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- Westerman, Johan, 1984-
(författare)
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Motives matter : Intrinsic motivation in work learning and labor market performance
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation examines the importance of individual work motivation for two crucial dimensions of inequality: work learning and labor market performance. The first dimension relates to learning activities at work, and the second to wage attainment and knowledge-oriented task assignment. While motivation is a broad concept, the empirical analyses focus on task involvement and the motivation to learn. Job mobility is further used to indicate a motivational strategy aimed at gaining new labor market experiences. These kinds of motivation are related to individual variation in intrinsic motivation, representing: pure curiosity and a strive for competence in novel environments, a focus on personal development rather than on proving ability, satisfaction gained from feelings of competence and autonomy during task performance, and experience of complete absorption in activities of learning and mastery. The connection between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic labor market rewards (such as wage attainment) is theorized to follow from: (a) a higher level of performance in learning activities at work, (b) consequent assignment to more productive work tasks, and (c) a rise in material rewards (wages) linked to this assignment.Variation in the extent to which intrinsic motivation can be elicited in individuals, and the extent to which intrinsic motivation is targeted toward performance related activities in the labor market, is thus expected to matter for patterns of inequality. Intrinsic motivation, as a productive factor shaping inequality, is expected to grow in importance in paralell with an increase in the labor market value of skills, and a decline in bureaucratic and closely monitored production organization. As a research agenda, the analysis of intrinsic motivation is thus crucial for understanding evolving patterns of conflict and inequality in contemporary societies.Study I analyzes the relationship between task involvement and wage attainment, and shows that task involvement is moderately associated with higher wages in two datasets: the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey (LNU) and the European Social Survey (ESS). Study II analyzes the relationship between repeated job mobility (a ‘new experiences strategy’) and work learning. Two datasets are used: LNU and the Swedish part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Results show that repeated job mobility is positively associated with several, but not all, kinds of learning activities. Study III analyzes the associations that motivation to learn shares with knowledge-oriented task assignment and wage attainment using PIAAC data for 17 European countries. Results show that the motivation to learn is strongly correlated with knowledge-oriented task assignment, and moderately correlated with wage attainment. These correlations are similar across distinct levels of numerical proficiency, and across labor market contexts.
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| 2. |
- Halldén, Karin, 1977-
(författare)
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What's Sex Got to Do with It? Women and Men in European Labour Markets
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four empirical studies on women and men in European labour markets. Study I examines effects of the sex of the immediate supervisor on the time men and women spend in initial on-the-job training (OJT) in Sweden. The results show that men receive longer initial OJT than women do, but men’s time in training is independent of the supervisor’s sex. For women in the private sector, the chances of receiving long initial OJT are higher if the immediate supervisor is a man. Study II analyses effects of labour market institutions on the quality of part-time work by comparing the skills and autonomy of female part-time jobs in Britain and Sweden. The results show that female part-time employees in Sweden hold positions of higher skill and have more autonomy compared to their equivalents in Britain. Both British and Swedish part-time employees face relative disadvantages when compared to female full-time workers. Study III examines associations between maternal employment policies and wage penalties for mothers by skill in 10 European countries. The results indicate that, net of variation in female labour force participation, extensive publicly funded childcare is associated with a modest decrease in the motherhood wage penalty, regardless of skill. By contrast, paid maternity leave is weakly associated with a larger motherhood wage gap in less skilled jobs only. Study IV examines the extent to which women’s opportunities to attain positions of high workplace authority are related to maternal employment policies, such as paid parental leave and part-time work. Based on data from 25 European countries, the results show that a high proportion of women working long part-time hours is associated with a wider gender gap in the attainment of high authority positions, to the disadvantage of women. However, paid parental leave appears to be unrelated to the gender authority gap.
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| 3. |
- Hällsten, Martin, 1980-
(författare)
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Essays on Social Reproduction and Lifelong Learning
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis consists of four self-contained papers that deal with social reproduction and lifelong learning in Sweden and all use large-scale longitudinal data from public registers. The first paper analyses inequality by class origin in programme choice at university. It is found that individuals of working class origin choose programs of shorter duration with lower grade point requirements closer to their parents’ home compared to individuals of higher class origin. Children of the higher class instead prefer programs with higher expected earnings and avoid non-traditional institutions. This inequality leads to non-negligible differences in expected labour market outcomes further on. The second paper examines the wage gap between individuals of working and higher class origin, given education. By using an unusually detailed measure of education, the net wage gap between classes is found to be considerably smaller compared to standard specifications. The wage gap is found to be relatively small in the public sector, and also somewhat smaller in large compared to small private firms, suggesting that bureaucracy may act as a leveller. The third paper investigates the relation between economic inequality and the decision to take up studies at the tertiary level late in life. The results show the likelihood of a late entry to be especially high for individuals who are disadvantaged to a moderate extent in terms of current earnings rank and also had some unemployment experience. The fourth paper addresses life-long learning in tertiary education and its economic returns. Matching techniques are combined with panel data methods to account for non-random selection. The results reveal average positive returns of considerable magnitude on late degrees; between 10 to 20 percentiles in the earnings distribution. The largest effects are found in the lower parts of the earnings distribution.
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| 4. |
- Magnusson, Charlotta, 1978-
(författare)
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Mind the Gap : Essays on Explanations of Gender Wage Inequality
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The gender wage gap is accounted for to a substantial degree by the sex composition of occupations. The present thesis examines the mechanisms that produce this pattern. In particular, the theory of devaluation, currently the most widely accepted sociological explanation, is tested. The empirical findings, reported in three self-contained essays, question this line of explanation. All results are based on Swedish data: the Level of Living surveys (LNU; essays I and II) and administrative labour market registers (essay III).In Essay I the association between occupational prestige and occupational sex composition is examined. The association is non-linear, with gender mixed occupations having the highest prestige. Further, care work does not have lower prestige than other kinds of work. These results are inconsistent with expectations derived from devaluation theory. The analysis also shows that the wage returns to occupational prestige are lower for women than for men.Essay II examines why women receive relatively low returns to prestige. Family related factors are shown to be crucial. The gender difference in pay-off to prestige is thus marked among married/cohabiting employees with children but insignificant among singles as well as among childless married/cohabiting women and men. The gender wage gap in high-prestige occupations is largely due to differences between women and men in work characteristics difficult to reconcile with family duties.In essay III the functional form of the relation between wages and occupational sex composition is investigated. In the cross-section gender mixed occupations have the highest wages. Panel data tend to confirm this pattern: mobility from strongly male or female dominated occupations to more gender mixed occupations is associated with relatively high rates of wage growth. Further, there is a wage premium for care work but a wage penalty for other service work. These findings do not support devaluation theory.
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| 5. |
- Karlsson, Lena, 1973-
(författare)
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Klasstillhörighetens subjektiva dimension : klassidentitet, sociala attityder och fritidsvanor
- 2005
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main objective of this dissertation is to study the subjective class identification and the importance of this identification for social attitudes and leisure habits. Class identification is a significant, yet often neglected, area of research in the study of social class and stratification. The aim of this thesis has been to explore in what way the Swedish citizens perceive their own place in the structure of stratification. This thesis is based on three Swedish surveys, collected between 1993 and 2000. The results show that a vast majority of the citizens think that Sweden is still a class society and can place themselves in this structure. The most important sources for this identification are the objective class position and the class position of the father during childhood and adolescence. Identification with the working class is to a higher extent connected with a view that the differences in living conditions are too high, that the differences in the possibility to advance in the Swedish society are unequal and that the gap in income should decrease. This standpoint is nearly as common for people who identify with the working class irrespective of a socialistic or non- socialistic position. The results also show that class identification is related to the level of participation in different leisure activities. Identification with the middle class is connected with a higher degree of participation in a variety of activities, especially in highbrow culture such as theatre and opera. In the conclusion it is discussed that the relevance of class identification in the future is highly dependent on how class in the political and ideological sphere is formulated and attached with different attitudes, and if class is expressed as a positive source in the construction of the social identity.
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