A Cross-National Study on the Antecedents of Work–Life Balance from the Fit and Balance Perspective

Drawing on the perceived work–family fit and balance perspective, this study investigates demands and resources as antecedents of work–life balance (WLB) across four countries (New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain), so as to provide empirical cross-national evidence. Using structural equation modelling analysis on a sample of 870 full time employees, we found that work demands, hours worked and family demands were negatively related to WLB, while job autonomy and supervisor support were positively related to WLB. We also found evidence that resources (job autonomy and supervisor support) moderated the relationships between demands and work–life balance, with high resources consistently buffering any detrimental influence of demands on WLB. Furthermore, our study identified additional predictors of WLB that were unique to some national contexts. For example, in France and Italy, overtime hours worked were negatively associated with WLB, while parental status was positively associated with WLB. Overall, the implications for theory and practice are discussed.

     

Turnover‐induced Forgetting and its Impact on Productivity

In this paper we investigate organizational forgetting, the notion that a firm's knowledge does not persist over time, exploring knowledge depreciation caused by changes in human capital. We first conduct an in‐depth exploratory case study to identify organizational forgetting. The empirical evidence suggests that organizational forgetting occurs when abrupt personnel turnover takes place. The data reveal a forgetting pattern that is entirely episodic in nature. Thereupon we conduct a confirmatory piece, using multiple regression models, to measure the impact of organizational forgetting on overall productivity. We find that, as a result of repeated forgetting processes, productivity falls in spite of continued output accumulation because of changes in the characteristics of the resource where experience resides.     

To hide or not to hide, that is the question! Lesbians and gay men describe experiences from nursing work environment

Homosexual nursing staff (n = 21) from different parts of Sweden were interviewed about experiences from their psychosocial work environment and about what they consider important points to communicate about lesbians and gay men in nursing. The findings show that most of the informants were partly open about their sexual orientation at work, the women less so than the men. All informants spoke of the fear of being socially excluded. Reported negative experiences included being neglected, harassment, and verbal discomfort based on sexual prejudices. The informants regarded responsibility, the need for knowledge, the consequences of invisibility, and the lesbian's specific situation, important points to communicate regarding homosexuality and nursing.     

The flight from universalism

Up to the beginning of the 1990s Sweden had been considered a paragon welfare state in its realisation of universalist principles and an institutional welfare model. This seems to be changing rapidly. Mass unemployment, welfare expenditure cuts and institutional transformation have introduced several selective mechanisms into the Swedish welfare system, adding up to a retreat from universalism. New forms of selectivity can be seen in all layers of the welfare system, both transfer benefits and social security, public personal social services and the relation between state and voluntary organisations. The shifting of burdens from universal social security and insurance-based welfare onto local means tested systems has already meant a restigmatisation of unemployment, as the unemployed lose eligibility for the insurance-based systems, and an increase in the proportion of people who have to rely on poor relief instead of rights-based welfare, and when unemployment has gone up, so have work requirements for benefits. A rising proportion of labour market programmes are now municipally organised obligations instead of state administered rights. Conditioning the right to day care, appraising needs-tested services for the elderly, like home help and care, make personal social services change in the same directions. This may endanger the classical alliance between women and the welfare state.     

Towards a neo-Birminghamian conception of subculture? History,challenges, and future potentials

This article discusses the theoretical development of subcultural theory. It first provides a brief history of subcultural theory. It then attempts to outline the central requirements which should be fulfilled by a neo-Birminghamian conception of subculture that takes valid critiques of the CCCS into account, while maintaining the theoretical richness and analytical qualities of the concept. This includes putting social structures, including class in intersection with gender and ethnicity, back into subcultural theory, in a way that allows for grasping complexity. The article moves on to argue that the development of such a conception of subculture could potentially be realized by entering a theoretical dialogue with Bourdieu’s sociology and feminist accounts of intersectionality. Furthermore, it suggests that such a theoretical conception may be highly relevant to current research areas such as gangs/street culture and Jihadism.