Impact of childhood experiences on the development of entrepreneurial intentions

Fostering entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture has become a key policy priority for governments. To encourage entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture, however, there is a need to understand the factors that influence and shape individuals' intentions to start a business. This study extends models of entrepreneurial intentions by investigating the influence of various childhood-experience factors on the perceived feasibility and desirability of starting a business. A structured questionnaire was completed by over 1,000 university students and analysed using regression analysis. Results indicated that perceptions of entrepreneurship were influenced not only by parental ownership of a business, but also by a difficult childhood and frequent relocation

Experiencing uncertainty – on the potential of groups and a group analytic approach for making management education more critical.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Management Learning, November 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507617697868. Published by SAGE Publishing. All rights reserved.This article points to the potential of methods derived from group analytic practice for making management education more critical. It draws on the experience of running a professional doctorate for more experienced managers in a university in the UK over a 16 year period. Group analysis is informed by the highly social theories of S.H. Foulkes and draws heavily on psychoanalytic theory as well as sociology. First and foremost, though, it places our interdependence at the heart of the process of inquiry, and suggests that the most potent place for learning about groups, where we spend most of our lives, is in a group. The article prioritises three areas of management practice for which group analytic methods, as adapted for research environment, are most helpful: coping with uncertainty and the feelings of anxiety which this often arouses; thinking about leadership as a relational and negotiated activity, and encouraging reflexivity in managers. The article also points to some of the differences between the idea of the learning community and psychodynamic perspectives more generally and the limitations of group analytic methods in particular, which may pathologise resistance in the workplace.Peer reviewe

Predicting stress and mental wellbeing among doctoral researchers

Although mental health in higher education is increasingly recognised as a public health issue, postgraduate research students are often overlooked. Recent studies indicate a high prevalence of mental distress in this population. This study assesses the experience of doctoral researchers and identifies factors influencing mental wellbeing and perceived stress. A cross-sectional study examined how key demographic, individual and contextual factors related to stress and mental wellbeing in a sample of 431 doctoral researchers in the United Kingdom. Respondents gave positive reports about their supervisory relationship and identified feeling confidently prepared for their work. Family support, good general health, sleep and low levels of self-depreciation predicted stronger mental wellbeing and lower levels of stress. Students who were confident about their future career and felt well prepared for their studies were less stressed and those who were achievement orientated had better mental wellbeing. Focused attention on exploring career options and building confidence may help reduce stress among doctoral researchers. Taking steps to tackle the imposter phenomenon may help further. These could include addressing fear of failure, improving confidence in research ability and clarifying the role of doctoral researchers within the wider academic community.Higher Education Funding Council for Englan

Management Ideologies and Organizational Spirituality: a Typology

The topic of spirituality is gaining an increasing visibility in organization studies. It is our contention that every theory of organization is a theory of organizational spirituality. Based on Barley and Kunda’s 1992 Administrative Science Quarterly article, we discuss the evolution of management theories as spirituality theories. From such analysis, we suggest that there may be both a meaningful/liberating and an instrumental/exploitative side in the relationship between organizations and spirituality. Such a possibility is illustrated with a typology that advances four possible types of organizations regarding spirituality: the soulful organization, the holistic organization, the ascetic organization, and the professional organization. The expression of spirituality in each of these forms is discussed with the aim of contributing to a theoretically-based analysis of organizational spirituality.N/

Prazer e sofrimento entre os trabalhadores de Call Center

Os conceitos de Taylor foram fundamentais para o desenvolvimento industrial no século XX. Ainda hoje, seus ensinamentos estão presentes em diversos ramos da economia, inclusive, no setor de call center. Call center é uma estrutura que visa ao atendimento de clientes com a utilização de um terminal de computador e de um aparelho telefônico. Esse setor sofreu grande expansão e, em 2006, foi responsável pela geração de 60 mil empregos diretos, tornando-se uma forma de contato e negócios atrativa para empresas do ramo público e privado. O objetivo deste artigo foi analisar as vivências de prazer e sofrimento no trabalho entre os operadores de call centers. Foi realizada uma pesquisa qualitativa, estratégia de estudo de caso e método de análise dos dados, análise de conteúdo. Como resultados, foram elaboradas algumas categorias finais, entre elas as mediações no trabalho, analisada no presente artigo sob o referencial teórico da psicodinâmica do trabalho

Examining mindfulness and its relation to self-differentiation and alexithymia

Published online first in 10 July 2013Research supports the association between mindfulness, emotion regulation, stress reduction, and interpersonal/relational wellness. The present study evaluated the potential effect of mindfulness on some indicators of psychological imbalance such as low self-differentiation and alexithymia. In this cross-sectional study, a sample of 168 undergraduates (72 % women) completed measures of perceived mindfulness (CAMS-R and PHLMS), self-differentiation (SIPI), and alexithymia (TAS-20). Results revealed positive correlations between the different dimensions of mindfulness and negative correlations between those dimensions, selfdifferentiation, and alexithymia. The dimensions of quality of mindfulness and acceptance were mediators in the relationship between self-differentiation and alexithymia. A nonsignificant interaction between gender and alexithymia was found. All mindfulness dimensions, but self-differentiation, contributed to explain the allocation of the non-alexithymic group. These results indicate that mindfulness seems to be a construct with great therapeutic and research potential at different levels, suggesting that some aspects of mindfulness seem to promote a better self-differentiation and prevent alexithymia

Upsetting Events and Career Investments in the Russian Context

In this paper we examine the role of disruptive or upsetting events in people's professional lives and explore how they influence individuals' investments in their careers. Based on previous research we have assumed that due to considerable societal and economic changes in Russia and the reported negative consequences felt by many individuals, the context of that country is a fruitful arena for an investigation of the role of upsetting events on individuals' careers. At the same time, despite the negative events and a disruption of many traditional career-supporting structures, a significant number of Russians managed to reinvent their careers and achieve tremendous objective and subjective success in their careers in a relatively short time period. This paper examines stories about career investments of 140 successful entrepreneurs from Russia. A significant portion of these people explicitly reported influence of upsetting events on their own career investments. Based on the exploration of career stories, the paper introduced a typology of the upsetting events in the Russian context. The events were generally classified into those that represented macro and micro upsetting events. Macro events refer to changes in socio-economic, and political systems. Micro events refer to the events that only concern the individual him- or herself, or may include events at work or at home. Our analysis of the career investments of the Russian entrepreneurs using the intelligent career concept shows that when faced with the upsetting events individuals tend to (a) reconsider their existing events, (b) divest from their old ways of knowing, and (c) invest in relatively new ways of knowing. Our study calls a particular attention to the role of career divestments, or discontinuing certain ways of investing in order free resources for a different investment expected to be more fruitful in terms or returns. Attention to divestment may be warranted due to the increased unpredictability of working lives of today's career actors. This study contributes to responding to a call for a better understanding of the role of upsetting events on people's careers and the society at large. We also bring further our understanding of human adjustment to the sometimes upsetting changes in their surroundings through working life, thus enhancing our understanding of the role of careers in socio-economic systems. Last but not least, the study also contributes to a better understanding of careers in modern Russia. With the increasing role of Russia on the international political and economic arena, understanding people through looking at their working lives is a good start for multiple potential research endeavors in the fields of career research and beyond