Linking macro‐level mechanisms to street‐level accountability practices. A cross‐national case study of street‐level accountability of social workers in government funded homeless shelters

Available studies on the accountability relation between social work and the government are mainly conducted in Anglo‐Saxion countries. This limits the generalizability of these findings to other countries. Moreover, these studies hardly descent to the street‐level, making the perceptions and actions of social workers barely visible. To address this gap, this article explores how three elements of governance interact with street‐level accountability of social workers in homeless care in three country cases (the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany). The data (N26) was gathered by means of a mixed method design (interviews, focus groups and document analysis). By combining a street‐level bureaucracy research approach with a relational definition of accountability, we opened up the black box of what happens in these organizations and bridged the gap between macro‐level mechanisms and street‐level accountability. Our study adds three important insights to street‐level research of accountability in social work. First, elements of governance cannot be studied in isolation. Mechanisms should always be explained in relation to the context in which they are embedded. Second, the social workers in our cases do not perceive their accountability to the government as a professional obligation. They see it as a strategic mechanism to secure funding. Third, interaction is an important condition for the engagement of the social workers in their accountability relation with the government. More research is needed to develop a multi‐level theory that identifies which mechanisms play a role in the accountability relation between the government and social workers.     

Voluntary work in the Norwegian long-term care sector: complementing or substituting formal services?

ABSTRACT

Across Europe, governments call for increased involvement of volunteers to shoulder some of the welfare burden. Nevertheless, there is little research into what kind of work and how much volunteers currently contribute in the long-term care services and whether this has the potential to substitute formal services. Drawing on findings from a survey of employees in Norwegian nursing homes and home care districts, we examine the nature and volume of voluntary, unpaid work in the long-term care services in Norway. Our data suggest that volunteers to a very limited degree carry out work that has traditionally been considered the formal system’s domain: personal care and practical help. Nearly all the voluntary, unpaid contributions in our data takes place within cultural, social and other activities aimed at promoting mental stimulation and well-being, indicating a classic specialisation of tasks between volunteers and professionals. However, there has been an expansion of the formal care system to include activities aimed at promoting well-being in recent decades. This may indicate that there is a certain level of task sharing between voluntary and formal care. Thus, social workers need to consider voluntary service provision when assessing the needs of clients.     

Rituals of migration: an introduction

ABSTRACT

This introduction presents a framework for the articles in the special issue Rituals of Migration. First, it provides an overview of studies of ritual and migration, highlighting the fruitfulness of exploring the two fields together and arguing for the use of ritual as a cultural prism on processes of continuity and change in migration. In light of these analytical approaches, the introduction continues by outlining and discussing the three major themes that crosscut the articles (the interrelations between change and continuity, processes of placemaking and lines of social differentiation), demonstrating how the articles can shed light on these issues.     

Family Policy and After-Birth Employment Among New Mothers – A Comparison of Finland, Norway and Sweden

This article compares the employmentpatterns of women after first and second birthin Finland, Norway and Sweden during 1972–1992,focusing on the impact of parental leave andchildcare programs on the transitions tofull-time and part-time work. The resultsunanimously point to the great importance ofthe programs. Women who are entitled to a paidleave have a much higher overall employmententry rate during the first three yearsfollowing birth than non-eligible women.But since mothers tend to use their fullentitlement, the higher entry rates are largelyconcentrated to the period after leave expiry,except in Sweden where entitled mothers havehigher entry rates also during the leaveperiod. This is probably a result of thegreater flexibility of the Swedish program. Inall countries, leave extensions delay thereturn to work among entitled mothers andreduce their excess entry rate. Moreover, theFinnish home-care allowance system is found toreduce employment entry. On the whole, thissuggests that very long leave entitlements andchild-minding benefit programs could havenegative consequences for women's career andearnings potentials and may preserve an unequaldivision of labour in the family.     

Framing of information on the use of public finances, regulatory fit of recipients and tax compliance

Information campaigns to increase tax compliance could be framed in different ways. They can either highlight the potential gains when tax compliance is high, or the potential losses when compliance is low. According to regulatory focus theory, such framing should be most effective when it is congruent with the promotion or prevention focus of its recipients. Two studies confirmed the hypothesized interaction effects between recipients’ regulatory focus and framing of information campaigns, with tax compliance being highest under conditions of regulatory fit. To address taxpayers effectively, information campaigns by tax authorities should consider the positive and negative framing of information, and the moderating effect of recipients’ regulatory focus.     

The contribution of the psychosocial work environment to sickness absence in human service workers: Results of a 3-year follow-up study

Abstract

We investigated to what extent psychosocial work characteristics predict sickness absence in a cohort of 890 human service professionals (84% women), followed-up for 3 years. We measured 16 different psychosocial work characteristics at baseline and analysed their associations with number of sickness absence days at follow-up using multivariate Poisson regression. In addition, we computed a psychosocial work environment index, summarizing eight psychosocial scales. Participants with exposure to violence and threats, high emotional demands, high demands for hiding emotions, low influence at work, low meaning of work, low quality of management, and role conflicts had an increased number of sickness absence days at follow-up, after adjustment for numerous confounders. Adjusting for sickness absence history caused little change in most effect estimates. Scoring in the most adverse quartile of the psychosocial work environment index was associated with a 71% increase in sickness absence days. Improving the psychosocial work environment index and eliminating exposure to violence and threats would have prevented 32% of all sickness absence days in the study population. In particular we found that exposure to violence was a strong predictor of absence. This study shows that a wide range of psychosocial work characteristics contribute to sickness absence in human service workers. Improving the psychosocial work environment might help to reduce sickness absence in this population.     

Barrieren, Brücken und Balancen

The present paper discusses conceptions of appropriate distance relations in present day service jobs. We show how employees manage their emotions in order to comply with these largely ideological conceptions. In two comparative case studies of a call center and of community care for elderly people we demonstrate that the conceptions of appropriate distance are diametrically opposed to the objective spatial distance of the interactants. Thus, Customer Relations Management suggests an emotionalised relation between customers and call center agents who are located hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from customers. This emotional closeness supposedly maximises the economic exploitation of the commercial interaction. In the service of elderly care which involves close body contact, however, the conception of a professional relation between carer and client is based on the carer’s ability to distance herself in order not to ‘burn out’. We show that the effects of rationalisation, bureaucratisation and new technologies in service jobs of both capitalist service economies and welfare states create dilemmas between the feeling rules and the working conditions. Service workers try to solve these dilemmas by more or less improvised practices of manipulating their feelings and sensations.