New Forms of Dualization? Labour Market Segmentation Patterns in the UK from the Late 90s Until the Post-crisis in the Late 2000s

There has been an increase in literature that examines the patterns of dualization in labour markets across different welfare states. However, rarely do these studies empirically explore how labour markets are divided. Rather they assume a certain type of division to exist in a market, and apply this assumption to measure the extent to which this division can be observed. This paper aims to overcome this limitation by examining the labour market dualization patterns of the UK’s employed population over the past decade through a latent class analysis model. Our analysis shows that the UK labour market could be characterised by a three group system during the period between 1999 and 2010. This divide supports the theoretical literature on labour market divisions in that there are clear distinctions between those who are insiders and those who are not. However, what is interesting is that rather than having a dichotomised pattern of division of insiders and outsiders, we find a third group which can be characterised as a “future insecure” group. What is more, the main characteristics that divide the groups are not contract types (involuntary part-time or temporary employment), but rather income levels (low pay), occupational profile (low-skilled occupations) and social security benefits stemming from employment (occupational pension coverage). From the results, we conclude that the patterns and characteristics of labour market divisions may not be generalised and further empirical investigations are needed to understand the cross-national variations

Stock market reaction to information technology investments: Towards an explanatory model

Online discussion forum, which plays an important role in online criticism, provides useful information such as online commentaries generated by other users. The paper uses regulatory focus theory to explain how online commentaries are processed differently depending on the user’s information processing style and how each self-regulatory mode moderates the impact of online commentaries on one’s overall evaluation of information. The study produces three major findings: (1) Promotion-focused users are more likely to distort online information than prevention-focused users do, (2) With hedonic information, information distortion will be stronger for promotion-focused users as compared to prevention-focused users, (3) With utilitarian information, information distortion will be stronger for prevention-focused people as compared to promotion-focused users. These finding have implications for online discussion forums in terms of how to manage users effectively and also how to prevent unintended criticism

New forms of dualization? Labour market segmentation in the UK from the early 1990s to the late 2000s

This thesis provides a quantitative investigation on issues of labour market divisions, focusing on the UK case between 1991 and 2010. Existing literatures offer a sophisticated account of the theoretical understanding of divisions within labour markets across different welfare states. Especially, amongst others, the most recent literature, termed dualization, has highlighted a dualistic pattern of division not only within the labour market but also in other spheres such as social security settings in many advanced industrial economies. It also emphasises the cross-national variation in the divisions of labour markets. Yet, the existing researches do have their limitations, particularly by the extent to which many studies rely on pre-defined patterns and features of divisions. In other words, rarely do these studies examine how and to what extent labour markets are divided. Rather, they assume that a specific type of division exists in a market and this assumption is applied to measure the extent to which this division can be observed. Thus, this thesis aims to overcome these limitations by investigating distinctive patterns and features of the divided labour market as well as matters concerning the positional stability of individuals of the UK's employed population over the past two decades using advanced quantitative methods (latent class, latent and regression modelling). By investigating the country in which dualization is deemed to be less likely to occur due to its liberal economic structures, the thesis also engages with the role of labour market institutions and their policies. Results suggest that the UK labour market has been divided over the last 20 years and many socio-demographic indicators, such as gender, age and education, are attributed to the segmentation of labour force. This supports the theoretical literature on labour market divisions in that there are clear distinctions between those who are insiders and those who are not and that there are the contrasting demographics in different labour market segments. However, the clearest deviation from the existing literature is that the main characteristics that divide the groups in the UK labour market are not contract types but rather income levels, occupational profile, and social security benefits stemming from employment. Simultaneously, the divided labour groups indicated have relatively strong levels of positional stability between 1991 and 2010. Such an analytical outcome differs from previous theories' argument that the UK labour market has a flexible labour market structure which promotes frequent mobility amongst the labour force. In particular, the strong positional stability of the "insiders" regardless of different time points and scales was rather distinctive. Furthermore, of various individual-level indicators, trade unions have shown to be one of the core driving factors to reinforce the divisions in the UK labour market alongside the socio-demographic factors despite a radical reduction within their size and power over recent decades. Therefore, overall findings appear to be consistent with the broader argument of the existing literature on labour market divisions, that the "divides" do exist in the UK labour market. However, it provides less support for the recent suggestion that a specific pattern of division and its characteristics operate neatly across different countries. Such a result highlights the importance of further empirical investigations in order to understand the cross-national variations of labour market divisions

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities on Companies With Bad Reputations

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141315/1/jcpy377.pd

How does the association between special education need and absence vary overtime and across special education need types?

School absenteeism is a significant social and public health problem, and it has considerable negative consequences on the development of children and adolescents not only in the short term but also in the long term. We investigated special education needs (SEN) as a risk factor for absenteeism. For 418,455 mainstream secondary school students from 151 local authorities in England, multilevel linear regression models were run to investigate the association between SEN, SEN types and absenteeism during their secondary school period from year 7 to year 11. Local authority level variation was also investigated. Adolescents with SEN were more likely to be absent than their peers without SEN. Of adolescents with SEN, those with physical disability, followed by those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties had the highest rates of absenteeism. Absenteeism rates increased as adolescents grew older. The association between absenteeism and having any SEN varied substantially across Local authorities. The results suggest that early interventions/preventative measures could mitigate loss of schooling due to absence. Moreover, the substantial variation in attendance for children across different local authorities suggest that there may be scope for local authorities to influence absence rates among adolescents

The impact of area level mental health interventions on outcomes for secondary school pupils: Evidence from the HeadStart programme in England

In light of the dramatic rise in mental health disorders amongst adolescents seen in the past decade across the world, there is an urgent need for robust evidence on what works to combat this trend. This paper provides the first robust evaluation of the impacts on school outcomes of 6-year funding programme (HeadStart) for area-level mental health interventions for adolescents. Exploiting educational administrative data on ten cohorts of state-educated secondary school students, we use the synthetic control method to construct counterfactual outcomes for areas that received the funding. We show that the funding did not affect students’ absenteeism or academic attainment, but it prevented around 800 students (c. 10% of students typically excluded yearly) from being excluded in its first year. The transient nature of this effect suggests that sustained funding for intervention may be a necessary but not sufficient condition to maintain programme effectiveness over time

English voluntary organisations: subjective perceptions and financial realities

The financial position of English social policy charities has received much attention, with a particular focus on the difficulties that small- and medium-sized organisations are experiencing. However, in this article we show that the evidence base has a number of limitations. We then demonstrate, analysing data from a survey of more than 1,000 charities, that organisational size, per se, is only one dimension of the problem: perceptions that the operating and financial environment is challenging are related to other organisational characteristics. We then add to the survey data indicators of financial vulnerability to investigate whether there is a relationship between perception (responses to questions about the resources available to charities) and financial reality (the recent financial history of these charities). Somewhat reassuringly, however, we demonstrate that there is a degree of consistency between the perceptions that organisations report and we discuss the implications of the findings

The English voluntary sector: How volunteering and policy climate perceptions matter

This paper considers the situation of the English voluntary sector in relation to austerity-driven social policies. Existing characterisations are outlined and it is argued that the quantitative evidence used to represent the situation of these organisations to date has been partial because it relies too narrowly on financial resource input measures. We argue that the situation of these organisations needs to be conceptualised in a more holistic way and, to initiate a move in this direction, we identify and explicate two relevant dimensions: the perceived capacity of organisations to rely on volunteers for support (a non-financial resource input); and their perception of the effect of the policy climate in shaping their capacity to flourish, including their ability to perform multiple roles beyond service provision alone. We draw on an original mixed methods empirical study undertaken in England in 2015 to operationalise these dimensions, combining qualitative interviews with national ‘policy community’ members with a large scale on-line survey of social policy charities. We find a complex and variegated situation that, while acknowledging the fundamental importance of financial resource pressures, also points to the salience of the volunteering situation, and to the relevance of the challenging policy climate that these organisations have to navigate

Negative consequences of doing good: The effects of inferred motives underlying corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have been used to address consumers' social concerns, create positive corporate image, and develop enduring relationships with consumers and other stakeholders. Despite increasing interest in the effects of CSR on consumers' attitudes toward the company, it is not clear when and how CSR activities actually influence the consumer evaluations towards companies. Based on psychological theories of suspicion and attribution, this dissertation investigates circumstances under which a company's efforts to improve or change its image through CSR activities may not achieve the desired effects on consumers' evaluations. More importantly, this dissertation suggests that engaging in a CSR activity can bring negative consequences on consumers' company evaluations, causing a backfire effect. This can occur if the company's true motives are perceived as only a self-promotional tool to improve its image rather than an effort undertaken to enhance consumers' interests. The present research identifies conditions under which consumers become suspicious about a company's ulterior motives, and explains how inferred motives and attributional thoughts influence consumers' evaluation processes. This dissertation also extends findings in prior literature in social psychology by providing a process-based explanation for backfire effects in consumer judgment. Furthermore, it contributes to the CSR literature by identifying factors that moderate cognitive processes underlying evaluations of CSR activity.Ph.D.MarketingSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123504/2/3079555.pd