Sentidos insignificantes

Para Henri-Pierre Jeudy las sociedades actuales están desbordadas. No en la perspectiva de tener objetos o personas en exceso, lo que sería fácilmente cuestionado, sino en la medida en que las sociedades actuales desbordan el sentido. La profusión de discursos e imágenes que circulan en la sociedadcontemporánea hace a los propios objetos y a las propias personas insignificantes, fomentando, particularmente, la creciente indiferencia frente a una realidad de naturaleza imaginada y discursiva que no pauta ninguna conexión con una realidad preexistente. La informaciónque los medios producen y circulan sin cesar y en todos los sentidos, constituye su propio referente. En otras palabras, se considera la realidad representada como realidad expresa, cayendo en total tautología, que, de acuerdo con L. Sfez, caracteriza a la sociedad contemporánea.For Henri-Pierre Jeudy, societies today are overflowing. Not from the understanding of having objects or persons in excess, which could easily be contested, but rather that there is an overflowing of senses in societies today. The profusion of discourses and images that circulate in contemporary society makes objects and people themselves insignificant, encouraging particularly the growing indifference to a reality made ofimages and discursive in nature that does not display any anchorage in a pre-existing reality. The information, the media produces and circulates, ceaselessly and in every way, constitutes its own referent. In other words, represented reality is considered as reality expressed, falling completely in tautism (contraction of tautology and autism), which, according to L. Sfez, characterises contemporary society

O impacto do clima de segurança organizacional nos comportamentos de segurança numa amostra de Bombeiros : o efeito mediador do stress profissional

Tese de mestrado, Psicologia (Psicologia dos Recursos Humanos, do Trabalho e das Organizações), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, 2011A presente investigação estudou a relação entre clima organizacional de segurança e comportamentos de segurança e analisou o papel do stress profissional enquanto mediador da relação entre estas variáveis. A amostra é constituída por 52 bombeiros no activo. Os dados usados neste estudo resultam da aplicação do Inventário Clima de Segurança Organizacional (Silva, Lima & Baptista, 2004) e do Inventário de Stress Profissional (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999). Os resultados obtidos mostram que o clima organizacional de segurança está relacionado positivamente com os comportamentos de segurança. No entanto, verifica-se que o clima organizacional de segurança se relaciona negativamente com o stress profissional. Constata-se ainda que o stress profissional não apresenta uma relação significativa com os comportamentos de segurança pelo que não se confirma o efeito mediador do stress profissional na relação entre clima organizacional de segurança e comportamentos de segurança. Apresentam-se também as principais limitações do estudo e sugestões para investigações futuras para o desenvolvimento e promoção da segurança no seio das organizações.This research studied the relationship between organizational safety climate and safety behaviors. On the other hand, this study examined the role of job stress as a mediator of the relationship between these variables. The sample consists of 52 firefighters on active duty. The data used in this study result from the application of Organizational Safety Climate Inventory (Silva, Lima & Baptista, 2004) and the Job Stress Survey (Spielberger & Vagg, 1999). The results show that the organizational safety climate is positively related to safety behaviors. However, it appears that the organizational safety climate is negatively related to job stress. This study established that job stress does not present a significant relationship with safety behaviors. Therefore, the mediating effect of job stress in the relationship between safety climate and safety behaviors is not confirmed. This research also presents the main limitations of the study and suggestions for future research for the development and promotion of safety within organizations

Wages and Job Satisfaction in Portugal

The interest in the analysis of job satisfaction has increased among economists. Indeed, reported levels of satisfaction have been seen as a good predictor of individual behaviour such as job turnover, productivity and absenteeism. Because of this, several studies have tried to identify the determinants of job satisfaction. This paper is concerned with job satisfaction in Portugal. For this purpose, we use the first six waves of the European Household Panel Data (ECHP). The panel nature of the data allows us to use a random effects estimator in order to control for unobservable individual heterogeneity. The results indicate that wages matter for job satisfaction but do not tell the whole story. In particular, having a good health status, a permanent contract and working the public sector influences positively the level satisfaction. We also find a great heterogeneity in satisfaction by regions, even in a small country as Portugal. These findings are valid for overall job satisfaction as well as for satisfaction with specific job domains such as pay, security, type of work and hours worked. Key words: job satisfaction, wages, regions, unobserved heterogeneity JEL Code: J28

Gender bias in the hospitality sector: female and male jobs

The hospitality sector is still very traditional and male-dominated in terms of values, it is segregating and discriminatory according to gender, not only horizontally but also vertically, the wage differences between men and women are critical, and many of the jobs are stigmatized. Indeed, despite women representing most of the workforce in hospitality, such numerical dominance is not reflected in the leadership positions they occupy. Traditionally, men and women occupy different roles in the hospitality industry: women are more often assigned functions that are in line with their social roles and that represents an extension of their domestic tasks so that it is easier to find women in-room service or cleaning. Men, on the other hand, are more easily assigned physically demanding tasks, administrative and management functions, which require more skills and are therefore better paid. This study aims to examine the female and male social representation associated with the performance of certain roles in the hospitality sector, as perceived by tourism and hospitality students, to explore gender representations associated with different hierarchical positions and departments, and to understand some of the (in)equalities that continue to persist between men and women in hospitality. A quantitative cross-sectional study was performed to achieve the study goals. Our sample consists of 200 higher education students in tourism and hospitality. Based on Bem Sex Role Inventory short-form traits questionnaire, we applied an online questionnaire with the purpose of knowing the students’ gender representations of different professional activities in the hospitality industry. Within our results, we expect to describe the gender bias of the professional functions in the hospitality sector. On the other hand, we expect to understand possible gender differences between operational and leadership positions, and from different departments. The findings of this study will help the hotels to analyse their gender practices and policies. By giving voice to the stereotypes that foster gender inequalities in the hospitality sector, hotels can become aware of their gendered practices and policies that impact the recruitment process and the various roles and functions that are assigned to men and women.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the drivers of virtual knowledge management impact in European Firm’s performance : an exploratory analysis

E-Business is a phenomenon that has progressed over the past decades at record speed, with considerable promise and hype. It has been embraced with varying degrees of enthusiasm and impact by both large firms and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). Parallel with its development, E-Business has attracted research interests, seen in a plethora of new modules, programmes, models and tools. Knowledge Management (KM) is one tool that seams to gain a more relevant role, especially as managing knowledge has become increasingly important to all companies. Appropriate KM practices within organisations can be seen as one of the prerequisites to the enhancement of continuous performance improvement in the interne-based context. Thus, our aim is to develop a conceptual framework related to KM practices in a virtual context and to identify the nature of the relationship existing in those knowledge-driven elements and performance achievements. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the KM and e-business performance-related literatures from the viewpoint of European firms by establishing a model tested in European companies. For this purpose, we used a structural equation modelling analysis. The results show that KM has a positive impact on the maximization of e-business performance and that some elements individually have a positive influence on e-business performance. As limitations of the study, we consider the need for more research into this field and the inclusion of news elements such as technological readiness and management support to KM initiatives. The present study advances knowledge on the nature of the relative importance of different components of Internet-based KM as drivers of e-business performance and reinforces its importance as an integrated e-business tool.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dynamics of innovation in European regions

There is interest in both academic literature and regional governments about the innovativeness of regions and the drivers of that competitiveness, especially if considering the impact on economic development and social progress. Innovation is the base for the global competitiveness. Innovative capacity enables regions to increase their productivity and attract investments, thereby sustaining continuous progress in the quality and standard of living. This study aims to measure regions’ innovativeness in different European regions and to evaluate the nature of the innovation process and the relationship existing between its innovativeness’ and its region of origin. It proceeds from the assumption that the competitiveness of a region is reflected in its innovation capacity or innovation dynamic. The literature review regarding regions’ innovativeness produces some insights regarding to the effect of contextual elements on regions performance. Thus, the objective is to compare the European regions to verify the existence of subjacent clusters and find out the characteristics that distinguish the different group of regions. The innovative capacity is considered in terms of innovative output and several factors are analysed to identify and differentiate the dynamics of innovations of the regions. The results point to the existence of five groups of regions, and the factors identified are related to innovation process, namely forms of innovation, factors and objectives of innovation and with aspects related to the innovation framework such as tertiary education and life-long learning, business and public R&D expenses, and level of collaboration for innovating.

Knowledge management : critical perspectives on e-business activities

This article is both a review and an agenda-setting piece. It argues that knowledge management suffers from conceptual and definitional ambiguity, oversimplification of its development processes, and methodological limitations. Nevertheless, there is a consensus in business and academia that knowledge is a key component of success and allows firms to achieve and sustains competitive advantages. In a digital era, these advantages arise from the potential of data and information that can be gathered, processed, shared, and used to improve e-business activities. Thus, this research bridges the gap in the assessment of knowledge management and e-business relationship, by applying an SEM to a large database sample of KM activities performed by European firms.N/

Estándares territoriales de innovación : análisis de las regiones de Portugal

Competitiveness among regions and innovation dynamics are intimately related and depend on a solid and effective innovation system. This study aims to measure innovativeness in different Portuguese regions and to evaluate the nature of the innovation process and the relationship between innovativeness and its region of origin. To characterize the territorial innovation processes and to identify innovation patterns by regions, it analyzes their main distinctive factors, based on the Community Innovation Survey results for each region. Thus, it compares the Portuguese regions by verifying the existence of subjacent clusters and finding out the characteristics that distinguish the different groups of regions. The results point to the existence of four groups of regions, and the factors identified are related to the innovation process, namely objectives of innovation, sources of innovation, collaborative networks, triple helix performance, and obstacles to innovation.RESUMEN: La competitividad entre las regiones y la dinámica de la innovación están íntimamente relacionadas y dependen de un sistema de innovación sólida y eficaz. Este estudio tiene como objetivo medir la capacidad de innovación en diferentes regiones portuguesas y evaluar la naturaleza del proceso de innovación y la relación entre la capacidad de innovación y su región de origen. Para la caracterización de los procesos de innovación territoriales y identificar estándares de innovación en las regiones, este artículo analiza sus factores distintivos principales, con base en los resultados de las encuestas comunitarias sobre innovación para cada región. Por lo tanto, se comparan las regiones portuguesas mediante la verificación de la existencia de agrupaciones subyacentes y descubrir las características que distinguen a los diferentes grupos de regiones. Los resultados apuntan a la existencia de cuatro grupos de regiones, y los factores identificados están relacionados con el proceso de innovación, es decir, los objetivos de la innovación, las fuentes de innovación, redes de colaboración, el funcionamiento de la triple hélice, y los obstáculos a la innovación.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio