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The Institute for Global Health and Development

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/9

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Sociology and Political Science

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    Emotional labour and the autonomy of dependent self-employed workers: The limitations of digital managerial control in the home credit sector
    (SAGE, 2021-01-17) Terry, Esme; Marks, Abigail; Dakessian, Arek; Christopoulos, Dimitris
    Changes to the labour process in the home credit sector have exposed the industry’s agency workforce to increased levels of digital managerial control through the introduction of lending applications and algorithmic decision-making techniques. This article highlights the heterogeneous nature of the impact of digitalisation on the labour process and worker autonomy – specifically, in terms of workers’ engagement in unquantified emotional labour. By considering the limitations of digital control in relation to qualitative elements of the labour process, it becomes evident that emotional labour has the scope to be a source of autonomy for dependent self-employed workers when set against a backdrop of heightened digital control. This article therefore contributes to ongoing labour process debates surrounding digitalisation, quantified workers and digital managerial control.
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    WhatsApp groups in social research: New opportunities for fieldwork communication and management
    (SAGE, 2021-01-07) Jailobaev, Temirlan; Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Baialieva, Myrzagul; Baialieva, Gulsaadat; Asilbekova, Gulnara
    WhatsApp is a popular platform primarily for informal communication. It has 1.5 billion users worldwide. Though there are increasing numbers of studies looking at the use of WhatsApp in various formal settings, its use in social research remains under-studied. We have used WhatsApp in several research projects. In this article, we analyse our use of WhatsApp within two studies conducted in 2019. We analysed the content of messages and counted the messages sent by each member to our WhatsApp groups. We also analysed the feedback received from our research assistants on the use of WhatsApp groups in research. We show in this article that WhatsApp has created new opportunities for better communication and management of fieldwork to meet a tight schedule and that this improved the overall quality of the project. We offer lessons learned for improving the use of WhatsApp in research processes.
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    Sponsored study abroad and civic engagement in Kyrgyzstan
    (Taylor & Francis, 2020-08-13) Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Baialieva, Myrzagul
    The article explores whether study abroad programmes sponsored by multilateral and bilateral development organizations and private philanthropic foundations promote civic engagement of their alumni upon their return to their home country. The article focuses on the case of Kyrgyzstan, which has had a number of international study abroad scholarship programmes since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The research was exploratory and utilized in-depth interviews for collecting data. In agreement with the literature, the research found that the alumni of scholarship programmes had experienced changes in their values and worldviews as a result of being exposed to a new environment but also of having a formalized study programme that enabled them to critically reflect on their own country and culture and to expand their knowledge in the new context. These changes prompted most participants in the research to be civically engaged in the social and political issues of their society in their home country through voluntarism. Importantly, the article expands the literature by arguing that this civic engagement has positive implications for the development of civil society and democratic values and practices in Kyrgyzstan.