12560 research outputs found
Sort by
Losing my job and family?: how power shapes the boundaries between work and family life
No full textJob insecurity is often understood as the perceived powerlessness to maintain desired continuity in one’s job, and experiences of it can have significant implications for both work and family life. Despite the crucial role of power in conceptualising the effects of job insecurity, little is known regarding the role of power dependence in the relationship between job insecurity and work-family enrichment. To address this gap, we analysed three-wave data from 267 UK white-collar employees to test a model linking job insecurity to work-family enrichment. Our findings reveal that (1) job insecurity negatively impacts work-family enrichment, (2) approach and avoidance power-balancing operations mediate this relationship, and (3) the negative effect is weaker when psychological contract breach is low. This study advances theoretical understanding by demonstrating that asymmetric power dependence is a critical factor in determining when and why job insecurity diminishes work-family enrichment
Que(e)rying leadership on an LGBTQ+ leadership development programme for UK higher education staff
No full textLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+) leadership has often been overlooked, meaning that leadership is narrowly understood and recognised. By obtaining unique access to an LGBTQ+ leadership development programme in UK higher education (HE) and conducting an in-depth multi-layered study, this (post-)qualitative research reframes leadership and leadership development. The study involved observations of programme sessions and repeated interviews with programme attendees. Using reflexive thematic analysis and thinking with queer theory, three interwoven themes were identified: (1) the distinctiveness and potential of LGBTQ+ leadership; (2) the portrayal, solidarity and collaboration of community; and (3) the possibility, precarity and rupture of queer space. By reframing leadership in these ways, this research helps to make LGBTQ+ leaders’ leadership intelligible and makes leadership more pertinent to LGBTQ+ staff. Significantly, it offers an alternative conceptualisation of leadership emphasising relationalities and communities in specific contexts, one which appears to be relevant to the challenging landscape of UK HE. This research may also inspire future LGBTQ+ leadership development programmes to attract, retain and progress diverse talent
Book review: Crises at Work: Economy, Climate and Pandemic By Steve Williams and Mark Erickson, Bristol, Bristol University Press, 2024. 256, £85.99. ISBN: 978-1529224917
No full textImpact of information overload on consumer decision-making in the agri-food sector: a stimulus-organism-response theory perspective
No full textIn the era of big data and AI, consumers are confronted with an overwhelming amount of information and a wide range of choices when purchasing agri-food products online. This can significantly impact their decision-making processes. However, there is currently insufficient comprehensive understanding regarding how information overload influences consumer purchasing decisions in the agri-food sector and whether differences in personal cognition and knowledge moderate this effect. This study aims to address this knowledge deficiency. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory, an influence mechanism model is developed to examine the impact of information overload on consumers’ decision deferral. A situational experiment involving 430 agri-food consumers is conducted to empirically test the proposed model. The results show that information overload significantly affects the level of consumer confusion. This, in turn, causes a deferral of purchase decisions. Furthermore, both cognitive need and consumer knowledge negatively moderate the relationship between information overload and consumer confusion
Unequal trajectories? An examination of L2 development in a higher education context in Mexico
No full textUnderstanding how second language (L2) proficiency develops in instructional settings remains a central concern within applied linguistics. This two-year longitudinal study examines English language development in a higher education context in Mexico, addressing key methodological and empirical gaps. We tracked L2 development—operationalised as changes in the TOEFL ITP® scores—across three time points and examined a wide range of variables, including the often-neglected factor of socio-economic status (SES). Results from linear mixed effects modelling and sensitivity analyses showed statistically significant, though small, gains in proficiency. Baseline proficiency emerged as a strong predictor of learning trajectories, with lower-proficiency students showing greater relative improvement. SES, contact with English, and age of onset were the most consistent predictors of L2 performance. Mediation analysis indicated that SES influences proficiency both directly and indirectly, primarily through contact with English. However, much of the SES effect remained unexplained, suggesting broader systemic influences. These findings shed light on hidden disparities in language education and offer insights for educational policy, highlighting the need to address structural barriers to equitable L2 development
Finding room and a place: G.B. Stern and the politics of the family house
No full textThrough this essay I explore G.B. Stern’s depiction of place though the demarcation of boundaries within houses and neighbourhoods and vying claims to ownership. I reveal how distinctions formerly marked out by class and income were eroded in the twenties and thirties as lifestyle marketing usurped social aspiration in three English novels. Through her fiction Stern explores the politics of domestic space in the unravelling of a life in Bohemian city flats, or the precarious existence of dependents squeezed into an already-full family house. Her characters are the victim of back-biting in a boarding house or the stressed-out city-dweller seeking refuge in a thick-walled cottage lacking in conveniences. At a crisis in their lives her characters migrate to the home shires or to the sea-side, or run away on the GWR train to Cornwall, or, her favourite, take refuge in the south of France and Italy. She wrote about the effect of place on identity in her characters’ lives returning again and again to the same locations in her novels as she iteratively plays with their meaning. The move never solves the difficulties of the relationship, but like shaking a kaleidoscope it changes the pattern. Gladys Bronwen Stern (1890-1973) is little-known now but was a household name in her day. She was a prolific writer of novels and short stories for the burgeoning interwar story magazines and adapted fiction for the screen in the thirties and forties. In the fifties she appeared on the television review programme The Bookman. Her appearances at the first night of her own and her fellow writers’ plays were recorded in the picture newspapers and her whereabouts was the subject of comment by journalists. It was newsworthy when she stayed with the authors, W. Somerset Maugham, Rebecca West and Sheila Kaye-Smith and when her friends came to her Italian house. The papers reported when she passed through London on her business trips to America or took her holiday in Cornwall with playwright Noel Coward and published pictures of her at the Riviera with the actress Gertie Lawrence and her young pals
Being a second-career teacher: insights from the Troops to Teachers Initial Teacher Education programme in England
No full textIn 2012, the UK Troops to Teachers (TtT) initial teacher education (ITE) programme was introduced by the UK government as part of plans to solve the joint problems of diminishing teacher recruitment and retention and to provide ex-service personnel with new career options. This paper presents findings from a Longitudinal Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (LIPA) where five participants describe their experiences of that route into secondary school teaching. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews at three time-points; during the two-year course and at the end of the Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) year, in order to facilitate a deep description and offer a nuanced account of participants’ perspectives. The study builds on previous research, which found that the anxiety caused by returning to novice status from the position of expert was substantial, and the psychic (intrinsic) rewards of teaching enabled participants to remain in the profession when faced with other challenges, most notably workload and behaviour management. The study finds little evidence that having a military background had prepared participants to cope with the demands of becoming a teacher any better than other second-career or traditional entry teachers. This paper concludes that the particular needs of second-career teachers more widely need to be openly discussed during their ITE programme in order to enable them to prepare for the challenges they will inevitably face.</p
The impact of the ProELT training program on Malaysian English teachers' self-efficacy
No full textRecognizing the importance of mastering the English language and its potential to enhance the country's socioeconomic status, Malaysia has dedicated efforts to improve the language proficiency of its citizens through the Malaysian Roadmap for English Language Education 2015–2025. One of the main efforts is bolstering the English language proficiency of school teachers via professional development, which has resulted in the implementation of the year-long Professional Up-skilling for English Language Teachers (ProELT) training program for in-service teachers. Since not much is known about how teachers' professional development affects their self-efficacy, particularly in the context of language teaching, this study aims to examine how ProELT affects language teachers' self-efficacy. The training impact of the ProELT course and its relationship to different elements of self-efficacy were also examined in relation to teachers' improvement in CEFR bands. An online questionnaire, TESOL Instructors’ Self-Efficacy Index (TISI), was administered to both primary and secondary school English teachers who had attended the ProELT training program. Generally, the findings indicate that professional development programs can potentially enhance teachers' self-efficacy in terms of student engagement and instructional strategies. It also highlights the relevance of teacher training programs in elevating teachers' self-efficacy and professional practice
Affective practices and liminal space-making in Palestinian refugee camps
No full textIn this chapter, we use the concept of affective practice (Wetherell, 2012) to show how kitchens and gardens – usually thought of as humble domestic spaces – can become liminal spaces that enable women to take up public identities as chefs and businesswomen alongside their private identities as wives, mothers and daughters. The contexts of our study are women’s social enterprises in two Palestinian refugee camps (established in 1948-49 following the displacement of Palestinians from what is now the state of Israel and the Occupied Territories). The social and spatial boundaries between the camps and their environs are strong and impermeable, leading to a situation where women are doubly confined, both within the camp and within domestic space and roles. We find that the kitchen and gardens allow the simultaneous enactment of traditional and novel affective practices, providing distinctive forms of reassurance to family members and external stakeholders. The mutability of the spaces makes it possible for women to transgress both domestic and camp boundaries, and simultaneously redefine their gendered identities
Risk typology:differentiating between patterns of non-criminogenic needs and criminogenic risk for African American girls
No full textBlack girls are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice system, yet standard risk assessments seldom capture the intersecting effects of race, gender, trauma, and structural disadvantage. This study tests whether cumulative scores from the Ohio Youth Assessment System Disposition Tool accurately reflect the needs of justice-involved Black girls. Using data from 485 youth, a two-step cluster analysis identified four distinct risk typologies, from low-risk net widening to high-risk profiles shaped by family instability, school exclusion, peer exposure, and behavioral health needs. Cluster membership significantly predicted recidivism and, in some cases, performed better than cumulative scores. Findings highlight the need for culturally responsive assessment practices, targeted intervention dosage, and coordinated multisystem supports to improve equity and outcomes.</p
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage University of Bedfordshire Repository? Access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard!