Contextualising institutional complementarity. How long‐term unemployment depends on employment protection legislation,active labour market policies and the economic climate

This study investigated if and how active labour market policies (ALMPs) and employment protection interact with each other in light of long‐term unemployment reduction. We argue that how well the interaction between both labour market institutions reduces long‐term unemployment depends on the level of economic growth. To improve analytical clarity, two types of ALMPs were differentiated, namely training and employment programmes. Using data on 20 European countries over 16 years, our results suggest that employment protection moderates the relationship between employment programmes and long‐term unemployment. The combination of high spending on employment programmes and less strict employment protection is associated with less long‐term unemployment. This moderation effect is stronger during an economic downturn. A moderation effect from employment protection on the relationship between training programmes and long‐term unemployment was not found, even when the economic climate was taken into account as a contextual factor.     

Policy transfer routes: an evidence-based conceptual model to explain policy adoption

Although studies on policy transfer have expanded, a general and comprehensive understanding of policy transfer is lacking. This study offers an evidence-based explanation of policy transfer processes. We extracted constraining and facilitating factors from 180 empirical studies using PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis) and aggregated these factors into a conceptual framework. We synthesize our findings in four “transfer routes”. We conclude that actors could shape a subset of those factors by taking certain decisions regarding transferability, adoptability and process design, albeit within the boundaries of the environment.     

The strength of sensitivity to ambiguity

We report an experiment where each subject’s ambiguity sensitivity is measured by an ambiguity premium, a concept analogous to and comparable with a risk premium. In our design, some tasks feature known objective risks and others uncertainty about which subjects have imperfect, heterogeneous, information (“ambiguous tasks”). We show how the smooth ambiguity model can be used to calculate ambiguity premia. A distinctive feature of our approach is estimation of each subject’s subjective beliefs about the uncertainty in ambiguous tasks. We find considerable heterogeneity among subjects in beliefs and ambiguity premia; and that, on average, ambiguity sensitivity is about as strong as risk sensitivity.     

Research review: Aging out of residential care in South Africa

Approximately 21,000 children were accommodated in residential care in South Africa in 2011/2012. Despite this large number, and the state's substantial financial investment in residential care, there has, until recently, been little research on care‐leaving: the transition out of care due to reaching adulthood. Furthermore, much of the research available has not been published in international journals. This article reports on a systematic review of research on residential care‐leaving in South Africa, from 2003 to 2016. A thematic analysis of the resulting 40 research outputs maps the scope of findings from South African research, in relation to theory of leaving care, measurement tools developed, young people's experiences of leaving care, transitional outcomes, processes of leaving care, facilitators of improved outcomes, care‐leaving services, and policy on leaving care. Critical gaps in the current research opus are identified, with a view to refining future research on young people aging out of care in South Africa.     

On the Analysis of Negative Freedom

This paper presents a non-preference-based approach to the analysis of negative freedom. It is argued that a proper understanding of (different conceptions of) negative freedom necessitates an examination of the consequences of changes in the set of feasible alternatives. For this reason the paper does not focus on freedom rankings of opportunity sets but on freedom rankings of opportunity situations, i.e., pairs consisting of a feasible set and an opportunity set. Three different freedom rankings of opportunity situations are axiomatically characterised. Each of the three rankings forms a generalisation of the purely cardinality-based freedom ranking of opportunity sets presented by Pattanaik and Xu (1990).     

Identification in organizational contexts: linking theory and research from social and organizational psychology

Research in organizational psychology has shown that commitment to the organization correlates with different criteria of work effectiveness. This paper argues that social psychology and, particularly, the Social Identity Approach to intergroup relations extend the concept of commitment theoretically. Above that, it provides a broader conceptual framework for the understanding of underlying processes in the relation between organizational identification and job-related attitudes and behaviours. This theoretical analysis is completed with a review of empirical findings in different fields of application (group performance, work-related attitudes, group norms).     

Variation of Consumer Contact with Household Products: A Preliminary Investigation

Little information is available on product use by consumers, which severely hampers exposure estimation for consumer products. This article describes actual contact with several consumer products, specifically dishwashing detergents, cleaning products, and hair styling products. How and where products are handled, as well as the duration, frequency, and amount of use were studied by means of diaries, in‐home observations, and measurements. This study addressed the question, “To what extent are frequency, duration, and amount of use associated?” Findings showed that there was a large intra‐ as well as interindividual variation in frequency, duration, and amount of use, with the interindividual variation being considerably larger. At the same time, results showed that, for a given activity, users tended to follow their own routine. Few relations were found among frequency, duration, and amount of use. It was concluded that among persons, frequency, duration, and amount of product act in practice as independent parameters. Diaries appear to be quite suitable for gaining insight into frequently used products. Observations of usage, recorded on video, were indispensable for obtaining particular information on product use. In addition, home visits enabled the collection of specific measurements. Although diaries and home visits are time‐consuming, the combination provided insight into variation as well as relations among frequency, duration, and amount of use.     

Acculturation and Prejudice in Germany: Majority and Minority Perspectives

This article explores the connections between prejudice and specific attitudes toward acculturation in Germany. Results of surveys confirm the hypothesis that prejudice is related to ideologies of assimilation and segregation among majority- group members. Moreover, experimental and correlational studies indicate that these attitudes are linked to discriminatory behavior. Further analyses of studies with ethnic minorities prove that prejudice and acculturation are linked within minority groups as well. Additionally it is shown that prejudice is functional in order for minorities to acculturate. These studies confirm the impression that there is a close link between macrosocial and microsocial levels of coping with migration.     

From quasi‐markets to public–private networks: Employers' engagement in public employment services

This article explores the implications of creating a role for private‐sector partners in public employment services (PES), rather than creating quasi‐markets. It focuses on how the engagement of employers in public–private networks with local government can enhance employment opportunities for disadvantaged welfare recipients but may require a further shift in local public services. The theory relates to contractual arrangements versus network modes of public–private partnerships. Based on surveys among employers and welfare recipients, and interviews with politicians, managers, and frontline workers in five Dutch municipalities, the article provides detailed evidence on innovative and promising cases of public–private networks in employment services. It shows that, under certain conditions, vulnerable jobseekers are better served by a network involving employers than by the standard supply‐driven approach that predominates in quasi‐markets. It also reveals that public and private partners have yet to fully embrace the implications of the network approach for their respective roles. The article contributes to the theoretical debate on public–private partnerships in the context of PES, reflecting on public–private networks as a policy design that could help improve employment opportunities for disadvantaged jobseekers.