The Gig is Up: Who does Gig Economy actually Benefit?

This article takes on the task of exploring gig economy in its various forms and definitions, starting from its economic origins as a way to reduce transaction costs and overheads in firms making use of modern technology, and working up to some of its social consequences, such as the transforming of employees in just-in-time resources, fragmenting their labour and eroding their ability to organize and unionize in order to better defend their rights. Focussing on the influence platforms have on their users, be it in the role of workers or customers, it questions their far-reaching impacts on society and economy in terms of their positive, neutral or negative consequences for workers, as most of the literature agrees on the heavily skewed positive consequences for businesses. In order to make sense of existing research made on “giggers” this article tries to provide a scope of the gig economy using, which has been difficult to achieve as numerous researchers, institutions, and even states, define gig economy in different ways, with their data varying depending on definitions, dates, and methodological approaches. Finally, the article explores three distinct “selling points” of gig economy, namely: the possibility to generate (not always) steady income, the flexibility it offers to its users, and its consequences on workers’ social and emotional state, putting into question their benefits for workers, for the profit of platforms and businesses

Engineering Job Skills in Croatian Economy: Employers’ Perspective

Different actors, or stakeholders, are interested and want to participate in discussions and interventions related to the topic of skills as an important outcome of engineering education. In the Croatian context, the entire process is still predominantly internally driven and determined by academic evaluations while the involvement of the alumni and employers as external stakeholders is sporadic and under researched. Since Croatian employers are not sufficiently familiar with the levels and structures of reformed study programs, the main objective of this research was to assess to what extent the current and largely accepted set of engineering skills fit their expectations. By reviewing available literature, 36 key skills were identified and used in a questionnaire administrated to Croatian employers, resulting in 418 completed and usable responses. Results show that employers find every assessed skill as somewhat/extremely valuable. However, it is found that employers most valued skills related to the wider set of transferable skills with somewhat greater emphases on skills that reflect professionalism and work ethic. In general, it turned out that employers approach transferable skills in terms of their functionality. Mean comparison within subgroups has shown statistically significant differences with regard to respondent’s gender. In general, women fit the theorized dimensions more than their male counterparts, perhaps indicating that they understand all skills, and transferable skills in particular, more holistically than men. Finally, in order to understand the underlying structure of the explored items, exploratory factor analysis was employed, resulting in 8 clear dimensions suggesting engineering “employability skills” in the Croatian context

NASLJEĐE PEPELA

Weiner, Tim (2011.) Nasljeđe pepela: povijest CIA-e. Preveo s engleskog Srđan Dvornik. Zagreb: Fraktura, 708 stranic

Analiza praksi zapošljavanja diplomiranih studenata sociologije Filozofskog fakulteta u Zagrebu

Ovaj rad bavi se ispitivanjem karijernih puteva diplomiranih sociologa te njihovih specifičnih i prenosivih vještina, znanja te akademskih i profesionalnih kredencijala. Karijerni putevi prikazani su kroz mjesta zaposlenja za vrijeme studija, neposredno nakon diplomiranja, te trenutačnim mjestom zaposlenja, dok su prenosive i specifične vještine i znanja, kao i akademski i profesionalni kredencijali ispitani kroz setove varijabli konstruirane za potrebe istraživanja. Dok poslodavci izrazito cijene prenosive vještine, specifična sociološka znanja i vještine rjeđe su prepoznate kao korisne. Analizom varijance i hi kvadrat testom utvrđeno je kako postoje statistički signifikantne razlike u brzini zapošljavanja ispitanika koji se smatraju sposobnijima u timskom radu, te onima koji su primali stipendije i publicirali vlastite radove.This paper investigates the career paths of sociology majors, their specific and general skills, sociological knowledge, and academic and professional credentials. The career paths are detailed by the respondents' employment during their study period, immediately after graduation, and their current place of employment. Specific and general skills, sociological knowledge, and academic and professional credentials are tested via sets of variables construed and compiled for the need of this paper. While most of the employers value the general skills of the graduates, the same can’t be said about specifically sociological skills and knowledge. Analysis of variance and chi square tests show the existence of statistically significant differences in the velocity of one’s employment after graduation based on skills like teamwork, and credentials like stipends and published research

Customer satisfaction as a tool of marketing management - a research of students' satisfaction

U ovom se radu ispituje uloga koju istraživanje zadovoljstva studenata zauzima u pristupu marketinga odnosa te donošenju marketinških odluka u visoko obrazovnim institucijama. U svrhu mjerenja (ali i definiranja samog pojma) zadovoljstva konstruiran je instrument koji je, putem online ankete, primijenjen na prigodnom uzorku (N=100) studenata Fakulteta ekonomije i turizma dr. Mijo Mirković. Finalna verzija skale od 25 varijabli ima Cronbach α koeficijent od 0,94, a faktorska analiza pokazuje kako konstrukt zadovoljstva čini 5 latentnih dimenzija koje tumače 64% varijance. Držeći kako je zadovoljstvo rezultat razlike očekivanog i dobivenog, od studenata se tražilo da svaku mjerenu varijablu procijene na dvije skale likertova tipa posvećene mjerenju važnosti (očekivano) i stanja (dobiveno) pojedinih aspekata studija. Analizom aritmetičkih sredina dobivenih na navedene dvije skale pokazalo se kako studenti, u prosjeku, statistički značajno više očekuju od studija (x̅=4,26) no što dobivaju (x̅=3,08). Usporedbom razlika navedenih skala utvrđeni su najproblematičniji aspekti zadovoljstva studijem te se, u skladu s njihovom važnosti i odstupanju od očekivanja, predlažu potencijalna marketinška rješenja.This paper researches the role which student satisfaction assessments play in relationship marketing and in making informed marketing decisions in higher-education institutions. In order to measure (and define) satisfaction as a concept, a questionnaire is constructed and applied to a convenient sample (N=100) of the Faculty of Economics and Tourism dr. Mijo Mirković. The final version of the scale counts 25 variables and has a Cronbach α coefficient of 0,94, while a factor analysis shows that satisfaction is construed by 5 latent dimensions, accounting for 64% of variance. While expecting for satisfaction to be a difference between what one expects and what one receives, students were asked to grade every measured variable on two likert type scales measuring importance (expectations) and the state (satisfaction) of specific aspects of student life. Mean analysis shows that, in general, students expect statistically significantly more (x̅=4,26) than what they get (x̅=3,08) from their studies. By comparing the two scales, the most problematic aspects of student satisfaction are graded by importance and satisfaction’s deviation from it. The article concludes by giving potential marketing solutions to the most salient problems of student satisfaction

Customer satisfaction as a tool of marketing management - a research of students' satisfaction

U ovom se radu ispituje uloga koju istraživanje zadovoljstva studenata zauzima u pristupu marketinga odnosa te donošenju marketinških odluka u visoko obrazovnim institucijama. U svrhu mjerenja (ali i definiranja samog pojma) zadovoljstva konstruiran je instrument koji je, putem online ankete, primijenjen na prigodnom uzorku (N=100) studenata Fakulteta ekonomije i turizma dr. Mijo Mirković. Finalna verzija skale od 25 varijabli ima Cronbach α koeficijent od 0,94, a faktorska analiza pokazuje kako konstrukt zadovoljstva čini 5 latentnih dimenzija koje tumače 64% varijance. Držeći kako je zadovoljstvo rezultat razlike očekivanog i dobivenog, od studenata se tražilo da svaku mjerenu varijablu procijene na dvije skale likertova tipa posvećene mjerenju važnosti (očekivano) i stanja (dobiveno) pojedinih aspekata studija. Analizom aritmetičkih sredina dobivenih na navedene dvije skale pokazalo se kako studenti, u prosjeku, statistički značajno više očekuju od studija (x̅=4,26) no što dobivaju (x̅=3,08). Usporedbom razlika navedenih skala utvrđeni su najproblematičniji aspekti zadovoljstva studijem te se, u skladu s njihovom važnosti i odstupanju od očekivanja, predlažu potencijalna marketinška rješenja.This paper researches the role which student satisfaction assessments play in relationship marketing and in making informed marketing decisions in higher-education institutions. In order to measure (and define) satisfaction as a concept, a questionnaire is constructed and applied to a convenient sample (N=100) of the Faculty of Economics and Tourism dr. Mijo Mirković. The final version of the scale counts 25 variables and has a Cronbach α coefficient of 0,94, while a factor analysis shows that satisfaction is construed by 5 latent dimensions, accounting for 64% of variance. While expecting for satisfaction to be a difference between what one expects and what one receives, students were asked to grade every measured variable on two likert type scales measuring importance (expectations) and the state (satisfaction) of specific aspects of student life. Mean analysis shows that, in general, students expect statistically significantly more (x̅=4,26) than what they get (x̅=3,08) from their studies. By comparing the two scales, the most problematic aspects of student satisfaction are graded by importance and satisfaction’s deviation from it. The article concludes by giving potential marketing solutions to the most salient problems of student satisfaction

OFICIR I ČASNIK

Žunec, Ozren; Petrović, Nikola; Lucić, Danijela i Golubović, Srđan (2013.) Oficir i časnik – Prelasci vojnih profesionalaca iz JNA u HV, Zagreb: Hrvatska Sveučilišna Naklada, 387 stranica

“It’s Dangerous to go Alone!“ Scientific Excellence of PhD Holders and Their Mentors – Network Analysis of Croatian Doctoral Students

Collaboration between researchers is seen as paramount in advancing science, be it because of its potential to offer novel ideas crossing scientific fields, because of its ability to boost productivity by having researchers who work well together, or by introducing and retaining new scientists to a wider network of peers, allowing them to access knowledge and information otherwise unavailable. This article sets to explore a specific part of scientific collaboration: mentor-protégés collaboration, especially during the formative years of a protégé’s scientific career, during the writing of their dissertation and five years after. Gathering data on scientific productivity from the publication repository aggregator Croatian Scientific Bibliography, mentor-protégé collaboration was explored in order to test whether mentor’s productivity could affect his or her protégé’s productivity. Analysis of variance and linear regression analysis confirm that mentor productivity is positively correlated with protégé productivity, especially in the case where mentors are highly productive (stars) scientists. Additionally, network values such as betweenness and weighted degree centralities are explored in order to test whether mentors’ values will affect protégé’s position in the network. While mentor-protégé betweenness centrality values are found not to be correlated, weighted degree measures do seem to play an important role in introducing protégés to their mentor’s network of peers and co-authors

U IME DRŽAVE

Matej Šurc i Blaž Zgaga (2013) U ime države (trilogija). Zagreb: Jesenski i Turk