1,721,183 research outputs found
Commentary: Which crisis? The need to understand spaces of (non)tax in the economic recovery
No full textSymbolic capital within the lived experiences of Eastern European migrants: a gendered perspective
No full textDespite recent large flows of migrants to the UK, the gendered nature of how men and women experience migrant entrepreneurial journeys remains under-researched. This article contributes to debates within the field of entrepreneurship by exploring the lived experiences of transnational migrant entrepreneurs setting up enterprises in the UK. Reporting the findings of interviews with forty-seven Eastern European transnational migrant entrepreneurs, this article focuses on the rarely discussed form of symbolic capital understood as the prestige, status and positive reputation individuals possess in the eyes of others. Our findings demonstrate the multifaceted and often gendered nature of forms of cultivated symbolic capital. Men use traditional conceptions of ‘status’ and ‘prestige’ to accrue forms of symbolic capital, which consequently facilitate and legitimate the transfer of economic capital into their UK businesses. In contrast, women, by setting up successful businesses in the UK, gain legitimacy in the eyes of family and friends in their home countries. This in turn enables them to overcome traditional gendered ascribed roles in which their visibility is centred solely around looking after children and the family. The article concludes by reflecting on the contributions and implications for theory and practice before identifying directions for further research
Home is where the business is: incidents in everyday life and the formation of home-based businesses
No full textHome-based businesses (HBBs) represent an increasingly important form of entrepreneurial activity, yet often remain overlooked within academic literature and largely invisible within official statistics. Set against the background of the home becoming a more common place of business, this article unpacks owner-entrepreneurs’ experiences in forming their HBB. By employing Lefebvre’s concept of everyday life and drawing on de Certeau’s work, it examines the trajectories and tactics of HBB owner-entrepreneurs in the Sheffield City Region in the UK. Focusing on the creative industries sector, the article problematises the push/pull, opportunity/ necessity based binary to elucidate how incidents experienced by HBB owner-entrepreneurs affect the formation of HBBs. The motivations for creating HBBs are shown to be complex, comprising personal and work-related incidents which are related to the lived practices of owner-entrepreneurs. Finally, the article broadens the discussion to reflect on implications for public policy and outlines directions for further research into HBBs as an increasingly pertinent field of entrepreneurship
Enacting aspirational modes of being: Oil and gas employees' subject formation and Telos under corporate environmentalism
No full textIdentified as the world’s biggest carbon polluter, the oil and gas industry has increasingly engaged in corporate environmentalism to bolster its legitimisation and mitigate negative public perceptions. Discourses surrounding corporate environmentalism frequently position the sector and its workforce as integral to advancing the greater good. However, employees within the oil and gas industry find themselves at the centre of a paradox: society increasingly expects their organisations to transition away from the fossil fuels that have, historically, sustained their profitability. This paper explores how oil and gas employees form themselves as subjects under their industry’s discourse and practices of corporate environmentalism, and examines what implications these processes may have for the future of corporate environmentalism. Based on an analysis of annual reports and CEO speeches from major oil companies and 30 interviews with employees working in the industry, we apply a Foucauldian lens to identify corporate discourses crafted by the industry, and deploy Foucault’s model of ethical self-formation—particularly, the notion of Telos—to explore the processes of subject formation that employees engage in, their influences, and implications for corporate environmentalism. We develop a conceptual model showing the societal and relational influences feeding into employees’ construction as subject, and the central role of their aspirational modes of being, their Telos. The diversity of these aspirational modes of being, and their dynamic and performative nature bring to life a picture of environmental aspirations within the oil and gas industry much wider ranging than corporate discourses suggest, and create possibilities for alternative approaches to corporate environmentalism
Exploring informal work: gaining legitimation through nudging
No full textThis article develops a micro-level understanding of informal work (IW) by exploring the legitimising factors which business owners exercise to provide the rationale for engaging in IW. Using the lens of nudge theory, originating from behavioural economics, we show how IW becomes legitimised through nudging. Empirically, we explore the lived experience of service sector business owners who engage in IW practices in the East Midlands, UK. The findings uncover how the business owners’ context is shaped through exposure to various IW arrangements early in their working life; we also reveal a range of actors who actively shape these arrangements for embracing IW while delegitimising formal work. We present the factors that condition the beliefs and embed the understanding that IW is legitimate for the individual business owners, thus highlighting an important and emergent context for future studies in the realm of IW
Diagram ecologies − diagrams as science and game board
No full textThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Theory and Application of Diagrams, Diagrams 2012, held in Canaterbury, UK, in July 2012. The 16 long papers, 6 short papers and 21 poster abstracts presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 83 submissions. The papers are organized in keynotes, tutorial, workshops, graduate student symposium and topical sections on psychological and cognitive issues, diagram layout, diagrams and data analysis, Venn and Euler diagrams, reasoning with diagrams, investigating aesthetics, applications of diagrams
From moral disengagement to practices of the self: enacting moral subjectivities for climate change in the oil and gas sector
No full text'I was left with nothing.' Why apprentices are being pushed into the informal economy
No full textIn the UK, apprenticeships and training schemes are often seen as a gateway to skilled careers, providing invaluable hands-on training for service trade professions as varied as plumbing, engineering, accounting and hairdressing. But for many trainees, the financial realities of these programmes are driving them into the informal economy
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