EOL decision.     

明代女真朝贡制度研究

明代女真朝贡制度一经建立便很快进入全面发展时期,先后经历了建构、发展、整顿、破坏,以及由女真羁縻卫所朝贡制度演变为敕书朝贡制度的不同阶段。明朝将女真朝贡制度纳入王朝政治体系,由中央礼部、兵部和地方辽东都司、奴儿干都司(明前期)共同管理女真朝贡制度。其全力经营女真朝贡制度的主要目的:一是为营建"大一统"的国家规模;二是将女真朝贡制度纳入东北边疆的防御体系,防范和牵制北方蒙古部。从女真朝贡制度运作过程看,政治功能占主导地位,经济活动居次要地位,因此将女真朝贡活动简单地定位为女真朝贡贸易活动是不准确的。     

Les dépenses de sécurité sociale vont-elles de pair avec de meilleurs résultats des entreprises? Étude de cas sur les PME indonésiennes

Le lien entre protection sociale et résultats des entreprises est abondamment étudié, mais on manque d'informations sur la situation des petites et moyennes entreprises des économies en développement. L'auteure examine ce lien à partir de données de recensement indonésiennes portant sur la période 2010-2014. Elle constate que, lorsque les dépenses de sécurité sociale augmentent de 10 pour cent, le chiffre d'affaires par travailleur progresse de 2 pour cent. De même, l'extension de la couverture sociale n'entraîne pas de baisse du bénéfice, ce qui laisse penser que les entreprises pourraient avoir intérêt à investir dans la sécurité sociale de leur personnel.     

Process‐Oriented Sampling

Using the concepts of “duration” and “temporal patterns,” this paper discusses how key steps during sampling change, if researchers take temporality seriously: When defining cases, scholars have to select a suitable temporal scale and reflect on possible changes of boundaries and properties of cases. When defining the population or field, researchers need to set an appropriate time frame and define periods within this time frame to be analyzed. When selecting the actual cases for analysis, researchers have to choose an appropriate sampling procedure, decide upon relevant periods of analysis as well as the number of points in time to be analyzed.     

Constructing Girlhood: Abject Labour in Magazine Offices

Girls' magazines act as important texts through which meanings of childhood, girlhood and womanhood are mediated and constructed. However, previous research has focused on either the conditions of work practices or cultural production of the magazine as a product. Separately in each context women or girls have been described as abject. The paper will argue that employees working on girls' magazines experienced a simultaneous double abjection: in the gendered working practices and as an outcome of the construction of girlhood they produced. Two studies of all female teams producing teenage and pre‐teen magazines were used, including interviews and observations. Our approach engaged with the difficulty of examining abjectivity in working practices, as present but marginalized, silenced and othered. As a result of scrutinizing the gendered embodiment in these studies, the findings suggest there is a relation between the working practices and gendered cultural production, forming a process of abjection. This process was threefold: a marginalization of a particular gendered embodiment, the cracks or leaks where abjectivity became apparent and the silencing of those leaks. This study will be of value to scholars interested in gendered embodiment in workplaces, abjectivity and cultural production, noting the interrelation between these areas.     

Single case studies and theory-testing: the knots and dots of the process-tracing method

Single case studies can provide vital contributions to theory-testing in social science studies. Particularly, by applying the process-tracing method, case studies can test theoretical frameworks through a rigorous research design that ensures substantial empirical leverage. While most scholarly contributions on process-tracing focus on either theory-building or on explaining single outcomes, we discuss how to apply the process-tracing method in theory-testing case studies. Furthermore, unlike the tendency to use examples from classic social science studies, we refer to our own case study of tax reform in Georgia thereby providing a constructive reflection on the practical application of and relevant methodological challenges in applying process-tracing. The strength of the process-tracing method lies in its ability to provide depth and testable substance to theoretical causal explanations.     

Resource-Based Accountability: A Case Study on Multiple Accountability Relations in an Economic Development Nonprofit

In economic development nonprofits, the disparity between the nonprofit’s, its donor’s and the poor’s expectations concerning poverty alleviation has been identified as the main reason for ineffective aid delivery. The study at hand contributes to this discussion by following this question: How do the nonprofit, its donors, the supported SMEs, and the poor refer to the nonprofit’s mission of poverty alleviation when negotiating accountability? To answer this question, the study follows the literature on accountability and resource dependency and presents results of an empirical case study on multiple accountability relations between a donor, a development aid nonprofit, its supported SMEs, and the poor living in the environment of the supported SMEs. The results show a pattern we call “resource-based accountability.” This pattern is constituted by the observation that most of the stakeholders tried to meet the expectations of the resource owners with respect to the resource owner’s understanding of successful poverty alleviation. Finally, the paper introduces a hypothesis for further studies.