Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth (1599)

Relying on cross-country panel data, the paper investigates the possible repercussions of salary gap for employee productivity and corporate financial performance. Our empirical findings corroborate the presence of a negative tail effect of wage gap on productivity and employee morale. While worsening employee turnover and productivity, and increasing the chances of workplace controversies, high salary gap is found to be associated with a more efficient cost structure and higher profitability. Our evidence suggests that extreme salary gap may be curbed by targeted internal policies favoring internal promotion and career development, unionization, employee and managerial training. The composition of the board’s remuneration committee appears to play but a minor role in shaping the scale of salary gap. The results of the study are in line with equity aversion theory and suggest that extreme wage inequality may impede firms’ growth with spillover effects observable at the macro-level. Targeted policies may be necessary to counter the negative repercussions of high compensation disparities as within-firm mechanisms appear insufficient to mitigate them. Full article

Sustainable business practices are those that allow companies to increase their profit while still considering the triple bottom line of sustainability, which involves economic, environmental, and social aspects. There are a lot of studies exploring various aspects of supply chain practices. However, there remains a gap for the proposal of a complete framework concerning various industries. This research fills this gap by studying existing empirical and review studies. Based on a content analysis of 86 studies, 789 practices are derived and categorized, leading to a comprehensive classification of sustainable practices in supply chains. Moreover, the employed methods to analyze the data are investigated. The practices are cross-checked versus the studied industries showing the current sustainable industries. The details of the studied papers are presented in a comprehensive table. The sustainable framework showing the industrial solutions toward sustainable supply chains is divided into 38 minor practices classified into 11 main categories. This paper provides a novel interpretation of the sustainable solutions addressed by different industries and presents a new and updated classification of the literature identifying future directions. This offers many advantages for practitioners and researchers to transform a supply chain into an improved version in the bigger picture. Full article

The efficient and sustainable exploitation of energy resources may secure a sustainable economic growth for different regions. However, the peripheries are subject to social, economic, and political constraints, with limited power over energy management. The present work examines regional convergence in exploitation efficiency as synopsized in the GDP generated by energy and minerals in an era of the country’s efforts to shut down the lignite-run power production. With the assistance of panel unit root tests, we confirm non convergence of the variables employed, an expected result given the fact that different energy sources are being used for energy production by each different periphery, generating different economic results. In the second stage the methodology employed is a Bayesian vector auto-regressive model (BVAR) with an informative prior on the steady state. The particular methodology outperforms the conventional VAR methodology due to limited degrees of freedom. The Impulse response analysis and the Variance Decomposition analysis confirmed interlinkages among the regions studied. This result implies that the growth generated by different energy and mineral resources are interconnected. Furthermore, the energy transition taking place in Megalopoli and West Macedonia, where the two greatest lignite industries were located until recently, affects the growth generated by energy and resource exploitation for all the other peripheries, according to our findings. The novelty of the present work stands on the concept to detect interlinkages of energy and resources-based growth for the peripheries in Greece with the assistance of the Bayesian Var. The results of the present work are significant, since our findings suggest to policy makers tools to promote economic growth generated by energy based on alternative energy sources, including the environmentally friendly ones, by taking into consideration the interlinkages established by the existing infrastructure and the conventional energy sources used. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an impact on the health of many people, but also on politics, the economy, and everyday life at large. It has been shown that some people respond with anxiety and depression, which is not surprising. Another reaction in the context of COVID-19 is embittered fights and disruptions between family members, friends, and neighbors, but also problems on a societal and political level, mutual public insults, political demonstrations, and even aggressive outbursts with a high number of participants. This calls for a separate explanation. One trigger may be embitterment, an emotion known to anybody in reaction to injustice, humiliation, and breach of trust, in association with helplessness. It comes along with a nagging desire to fight back and is usually accompanied by aggressive fantasies and combatively impulses towards the wrongdoer. This emotion also spreads indiscriminately to other people and the world. There are few initial studies which show that there is a significant increase in the rate of embitterment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased embitterment was related to financial losses, concern about restricted societal freedom, job insecurity, oppositional attitudes, helplessness, dissatisfaction with life, and inclination to join anti-COVID-19 demonstrations. These findings suggest that it is important to foster resilience against stressors, be it because of the virus itself, restrictions in daily freedom, negative comments by other persons, or imbalanced press releases. Of importance is also to abstain from insulting comments towards people who do not follow the mainstream, to allow adjustment of rules to given situations, and to take people along by listening to their grievances, instead of leaving demonstrations on the street as the only method to voice concerns. Full article

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has developed rapidly into one of the highest per capita income nations globally. The travel and tourism sector is a central contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, foreign exchange earnings, and the country’s economic diversification strategy. However, the rapid growth of the sector and increase in international tourist arrivals are also major contributors to carbon emissions and long-term environmental challenges. In this context, we employed a tourism-induced Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model for the UAE from 1984 to 2019. The study applied an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to determine the marginal impact of tourist arrivals and related variables, namely, bank credits to the private sector, urbanization, and energy use, on CO₂ emissions. The Pesaran bounds test indicated redundancy of short run estimates. The long-run coefficients confirmed the EKC hypothesis of inverted U-shape for carbon emissions and per capita income, along with environmental degradation due to tourist arrivals and financial development. Notably, urbanization and energy use highlighted the positive steps taken by the government. Granger causality tests indicated a unidirectional association from GDP, bank credits, and energy consumption to carbon emissions. Importantly, tourist arrivals and urbanization had bidirectional causality with carbon dioxide levels. This study is the first to apply the tourism-induced EKC model to the UAE, and the findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners. The causality results highlight the need to balance tourism targets and sustainable economic growth through the adoption of ‘green’ standards. The results also indicate the potential importance of financial sector efforts to boost green investments and implement clean energy-related technologies. Full article

Background: Long-term adherence is crucial for optimal treatment outcomes in chronic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), especially throughout the COVID-19 wide-spreading periods, making patients with chronic CVDs vulnerable subjects. Aim: To investigate the relationship between the characteristics, beliefs about prescribed medication, COVID-19 prevention measures, and medication adherence among patients with chronic CVDs. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of outpatients with chronic CVDs in Southern Vietnam. The specific parts regarding the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaires (BMQ—Specific) and the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS) were applied to assess the beliefs about and adherence to medication. The implementation measures to prevent COVID-19 in patients were evaluated according to the 5K message (facemask, disinfection, distance, no gathering, and health declaration) of the Vietnam Ministry of Health. A multivariable logistic regression with the Backward elimination (Wald) method was used to identify the associated factors of medication adherence. Results: A slightly higher score in BMQ-Necessity compared to BMQ-Concerns was observed. A total of 40.7% of patients were recorded as having not adhered to their medications. Patients’ behavior was most frequently self-reported by explaining their non-adherence (34.7%). Statistical associations were found between rural living place, unemployment status, no or only one measure(s) of COVID-19 prevention application, and medication adherence. Conclusion: During the COVID-19 spreading stage, patients generally showed a positive belief about medication when they rated the importance of taking it higher than its side effects. The data analysis suggested that rather than patients’ beliefs, the clinicians should consider the patient factors, including living place, employment, and the number of epidemic preventive measures applied for guiding the target patients for improving medication adherence. Full article

In today’s socio-economic context where environmental protection and sustainable development are equally important, how renewable energy enterprises can achieve sustainable development has become a topic of academic interest in recent years. This paper investigates the link between sustainable growth (SG) of renewable energy firms, resource endowment (RE), and environmental regulatory (ERs) issues through a fixed-effects model and a GMM model. Through empirical analysis, it was found that economical environmental regulations have the greatest positive impact on sustainable growth, followed by legal environmental regulations and supervised environmental regulations. Resource endowment is positively related to sustainable growth for non-state-owned renewable energy enterprises, but the negative impact on sustainable growth reflects the effect the of “resource curse”. In addition, resource endowment has a negative moderating effect on environmental regulations and sustainable growth. Thus, the most significant effect is on the relationship between economical environmental regulations and sustainable growth, followed by legal environmental regulations and supervised environmental regulations. Therefore, the flexible and concurrent application of multiple environmental policies is an important way to ensure effective regulations and promote sustainable business growth. Full article

The objectives of this longitudinal study were to analyze the impact of COVID-19 vaccine incentive policies (e.g., bonuses and lottery entries) on county-level COVID-19 vaccination rates, and to examine the interactive effects between COVID-19 vaccine incentive policies and socioeconomic factors on COVID-19 vaccination rates. Using publicly available data, county-level COVID-19 vaccination rates and socioeconomic data between January 2021 and July 2021 were extracted and analyzed across counties in the United States (US)—an analysis of 19,992 observations over time. Pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was employed to longitudinally examine associations with COVID-19 vaccination rates, and four random-effects models were developed to analyze interaction effects. Bonus incentive policies were effective in counties with a high per capita income, high levels of education, and a high percentage of racial minorities, but not in counties with high unemployment. Lottery incentive policies were effective in counties with a high percentage of racial minorities, but not in counties with high per capita income, high levels of education, and high unemployment. County-level socioeconomic factors should be considered ahead of implementing incentive policies, versus a blanket approach, to avoid the unintentional misuse of economic resources for futile COVID-19 vaccination outcomes. Full article

Patients after gastrectomy for gastric cancer are at risk of malnutrition, and poor nutritional status negatively affects patients’ clinical outcomes. Knowledge of the factors influencing patients’ nutritional status can inform interventions for improving patients’ nutrition. A cross-sectional study was conducted to describe nutritional status and related factors in gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy. A convenience sample of gastric cancer patients with gastrectomy was recruited from general surgery or oncology clinics of a medical center in northern Taiwan. Data were collected with self-reported questionnaires, including the Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy—Gastric Module version 4, the Concerns in Meal Preparation scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and the Mini Nutrition Assessment. One hundred and one gastric cancer patients participated in the study. There were 81 cases of subtotal gastrectomy and 20 cases of total gastrectomy. Most patients (52.5%) were malnourished or at risk. Linear regression showed that symptom severity (β = −0.43), employment status (β = 0.19), and difficulty in diet preparation (β = −0.21) were significant predictors of nutritional status. Together, these three variables explained 35.8% of the variance in patient nutritional status (F = 20.3, p < 0.001). More than 50% of our participants were malnourished or at risk for malnutrition, indicating a need for continued monitoring and support after discharge from hospitals. Special attention should be given to patients with severe symptoms, unemployment, and difficulties in diet preparation. Full article

Debates in urban social research indicate that one of the most significant problems facing cities of the global south is the dilemma of crime. This study explores the research question: what is the level of influence of economic deprivation and residential mobility weights on criminal activities within vulnerable neighborhoods in urban centres? This research focuses on the urban social structural theory of social disorganization, to investigate how socioeconomic, demographic, and physical characteristics affect criminal behaviour. The study adopted a qualitative research approach that is cross-sectional. With the use of volunteer self-selection sampling techniques, in-depth interviews were conducted with heads of households via a semi-structured interview guide. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The study found that sociological factors such as economic deprivation and socioeconomic inequality lead to the gradual integration of delinquency in cities. The findings of this research build on the existing theory of social disorganization. To ensure safety, residents’ economic status must be standardized by supporting the provision of more regulated informal sector opportunities and activities for active engagement in supervising and controlling youth behaviour. Full article

The transition from education to work in the global economy is no longer a straightforward one-time move for young people. In Bulgaria, this change started with the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in the 1990s and was accompanied by the arrival of high rates of early school leaving, youth unemployment, and a growing group of disengaged youths (NEETs). The European initiatives in support of youth labour market integration are translated locally, with a narrow focus on “employability” while neglecting the many educational, training, and social needs of young people. The analysis in this paper is informed by the theoretical framework of life course research. It starts with an elaboration of the recontextualisation of EU policies such as the Youth Guarantee in the local realities of socioeconomic structures using Eurostat and national data. Second, we present 4 case studies (selected out of a total of 42 in-depth interviews) of young adults aged 18–30 in order to highlight the ways in which young people’s individual agency filters and influences the institutional policies and practices regulating youth social integration. Our qualitative analysis reveals the multiplicity and diversity of youth journeys into work through the institutions and social structures and the inadequacy of the applied policy measures. Full article

Pakistan is a country with rich natural and human resources. The role of highly skilled people in national development has become enormously vital in the new developmental period, but it is also an irrefutable fact that the gap in highly skilled personnel in Pakistan is expanding. The organization of Technical Vocational Education and Training was introduced to prepare a skilled workforce for various industries and sectors in Pakistan; however, the 60% level of young, unskilled, and semi-skilled labor emerging from informal and non-formal sectors is largely attributed to the failure of Technical Vocational Education and Training to supply the country with its requirements for trained manpower for the economy and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. China and Pakistan launched historic projects such as CPEC as part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which fostered economic cooperation and development between the two countries. This article will go through the overview and the course of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Pakistan. The major purpose of this study is to highlight that TVET in general, and CPEC in particular, are suffering from a lack of qualified personnel because of a variety of other reasons, such as outdated equipment, a lack of industry connectivity, inadequate skills, unemployment, and so on. The study is descriptive and exploratory in nature, and it employs a qualitative research method. The perspectives of the TVET challenges in Pakistan were researched using the data obtained from 500 student and staff respondents, including teachers, TVET workers, and TVET job holders. Some of the important findings include the fact that the current state of the TVET institutions is no doubt due to infrastructural issues and a lack of funding. In addition, TVET in Pakistan is marked by inadequate skills, a lack of industry connectivity, unemployment, insufficient teacher training, and a lack of female participation. In this study, recommendations were given based on the research analysis and research findings. Full article

In a recently published study on business process management (BPM) capabilities in the view of digitalization, project management was not named as a core capability by the corresponding Delphi panel. However, earlier (pre-digitalization) research suggests that project management is a key success factor for BPM. This contradiction could have severe impact with regard to the sustainability of process management. This article uses qualitative case study data to discuss potential reasons for this contradiction and to answer the question of how important project management is for contemporary BPM. As both traditional and agile project management knowledge was employed in the case study, results indicate that project management is indeed helpful for BPM, especially for discrete process change. Practitioners should consider project management knowledge when staffing business process optimization and digitalization initiatives. Research should develop a deeper understanding of agile and traditional project management as antecedents to sustainable BPM success and as BPM capabilities. Full article

This longitudinal study examined the labor market affiliations of marginal part-time workers (<15 working hours/week) compared with full-time workers (32–40 working hours/week) within gender and age groups. Analyses were based on 1,492,187 Danish employees with marginal part-time or full-time work at baseline using register data of working hours and labor market affiliation from the Labor Market Account. We used the Expected Labor Market Affiliation method within gender and age groups to estimate the time spent in different labor market states over a 5-year follow-up from 2012–2017. The multistate model included five recurrent labor market states: work, unemployment, long-term sickness absence, studying, and temporarily out, and the results were adjusted for education level, morbidity, and ethnicity. A marginal part-time worker generally had fewer days of work without social benefits and spent more days studying during follow-up compared with a full-time worker. In addition, marginal part-time workers ≥ 25 years old had more days of unemployment and more days of long-term sickness absence. These findings suggest that marginal part-time workers have fewer paid workdays without social benefits compared with full-time workers, depending on age. Further studies should explore whether marginal part-time work is a stepping stone into or out of the labor market. Full article

It is crucial for a city to ensure economic stability and growth, along with social security and prosperity, not only for the present, but also for future generations. Increasingly, researchers are highlighting the need to apply sustainable urban growth principles to the field of urban development, arguing that this would reduce the negative impacts of urbanization processes (poverty, air pollution, unemployment, and crime). At the same time, cities are competing with one another to maintain their position in the urban hierarchy, not only in the short term, but also in the long term. The COVID-19 pandemic affected many areas of our everyday life: over 5.85 million deaths, increased unemployment, the introduction of restrictions, the closure of national borders, and various other circumstances have all undoubtedly affected to a certain degree those factors which serve to influence competitiveness. The aim of this article is to conduct an integrated competitiveness assessment of the Baltic capitals within the context of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the period 2015–2020, according to an integrated assessment model for urban competitiveness (MDK), which is based upon the principles of sustainable development. A systematic and comparative analysis of the concepts published in the scientific literature has been performed, the concepts of sustainable city and sustainable urban competitiveness have been formed, research and methods of urban competitiveness evaluation have been carried out, and a comprehensive competitiveness assessment of the results of the study showed that the evaluation of integrated competitiveness of a sustainable city in the context of the impact of COVID-19 (using the Baltic capitals as an example in the period 2015–2020), in terms of the multi-criteria SAW and TOPSIS evaluation methods, is in the highest position in 2016–2019. Vilnius is in second place during the whole period 2016–2019. Riga takes third place in 2015–2019 (except in 2020, when it exchanges places with Vilnius and takes second place). Meanwhile, the results of the COPRAS multicriteria method differ from those discussed above. In 2016, 2019, and 2020, Tallinn is in the highest position, and in 2015, 2017, and 2018, it is surpassed by Vilnius. Riga remained in third place from 2015 to 2019. In 2020, Vilnius took over this position. Full article

A continuing debate on the nature of precarity surrounds its defining characteristics and identification of what constitutes precarity. While early sociological work argued that people either experience precarity or they do not (i.e., the haves and the have-nots), subsequent researchers have gone to great lengths to argue for a more nuanced approach with multiple distinct classes of precarity. Using cross-lagged data from n = 315 U.S. employees collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, we took a person-centered approach to address this central question and uncover latent subpopulations of precarity. Specifically, we conducted a latent profile analysis of precarity using various objective and subjective indicators including perceptions of job insecurity, financial insecurity, prior unemployment experiences, per capita household income, skill-based underemployment, and time-based underemployment. While we anticipated different profiles based on income- vs. employment-based sources of precarity, the best-fitting solution surprisingly comported with Standing’s proposed two-class model. Moreover, membership in the precarious profile was associated with consistently more adverse subsequent outcomes across work, health, and life domains adding to the validity of the obtained two-profile structure. We discuss these results in light of potential loss spirals that can co-occur with the experience of precarity. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a direct impact on the manufacturing industry in Malaysia because all economic activities had to be suspended for some time. This study explores the role that eco-innovation capabilities might play in improving sustainable business performance during the ongoing pandemic. This study employs a quantitative method by distributing online questionnaires to 80 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Klang Valley, Malaysia. In the study, the relationship between sustainable business performance and the three variables of eco-innovation capabilities, i.e., eco-product innovation, eco-management innovation and eco-logistic innovation, were determined using multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that two hypotheses are accepted and the other one is rejected. The findings indicate that most manufacturing SMEs in Klang Valley have adopted eco-management innovation and eco-logistic innovation as crucial capabilities for their businesses during the pandemic. However, due to the challenges faced by these SMEs during the pandemic, eco-product innovation was found to have an insignificant relationship with sustainable business performance. It is insignificant because of the low productivity rate observed during the pandemic. Hence, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused manufacturing SMEs in the Klang Valley to not be able to maintain their operations and stay on track. Therefore, this research may contribute to the efforts of policymakers, government agencies and managers of manufacturing SMEs in developing a strong innovation platform on which manufacturing SMEs may rely for support in enhancing their business capacity and performance. Full article

This study investigated the association between emotional demands and depression or anxiety in a wide range of jobs. We used data from the third Korean Working Conditions Survey (n = 50,032) for all occupational classifications, with no limitations placed on job title or employment type. Among the full set of regular paid workers in addition to self-employed, unpaid family workers, and informal employees such as independent contractors, 23,989 respondents worked with “customers, passengers, students, or patients” (i.e., clients). Emotional demands were evaluated using two questions: handling angry clients and needing to hide feelings for work performance. Any depression or anxiety over the last 12 months was taken to indicate poor mental health. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed to calculate adjusted ORs with 95% confidence intervals for the influence of emotional demands on mental health, adjusting for demographic factors (age, gender, education, income), occupational psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, weekly work hours and job insecurity. The prevalence of emotional demands was higher in self-employed and informal employees than in regular paid employees. The more frequent the exposure to the two emotional demands combined was, the higher the risk of depression or anxiety. High psychological demands, low social support, and low job security each further increased the risk of poor mental health. Emotional demands turned out to be widespread in the entire economy, were not limited to service or sales occupations, and were more evident in precarious work. The contribution of emotional demands and other preventable job stressors to the burden of depression or anxiety in society may be substantial. Full article

In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the development of a new business model, “Live Streaming + Ecommerce”, which is a new method for commercial sales that shares the goal of sustainable economic growth (SDG 8). As information technology finds its way into the digital lives of internet users, the real-time and interactive nature of live streaming has overturned the traditional entertainment experience of audio and video content, moving towards a more nuanced division of labor with multiple applications. This study used a portable eye tracker to collect eye movement information from participants watching Facebook Live, with 31 participants who had experience using the live streaming platform. The four eye movement indicators, namely, latency of first fixation (LFF), duration of first fixation (DFF), total fixation durations (TFD), and the number of fixations (NOF), were used to analyze the distribution of the visual attention in each region of interest (ROI) and explore the study questions based on the ROIs. The findings of this study were as follows: (1) the fixation order of the ROIs in the live ecommerce platform differed between participants of different sexes; (2) the DFF of the ROIs in the live ecommerce platform differed among participants of different sexes; and (3) regarding the ROIs of participants on the live ecommerce platform, participants of different sexes showed the same attention to the live products according to the TFD and NOF eye movement indicators. This study explored the visual search behaviors of existing consumers watching live ecommerce and provides the results as a reference for operators and researchers of live streaming platforms. Full article

Innovative behavior (IB) is an important issue in academic and other sectors. The increasing uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has resulted in rising job insecurity for employees in the e-commerce industry. This has jeopardized career sustainability (CS). Numerous studies have explored the influence of supportive leadership (SL) on IB, but so far there is still a dearth of research investigating the role of CS. In addition, CS must be considered because the perceived sustainability of a career has an impact on individual innovation. Therefore, based on job demands-resources (JDR) theory, we analyzed the effects of SL on IB as well as the roles of CS in IB. The mediating role of employee’s perceived occupational sustainability was explored. This study investigates the associations between supportive leadership style (job resource) and employee innovative behavior (job demand). In total, 308 valid samples were collected from China. Structural equation modeling examines the construct validity and path relationships. The results show that in China’s e-commerce industry, under the uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, only when employees perceive CS can SL promote the transformation of job resources into workplace IB. That is, CS completely mediates SL and IB. This provides new information for the management of employee behavior in the current special period. The result revealed that SL improves IB through CS. Theoretically, this study fills the gap and establishes a theoretical framework for SL and IB. Practically, we offer guidance for enterprises and managers in that they should provide their employees with work resources which are good for employee CS so as to promote employees’ IB. Full article

Youth employment in Spain is characterised by temporary contracts, part-time jobs, and low wages, a long-standing situation that has been further accentuated since the 2008 crisis, placing young people, especially women, in a position of vulnerability at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through different data, this article argues that young women’s working conditions have deteriorated in comparison to those of previous generations and young men, in a period in which there have been two crises that have affected youth employment. Linking the results with the main youth employment policies allows us to observe why the precarisation of Spanish youth has not been stopped. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a sudden and deep recession contributing, among other things, to a sharp rise in unemployment. The article addresses changes in the labor markets of the Visegrad countries (Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), covering the period 2018–2021. It attempts to answer the questions: how deep a slump was caused by the pandemic in these markets, how flexible forms of employment responded to it, and whether there were discriminatory phenomena (decline in employment and increase in unemployment in the most vulnerable groups in the labor market). The analysis was based on quarterly data published by Eurostat on the size and structure of the employed and unemployed population. The results of the compilations indicate a relatively small deepening of imbalances in the labor markets of the analyzed countries, a differentiated reaction of flexible forms of employment (depending on the form of employment), which was in line with expectations (they were used as a business cycle buffer). In most of the V4 countries, women were relatively less likely to lose their jobs than men during the pandemic. In a few cases, a relatively stronger decline in employment (increase in unemployment) affected young people, people aged 55–64, and people with the lowest education. Full article

All countries are trying their best to achieve maximum economic prosperity through employing efficient economic strategies. Countries seem to be conscious of various factors that can potentially affect economic growth. Given that, the current study examines the impact of various macroeconomic factors on the economic growth of Palestine. By employing the large range of quarterly data spanning from 2001 to 2020, the statistical outputs of the ARDL model show that government debt, donations, government expenditures, and unemployment rate adversely impact economic growth. However, other factors including credit facilities, inflation, and total investments positively impinge upon the economic growth of Palestine. Such dynamic impacts of various macroeconomic factors display both the detrimental and growth-promoting role of macroeconomic factors in determining economic prosperity. Our analysis suggests various policy implications to economic policy officials regarding the effectiveness of various factors for economic health. It is further recommended that international agencies working in aid- and donation-intensive countries should design efficient economic policies that can help such economies in coming out from economic distress. Full article

Being unemployed has been linked to various health burdens. In particular, there appears to be an association between unemployment and alcohol-attributable deaths. However, risk estimates presented in a previous review were based on only two studies. Thus, we estimated updated sex-stratified alcohol-attributable mortality risks for unemployed compared with employed individuals. A systematic literature search was conducted in August 2020 using the following databases: Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. The relative risk (RR) of dying from an alcohol-attributable cause of death for unemployed compared with employed individuals was summarized using sex-stratified random-effects DerSimonian-Laird meta-analyses. A total of 10 studies were identified, comprising about 14.4 million women and 19.0 million men, among whom there were about 3147 and 17,815 alcohol-attributable deaths, respectively. The pooled RRs were 3.64 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.04–6.66) and 4.93 (95% CI 3.45–7.05) for women and men, respectively. The findings of our quantitative synthesis provide evidence that being unemployed is associated with an over three-fold higher risk of alcohol-attributable mortality compared with being employed. Consequently, a global public health strategy connecting brief interventions and specialized care with social services assisting those currently unemployed is needed. Full article

The main objectives of this study are to take into account the effects of COVID-19 on labor market functioning, and to evaluate the effects of policies regarding working time reduction, in terms of both containing the spread of infection and economic activity. Accordingly, we describe a macroeconomic model wherein we test the effects of reducing working hours in the Keynesian unemployment framework, which comprises a fixed prices and wages regime, and a consumption demand that is dependent on salaries and autonomous demand components. Moreover, we also describe a neoclassical unemployment framework, wherein the labor market is only governed by dynamic demand forces. Theoretical results show that, according to the epidemiological phase, a reduction in working hours may be a good policy for containing the virus and improving employment in the Keynesian framework when established conditions are maintained. In the neoclassical framework, a work sharing policy will fail if some conditions do not occur, and it could cause an increase in the spread of the virus when a reduction of epidemic containment measures occurs. Employment will increase when the pandemic ends. A numerical simulation confirms that a reduction in working hours could reduce virus diffusion, but only under established, constrained parameters in both frameworks. Full article

Recent developments, such as climate change, demographic change and resource scarcity, have forced companies to turn towards more sustainable resources, processes and products. Thus, their business models should be developed in a way that meets social, ecological and economic challenges. A vital part of this development process is the evaluation of business models against the background of sustainability targets during different phases of this process. This paper addresses the, thus far, largely neglected sustainability-related strategic evaluation in the earlier phases of business model development. Based on a sustainability-related canvas approach and concepts from strategic management theory, it suggests a method for sustainability-related strategic evaluation of business models as well as business model ideas and options. Therefore, a procedure for evaluation is presented and five main criteria are developed that should be taken into account: eligibility to create stakeholder’s benefit, market attractiveness, heterogeneity/singularity, permanence and eligibility to generate sustainability-oriented value. Full article

We compared labor market marginalization (LMM), conceptualized as days of unemployment, sickness absence and disability pension, across occupational branches (manufacturing, construction, trade, finance, health and social care, and education), among young employees with or without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and examined whether sociodemographic and health-related factors explain these associations. All Swedish residents aged 19–29 years and employed between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2011 were eligible. Individuals with a first ADHD diagnosis (n = 6030) were matched with ten controls and followed for five years. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to model days of LMM with adjustments for sociodemographic and health-related factors. In total, 20% of those with ADHD and 59% of those without had no days of LMM during the follow-up. The median of those with LMM days with and without ADHD was 312 and 98 days. Having an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a higher incidence of LMM days (incident rate ratios (IRRs) 2.7–3.1) with no differences across occupational branches. Adjustments for sociodemographic and health-related factors explained most of the differences (IRRs: 1.4–1.7). In conclusion, young, employed adults with ADHD had a higher incidence of LMM days than those without, but there were no substantial differences between branches, even after adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related factors. Full article

The extant literature lacks evidence concerning the effects of qualitative and quantitative job insecurity (JIS) on service workers’ performance outcomes. This is also true for their effects on green work outcomes. To fill in this void, drawing on social information processing, threat-rigidity, and the reformulation of attitude theories as well as the model of attitude–behavior relation, this paper proposes and tests a research model that investigates the effects of both qualitative and quantitative JIS simultaneously on green work outcomes. Data gathered from hotel employees during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey were utilized to gauge the hypothesized associations through structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that quantitative JIS weakens harmonious environmental passion, green recovery performance, and proactive pro-environmental behavior. In addition, harmonious environmental passion mediates the impact of quantitative JIS on the aforementioned green work consequences. Contrary to the predictions, the findings lend no credence to the negative impact of qualitative JIS on harmonious environmental passion, green recovery performance, and proactive pro-environmental behavior. Full article

This study aims to explore the sustainable development of the regional economy from the perspective of human capital. Based on the panel data from 2005 to 2019 in Shandong Province, China, this study first analyzes the interactive coupling mechanism between human capital and sustainable economic growth, and then constructs the evaluation model of coupling coordination degree. Results reveal that Shandong Province’s human capital and sustainable economic growth gradually increased; the coupling coordination degree of human capital and sustainable economic growth changed from a state of mild imbalance to slight coordination; sustainable economic growth lagged human capital development; education scale, innovation capacity, growth level, economic openness, and investment and consumption level are the key factors affecting sustainable economic development. Through the above research, the study puts forward policy suggestions conducive to sustainable development in China. Full article

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in 1991 and separated into the 15 post-Soviet countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The post-Soviet countries have faced many economic problems, including unemployment. The association between suicide and unemployment in post-Soviet countries has not been well studied. Here, we researched the annual suicide rate and the unemployment rate during the 28-year period from 1992 to 2019 in the 15 post-Soviet countries. We calculated the correlation coefficients between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate in each of the countries during this period, and we determined the association between the suicide rate and unemployment rate. Our major findings were that (1) the suicide rates among both males and females were significantly associated with the unemployment rate in nearly half of the 15 countries, and (2) for nearly 70% of the males in the entire set of 15 countries, there was an association between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate. Suicide-prevention researchers and organizations should be aware of our findings, and specific suicide-prevention measures based on these results are desirable. Full article

At present, the Chinese government has successively launched various policies to control the emission standards of greenhouse gases. As one of the most important standards, carbon emission trading policies were implemented in some provinces and regions in China in 2013, aiming to restrict the carbon emissions of enterprises. However, the government’s control of corporate carbon emissions restricts their rapid economic growth to some extent. Enterprises’ green technology innovation can be an effective means to ensure the implementation of low-carbon policies and promote sustainable economic growth simultaneously. The Porter hypothesis holds that reasonable environmental regulations can stimulate enterprises’ green technology innovation. Based on the Porter hypothesis, this paper examines the impact of China’s carbon emission trading policies on local enterprises’ green technology innovation from a micro perspective, taking China’s listed companies from 2007 to 2020 as samples and adopting the differential method. The differences in the impact of carbon emission trading policies on green technology innovation in the context of different corporate environmental strategies are also studied. Our study found that China’s carbon emissions trading policies can effectively stimulate green technology innovation, as carbon emissions trading policies under different environmental strategies have a positive influence on the technical innovation of enterprises and, compared with reactive environmental strategies, promote a greater role for enterprises’ proactive environmental strategies. The conclusions of this study not only provide relevant suggestions for the Chinese government to enact environmental regulation policies but also provide references for enterprises to choose appropriate environmental strategies and achieve sustainable development under the constraints of environmental regulation. Full article

Roma people in Spain face situations of high deprivation, including high unemployment and early school leaving rates. The strategies to address this situation point to education as the means to overcome poverty and social exclusion. Although efforts have been made within compulsory education, scarce attention has been given to their performance once in higher education. Although young Roma people are reaching higher education more often than their parents, once at university they face specific barriers that hinder their opportunities. Using a mixed-methods approach, UNIROMA analyses those difficulties and formulates orientations to overcome them, thereby contributing to increasing the university graduation rates of Roma students. This paper presents the results of the quantitative fieldwork, consisting of an online questionnaire administered from May to July of 2020 to Roma students enrolled in Spanish universities. In the results, three main profiles were identified: traditional students, young students with other commitments (job and/or family responsibilities) and mature students. The results, concordant with research on other minority groups and higher education, provide evidence of the barriers that Roma students face in university due to the intersectionality of multiple factors of discrimination, namely, belonging to an ethnic minority and being more frequently first-generation, low SES and non-traditional students. Full article

The effectiveness of government policies and economic stimuli during the 2007 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic are compared in this study. While the 2007 financial crisis started in the real estate market and spread through the contagion effect to other sectors, the pandemic halted the all sectors of the global economy simultaneously. In the United States, where the social safety net is not as strong as other advanced economies, the unemployment rate skyrocketed and many families lost income. The federal government countered with various relief packages, which have been, unlike the rounds of quantitative easing prevalent after the 2007 financial crisis, direct payments to households and businesses. The Agent Instability Indicator and default elasticity coefficient are used to quantitatively assess the financial instability and default risk of subgroups of United States households classified by percentile of income and net worth. It turns out that the financial instability level of the United States household during the pandemic has not been as high as that during the 2007 crisis and the Great Recession. It is concluded that the direct handout of cash—so called helicopter money—is more effective at preventing financial collapse and stabilizing the economy than quantitative easing through asset purchase. Full article

With the development of global value chains, more and more countries are involved in global trade, which has brought an extensive social impact. Past studies on the employment impact of trade have pointed out that free trade has significantly boosted employment in developing economies, with large populations working in export-related jobs along the value chains. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused global trade protectionism to become more rampant. This study aims to establish a trade employment effect accounting model, based on the comparison of multiple scenarios, to discuss the employment impact of trade lockdown on major developing and developed countries. Specifically, based on a multi-regional input–output model, we map the flow network of trade-induced employment in 15 major global economies, and the scenarios of free trade and restricted trade are simulated to determine the employment impact of protectionism across multiple trade patterns. The results show that the current labor flow induced by global trade mainly flows from developing countries such as China and India to developed countries such as the EU and the United States. In the total employment induced by trade, the proportion of final products trade reached 42.82%. Trade protection would cut 19.86 million jobs worldwide. Under the trade restriction scenario, employment in developing countries would be reduced, with China and India losing 45.24 million and 10.10 million jobs, respectively. People working in the final product processing trade face the greatest risk of unemployment, especially in manufacturing and services. Among developed countries, the EU and the US would add 5.52 and 2.23 million jobs due to industrial repatriation. Full article

This study explores the social gradient of psychiatric morbidity. The Hong Kong Mental Morbidity Survey (HKMMS), consisting of 5719 Chinese adults aged 16 to 75 years, was used. The Chinese version of the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) was employed for psychiatric assessment of common mental disorders (CMD). People with a less advantaged socioeconomic position (lower education, lower household income, unemployment, small living area and public rental housing) had a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety disorder. People with lower incomes had worse physical health (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.05–3.82) and greater odds of having CMD in the presence of a family history of psychiatric illnesses (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.18–2.36). Unemployment also had a greater impact for those in lower-income groups (OR 2.67; 95% CI 1.85–3.85), whereas no significant association was observed in high-income groups (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.14–2.17). Mitigating strategies in terms of services and social support should target socially disadvantaged groups with a high risk of psychiatric morbidity. Such strategies include collaboration among government, civil society and business sectors in harnessing community resources. Full article

Drawn on Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory, this study developed a research model to examine the direct influence of job insecurity and distributive injustice, which were common in many hotels amid COVID-19, on unethical pro-organisation behaviour (UPoB) among hotel employees. The study also examines the mediating role of turnover intention in the relationship between job insecurity, and distributive injustice, which was result of the COVID-19 pandemic on UPoB. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey was self-dropped and collected through personal network to hotel employees in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The results of structural equation modelling using AMOS (version 23) supported all the study hypotheses. The results showed a significant positive influence of distributive injustice and job insecurity on UPoB among hotel employees. Moreover, turnover intention was found to have a partial mediation role in the relationship between job insecurity, distributive injustice and UPoB. The results extend our understanding of Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory that employees in hotels are more likely to protect themselves and their job by engaging in UPoB if they perceived their job at threat due to a crisis, i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic. The major conclusion of current research is that when hotels employees perceived job insecurity and distributive injustice because of the pandemic, they responded with high turnover intention and as a last choice engaging in UPoB to save their resources, in this case their jobs, since they have no other alternatives outside the organisations. However, this inappropriate antisocial behaviour could have a negative influence on both employees and organisation at the long term. The results of current research have several theoretical implications for tourism scholars and managerial implication for hoteliers. Full article

In this paper, we investigate how organizational equal opportunity and work–life measures when combined are associated with the gender wage gap within large German establishments. By looking at both kinds of measures as parts of a comprehensive personnel strategy, we provide a novel way to distinguish between a career-supportive implementation of work–life measures versus implementation as a compensating differential. Using a linked employer–employee dataset, we performed a cross-sectional multilevel regression analysis with fixed effects for 6439 respondents within 122 establishments. The results indicate that work–life measures that support employees in their parenthood responsibilities are linked to a significantly higher GWG, particularly for parents. Our results indicate that the implementation of work–life measures is used as compensating differentials, primarily for mothers. Particularly, this can be found when looking at the combination of multiple measures. In combination with equal opportunity measures for women, work–life measures that highlight the long-term absence from the workplace are associated with a higher GWG for parents. Full article

The previous studies found that women and low-income households were more likely to experience unemployment prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is no cohort study to examine the relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this prospective cohort study is to examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors and unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. We surveyed the socioeconomic status, personal characteristics, and occupation of recruited workers at baseline (22–25 December 2020); subsequent unemployment was examined at follow-up (18–19 February 2021). We determined the odds ratio of unemployment by sociodemographic status and occupation. The multivariate model was adjusted for sex and age. Among the 19,941 participants, 725 (3.6%) had experienced unemployment. Multivariate analysis showed significant high unemployment amongst women and participants of younger age, bereaved or divorced, unmarried, of lower income, or with short educational background. By occupation, the unemployment rate of temporary or contract employees and self-employed is high. COVID-19 expelled socially vulnerable groups from employment. This suggests the need for employment and economic support for such individuals. Full article

The COVID-19 outbreak has had considerably harsh impacts on the global economy, such as shutting down and paralyzing industrial production capacity and increasing the unemployment rate. For enterprises, relying on past experiences and strategies to respond to such an unforeseen financial crisis is not appropriate or sufficient. Thus, there is an urgent requirement to reexamine and revise an enterprise’s inherent crisis management architecture so as to help it recover sooner after having encountered extremely negative economic effects. To fulfill this need, the present paper introduces a fusion architecture that integrates artificial intelligence and multiple criteria decision making to exploit essential risk factors and identify the intertwined relations between dimensions/criteria for managers to prioritize improvement plans and deploy resources to key areas without any waste. The result indicated the accurate improvement priorities, which ran in the order of financial sustainability (A), customer and stakeholders (B), enablers’ learning and growth (D), and internal business process (C) based on the measurement of the impact. The method herein will help to effectively and efficiently support crisis management for an organization confronting COVID-19. Among all the criteria, maintaining fixed reserves was the most successful factor regarding crisis management. Full article

Income inequality in China has become increasingly serious since the beginning of the economic reform period in the 1970s, with urban–rural income inequality playing a large role. Urbanization policy and monetary policy are currently important economic policy tools for the Chinese government. In order to investigate the influence of inequality on the economy and to provide recommendations for ensuring the sustainability of growth, we study the effect of urban–rural income inequality on economic growth in the context of urbanization and monetary policy in China between 2002 and 2021. Using a flexible time-varying parametric structural vector auto-regression (TVP-VAR) model and a robust Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm, our empirical results show that the effect is time-varying, with inequality promoting growth in the early years but affecting it adversely at later stages. Currently, urbanization mitigates inequality and promotes growth simultaneously, while easy monetary policy worsens inequality and affects growth adversely in the long term. We suggest that the authorities need to consider the implementation of policy rebalancing to ensure that the sustainability of economic development is not jeopardized because of worsening income disparity. Proactive urbanization policy and prudent monetary policy are viable rebalancing options. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world, including India, especially in the construction sector. The study aims to identify, compare, and analyze the critical pandemic impacts (CPI) on construction projects in India. To achieve this, 40 interviews with industry professionals, are followed by a systematic review to identify the CPI. The data collected was used to develop a survey, sent to industry professionals all over India, with a return of 92 valid responses. The data were analyzed using reliability analysis, mean score ranking, overlap analysis, agreement analysis, and correlation analysis. The overall critical pandemic impact includes ‘labor scarcity,’ ‘supply chain disruption,’ ‘decreased construction productivity,’ ‘increased project financing rejection rate,’ and ‘reduced foreign investment in the construction industry.’ The findings could aid authorities and policymakers in taking suitable actions toward solving the current CPI in India. Project managers and owners could consider the current CPI in order to formulate better plans. Overcoming CPI could lead to an economic leap in India. Full article

For the sustainable socio-economic growth, the energy supply is one of the foundations for any country. The gas shortage is one of the most significant impediments to any emerging country’s economic progress, making it a contested and disputed resource. In the middle of a supply–demand mismatch, distributing limited available gas across administrative units/provinces with competing requirements is a key challenge. In this work, an asymmetric gas allocation bargaining model is proposed under gas shortage to resolve natural gas-related disputes among Pakistan’s administrative units/provinces. Each administrative unit/province is characterized by its gas demand. Results show that the Nash bargaining theory, when applied under equal and bargaining weights, can address the supply–demand mismatches of the gas sector in Pakistan. Such an approach could help policymakers to make a fair gas-supply management system during gas shortage periods and would help in resolving the disputes between the provinces. Full article

Single-family detached homes—the lowest-density housing type—continue to dominate the U.S. home construction industry. These homes are carbon-intensive and automobile dependent; the built environments they produce militate against civic relations and attitudes. Cities need to increase density, support multimodality, and develop social capital, but these issues are not propelling cities to diversify their housing stock. The objective of this research is to facilitate this shift by establishing economic arguments for increased density and housing diversity. Municipal-level U.S. Census data is used to explore the interurban relationships between diversity in housing stocks and unemployment rates in 146 mid-size American cities. A measure of diversity, Shannon’s H, is applied to housing stock and found to be strongly associated with lower unemployment for workers over 25 years old after controlling for measures of urban social burden. In contrast to the much-heralded “trade-offs” between environmental quality, social equity, and economic development, these findings suggest that the dense, walkable, low-carbon city, and the economically sustainable city might be the same place. Full article

Previous research suggests that volunteering can mitigate the negative mental health impacts of unemployment but has yielded mixed results. This study extends the previous literature by examining whether volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of both unemployment and economic inactivity on mental health. Using nationally representative panel data from the United Kingdom Longitudinal Household Study (2010–2020) and fixed effects models, this study yields three important findings: First, volunteering cannot mitigate the adverse effects of unemployment, regardless of gender. Second, frequent volunteering (at least once per month) can benefit the mental health of economically inactive groups (e.g., family care and long-term sickness). Third, the study reveals the gendered patterns of the impacts of volunteering. Specifically, frequent volunteering can buffer the negative impacts of family care or long-term sickness for men, and the negative impacts of unpaid work for women. Overall, these findings contribute towards a more nuanced understanding of the buffering role of volunteering and its gendered patterns. Policymakers should offer more volunteering opportunities and training to these economically inactive groups to reduce their risk of mental issues. Full article

Working in factories fashioning bricks by hand seems the epitome of hazardous child labor. Yet, efforts to remove children from this work have shown little success; impoverished families balance the value of their children’s contribution against the risks they see. Unfortunately, psychosocial impacts are often not visible, and are rarely taken into consideration when designing interventions. A comprehensive occupational health study of children working in brick factories included a module on psychosocial risks and impacts. This analysis reports on the Pakistan and Afghanistan portion of the study which was administered to 450 child brick workers and 486 controls, aged 11–17. Factorial ANOVAs confirmed that working in brick factories was the strongest predictor of respondent’s psychosocial health. However, they also identified subgroups of children that escape this prediction. Older girls, for example, actually felt better when working, compared with staying at home. Schooling had positive associations, especially in younger boys and adolescent girls. In fact, the results of this study showed that those who are at greatest psychosocial risk were girls who do not go to school. These findings underscore the importance of assessing psychosocial impacts and tailoring policy and interventions to specific gender and age categories of young workers. Full article

This study looks into the relationship between mental health and social exclusion scenarios, paying special attention to employment-related factors. Previous studies have shown the relationship between mental health, social exclusion and poverty. For this study, authors have used data from the VIII Report on social development and exclusion in Spain, with a sample of 11,655 households. The SPSS Statistics programme was used for statistical analysis. Several factors that could pose a risk or be a protection for the presence of mental health conditions were designed. By means of a binary logistic regression the impact of these factors on mental health issues was scored. The results show that a deteriorated social network and a negative interpretation of reality are the most influential factors related to the presence of mental health conditions in a given household. On the contrary, positive social relationships protect households and function as a support when mental health conditions are already present. Thus, the support of positive and committed social relationships is a key element to protect the mental health of households. Full article

The research problem addressed in this article concerns the formation of a business model in an energy company as a consequence of the European Green Deal. The paper seeks answers to three questions: (1) What is the significance of the European Green Deal for the business model of the examined energy company? (2) Which elements of the business model of the studied energy company take the form of sustainable ones? (3) In what direction is the business model of the analysed energy company evolving? The subject of the study is the business model of the Tauron Capital Group. The business model is analysed in the context of the requirements for climate protection formulated in the European Green Deal. A single case study was used. As a result of the study, two research statements were adopted: (1) Economic regulations in the area of the European Green Deal lead to changes in the business model of the examined energy company. (2) The examined energy company through the implementation of sustainable business practices aims to achieve sustainable production. The current activities of the Tauron Capital Group are focused on improving energy efficiency, circular economy principles and renewable energy sources. Full article

A novel space-borne SAR technique, azimuthal multi-angle observation (AMAO), has recently been proposed. It has highly flexible working modes and powerful capability of target information acquisition, but has challenges in achieving radiometric measurement accuracy. The larger the squint angle, the higher the resolution and the more variations involved. Radiometric calibration is a necessary approach to consistent and accurate SAR measurements, but has so far not been carefully considered for AMAO space-borne SAR. This paper addressed the new issues in radiometric calibration arising from the AMAO space-borne SAR system. The AMAO imaging modes are firstly been illustrated, based on which the influences of the AMAO on radiometric calibration are analyzed. To guarantee the accuracy of the radiometric calibration, an appropriate form of the SAR radar equation is derived for AMAO space-borne SAR. On these bases, the calibration models can be obtained by reformulating the novel AMAO SAR equation, and the corresponding normalization method is then proposed. The good experimental performance indicators verify the correctness of proposed models and the effectiveness of the correction method. Full article

We examined the differences among seventeen European countries regarding the extent to which several key institutional and labor market characteristics affect the degrees of insecurity that people feel about their jobs and employment prospects, as well as their well-being (economic security and subjective well-being). We estimate how macrostructural factors affect well-being by fitting random-intercept multi-level models and decomposing the variance across national and individual levels, using data from the 2004 and 2010 European Social Surveys. We find that there is substantial country-level variation in labor market insecurity, economic security and subjective well-being. Active labor market policies, the generosity of unemployment benefits, and collective bargaining coverage explain a considerable portion of the identified differences among countries in labor market insecurity and well-being. The effects of employment protection legislation vary depending on whether the worker has a permanent or temporary contract. We did not find substantial differences between 2004 and 2010, suggesting that the effects of institutions and worker power on labor market insecurity and well-being reflect longer-term structural changes associated with the transformation of employment relations. Full article

Job insecurity is a growing concern among bank employees. In this research, we examined whether psychological capital can alleviate bank workers’ perceptions of job insecurity and job stress during COVID-19. In particular, we aimed to examine this relationship at both the individual and work-unit levels of analysis. Based on the data collected from 520 bank tellers in 53 bank branches in Thailand, our multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analyses revealed that there was significant between-branch variation in the levels of psychological capital (15%), job insecurity (23%) and job stress (24%). In particular, perceptions of job insecurity were found to have a positive effect on job stress at both levels of analysis. We also found that psychological capital significantly reduced perceptions of job insecurity and job stress at the individual level. These findings emphasize that perceptions of job insecurity can emerge at both the individual and work-unit levels. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Full article