Workaholics of the world unite, if you have time
The work-life balance is a common thread in discussions of wellbeing. Today, many employees struggle to find personal time for activities unrelated to work especially now that so many of us can be contacted via mobile devices at any time of the day or night as well as feeling obliged to constantly check social media and work emails. Research to see whether different cultures have different effects on so-called workaholism has investigated the United Arab Emirates and India. It emerges that in both regions, having a “type A” personality (outgoing and ambitious) tends to correlate with workaholism, as one might suspect. However, in UAE characteristics of the job itself play an important role, whereas in India it is mostly individual personality. Moreover, women in India appear to be more inclined to workaholism than females in UAE.
Sharma, J., Singh, A. and Sharma, P. (2017) ‘A journey into the heart of workaholism from cross-cultural perspective‘, Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 17, Nos. 3/4, pp.185-204.
Let’s hear it for the beer
Beer marketing is not all froth, brand loyalty for one’s favourite tipple can cause sales to ebb and flow depending on many factors. Predictors of brand loyalty, according to researchers in Portugal, include perceived value, consumer satisfaction, and trust. Their study of almost 1200 student beer drinkers points to brand awareness leading to brand loyalty. This inverts the received wisdom that it is brand loyalty that drives brand performance. Their detailed findings offer actionable insights for brand managers and marketing departments in the beer industry. An example of such action might be for a company to invest in brand communities and events, strengthening the bond between beer drinker and brand.
Augusto, M.G. and Torres, P.M. (2017) ‘The path to brand loyalty in the beer market‘, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.287-298.
Local power, for local people
Generating power and heat at the point of use is one of the promising alternative energy approaches for reducing infrastructure costs in the developed and the developing world. The possibility of utilising various conventional and renewable technologies also opens up the chance to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Researchers in Canada and South Korea explain that microgeneration systems have already demonstrated comparable electric efficiency to conventional power stations, good environmental performance, and the ability to serve as a source for both primary and back-up power. The implementation of smart energy networks, they add offers a way to recoup the costs of switching to microgeneration over the lifetime of the installation.
Euy Joon Lee, Evgueniy Entchev, Libing Yang, Mohamed Ghorab, and Eun Chul Kang (2017) ‘Smart hybrid renewable microgeneration system for residential applications‘, Int. J. Global Warming, Vol. 13, No.3/4, pp.459-472.
Pink collar workers
Office staff are often referred to as “white collar workers”, employees in industry and the trades as “blue collar”, “pink collar” workers refers to people working in the service industries, hospitality and healthcare support. US researchers point out that a lot of effort has purportedly been put into closing the gender pay gap across various areas of employment, it is not clear whether the glass ceilings at the local and state level in the USA have been smashed. Their research shows that there is very much still in place a glass ceiling facing women in traditional “pink collar” roles, such as nursing, teaching, etc.
Clifford P. McCue; Alexandru V. Roman; Jorene Jameson (2017) ‘Glass walls and glass ceilings: the case of public procurement‘, Int. J. Procurement Management, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp.706 – 728
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