Building Bridges into the Community: Social Capital in a Volunteering Project for Care Leavers

Volunteering to address poor life outcomes often experienced by care leavers is emphasised in UK policy. Although volunteering is credited with the ability to generate social capital, there is limited research on the impact of volunteering on the social capital of care leavers. This article re‐examines data from an evaluation of a volunteering project for care leavers. It explores in what ways young people's participation in the project constitutes social capital. The findings support the importance of regular face‐to‐face contact and co‐production for young people to become creators of their own social capital.     

Empowering refugees and asylum seekers in the Italian agriculture sector by linking social cooperative entrepreneurship and social work practices

The present study investigated the potential of social cooperative activities and social work practices in the Italian agriculture sector in promoting sustainable integration forms for refugees and asylum seekers. The study adopted a qualitative approach using case study as the main research method. As the results show, the complexity and diversity of needs of refugees and asylum seekers make collaboration between formal and informal actors increasingly necessary for generating a common knowledge and support networks. The article argues that integrated approaches to refugees’ socio‐economic integration are needed to free them from the need for assistance and thereby help them regain their autonomy. The case study presented gives insight into the potential of small‐step experiences towards sustainable development and, linked to this, the integration of refugees and asylum seekers based on self‐organisation and cooperation, considering the well‐being of all citizens in the broader context.     

Estimation of Nonlinear Models with Measurement Error

This paper presents a solution to an important econometric problem, namely the root n consistent estimation of nonlinear models with measurement errors in the explanatory variables, when one repeated observation of each mismeasured regressor is available. While a root n consistent estimator has been derived for polynomial specifications (see Hausman, Ichimura, Newey, and Powell (1991)), such an estimator for general nonlinear specifications has so far not been available. Using the additional information provided by the repeated observation, the suggested estimator separates the measurement error from the “true” value of the regressors thanks to a useful property of the Fourier transform: The Fourier transform converts the integral equations that relate the distribution of the unobserved “true” variables to the observed variables measured with error into algebraic equations. The solution to these equations yields enough information to identify arbitrary moments of the “true,” unobserved variables. The value of these moments can then be used to construct any estimator that can be written in terms of moments, including traditional linear and nonlinear least squares estimators, or general extremum estimators. The proposed estimator is shown to admit a representation in terms of an influence function, thus establishing its root n consistency and asymptotic normality. Monte Carlo evidence and an application to Engel curve estimation illustrate the usefulness of this new approach.     

„Karriere nicht um jeden Preis“ — der Weg einer Coching-Klientin

?Career not at any price“ — the way of a female coachee This case study involves typical female topics: (1) the wish to please everybody in the role of a female management consultant, and as a result a professional life with permanent contradictions; (2) the question, at which price a woman will have her career. In the coaching sessions, the client was able to become clearer about her role and her behavior, to try out new behaviors, to imagine different ways of her career and finally to make conscious decisions.     

Estimating turnover,movements and capture parameters of resting passerines in standardized capture-recapture studies

Jolly-Seber models A, B, D and 2 were used to investigate capture-recapture data. The standard Jolly-Seber model A (time-dependent survival phi and capture probability p ) fits capture-recapture data of migrating passerines. Captures from a long-term mist-netting study (Mettnau Peninsula, SW Germany) at a stop-over site were used to estimate stop-over length from survival rate between days and capture probability. For some data, model 2 could be used, indicating a termporary reduction in 'survival' rate. Application of models B and D gave poor results. The total number of birds stopping over, i.e. population size, was estimated from captures of 1-5 line transects of nets in the spatial trapping design. Behaviour, movements within the stop-over site, catchability and ecophysiological covariables such as moult, fat deposition and climatic parameters are likely to have strong influence on the estimation of capture parameters.     

The physician glut: a different view. Interview by Donna Vavala

An interview with nationally known futurist Leland Kaiser, PhD, on the changes physician executives are likely to face as a result of the coming dislocation in the health professions. Or will there be a shrinking career pie at all? The real question is: What new mental models are we going to use and as a result of the new models, what new jobs are going to be created that will ameliorate some of the surplus we've created in the old model? Dr. Kaiser predicts a model will soon emerge that will open a myriad of new career opportunities for physicians. The new model he foresees is community-based medicine.     

Documenting the quick and the dead: a study of suicide case files in a coroner's office

In keeping with recent critiques of literature on the body and the life course, the argument of this paper is that social identities can, to a certain extent, be constructed post‐mortem and in the absence of a living body. The authors make this case with reference to a sociological autopsy study of a hundred suicide case files in a coroner's office in a medium‐sized British city. The research draws on ethnographic approaches to the study of documents. There is discussion of some of the diverse artefacts in the coroners' files: medical reports, witness statements and suicide notes. The identity work revealed in these sources is as much about the living as the dead and is especially bound up in the process of avoiding blame.     

Multiple Identities and Work Motivation: The Role of Perceived Compatibility between Nested Organizational Units*

This study examines the role of perceived compatibility between nested organizational units in identification and work motivation. A survey was conducted in German pharmaceutical stores that had joined a large cooperative network several months before the investigation. Employees judged how compatible the network was with their individual stores on four dimensions (ensuring future, preserving tradition, preserving distinctiveness, and maintaining autonomy). Further, employees indicated their identifications with store and network and their intentions to exert effort on behalf of these units (store motivation and network motivation, respectively). As predicted, perceived compatibility correlated positively with both network identification and network motivation. It also moderated the correlations between store identification and network identification as well as between store motivation and network motivation. Several underlying mechanisms are discussed (e.g. evaluation of store and network, social projection). Overall, perceived compatibility between organizational units appears to be a crucial but under‐researched factor affecting identification and motivation at work.