|
The Country Context Studies bring together the expertise of an international community of collaborators. Researchers gather and analyze data that describe employment situations in their own countries of origin, with the aim of detailing the different perceptions of quality of employment. As a group, the research team provides high-quality information, comparable “country to country,” about the context of work for today’s global, multi-generational workforce.
The Country Context Studies use existing data to:
- Provide demographic, workplace, and social statistics on various countries to employers, scholars, and others.
- Investigate the differences in quality of employment, both by country and by age.
- Prepare overviews of policies within a country that affect quality of employment across the life course.
The Country Context Study is composed of four components:
- Country Profiles/Overviews: provide introductory overviews of countries based on statistics that can guide decision-making at the workplace, namely relevant demographic, economic, and workplace trends.
Employee Perspectives: identify and analyze information about the perceptions that employees of different ages (working in different countries) have about their employment experiences, which we conceptualize under our 8 dimensions of quality of employment.
Organizational Policies & Programs Studies: identify and analyze information about the prevalence of human resource policies and practices in selected countries.
Analyses of Public Policies: detail public policy and relevant employment and labor laws in selected countries, with examples of enacted policies within sectors as individual cases.
The study is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
context/need
Importance of Project for Research: The reports provide important information for researchers interested in cross national comparisons.
Importance of Project for Practice: Employers can use the information provided in the reports to gain insight into their experiences with employees working in different countries.
key research questions
The Country Context Study is currently in progress, expanding our base of over a dozen countries. Questions asked by the study include:
- How does country matter in quality of employment?
- What cultural, policy, and economic factors play a role?
- How does age matter in quality of employment?
- Are workers of different ages interested in different aspects of quality employment? Are they offered different levels of quality employment?
- How does country and age intersect?
- What lessons can employers learn about individual countries and about aging around the globe in general?
publications
Country Profiles
- Armenia (June 2009)
- China (November 2008)
- Denmark (August 2009)
- Greece (May 2009)
- India (September 2009)
- Italy (July 2009)
- Japan (August 2008)
- Kenya (September 2009)
- Pakistan (September 2008)
- Singapore (July 2009)
- South Africa (August 2009)
- South Korea (October 2008)
- United States (April 2008)
“Mind the Gap” Reports
- China – Employee (June 2009)
- Japan – Employee (May 2009)
- Japan – Employer (April 2009)
- Singapore – Employer (September 2009)
- South Korea – Employee (May 2009)
- South Korea – Employer (June 2009)
- United Kingdom – Employer (June 2009)
- United States – Employee (November 2008)
- United States – Employer (November 2008)
Public Policy Briefs
- Armenia Public Policy (July 2009)
- Australia Public Policy (October 2009)
- Japan Public Policy (July 2009)
- Singapore Public Policy (October 2009)
contact
Researchers interested in the Country Context Study should contact:
Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, Ph.D., Center Director
pittcats@bc.edu | +1 . 617 . 552 . 4033
Tay K. McNamara, Ph.D., Director of Research
tay.mcnamara@bc.edu | +1 . 617 . 552 . 8971
country context study team
To schedule a conversation with any of our staff, please contact Chad Minnich, Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications, at 617-552-3122, or minnicch@bc.edu.
|
Rucha Bhate
|
Graduate Research Assistant Rucha is a graduate student in the Department of Economics at Boston College. Before beginning her doctoral studies at BC, she earned her Masters in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune, India. Thereafter, she worked as a Research Associate with the Indian Institute of Management -Ahmadabad, a premier Business school in India and also at the Aditya Birla Group, a major business conglomerate. Rucha’s primary areas of research are Macroeconomics and International Economics; in particular the economic dynamics of developing countries. |
 | |
|
Isabella Blengini
|
Graduate Research Assistant Isabella Blengini is a doctoral student in the Economics Department of Boston College. Her research focus is on international economics. She has been studying issues related to human capital endowment and quality of production, capital flow dynamics and financial crises. |
| |
|
Libby Brooke
|
Director of Research |
| |
|
Mélanie Burlet |
4 Quai des Etroits |
| |
|
René Carapinha, MSW
|
Research Assistant René Carapinha is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work at Boston College. Her research focus is on global corporate citizenship and analysis of business models and strategies that enhance employee and community wellbeing and development. Previously René worked at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and as a researcher at the Centre for Social Development in Africa at the University of Johannesburg. René also served as the National Chairperson of the South African Occupational Social Work Association. |
| |
|
Mathew Flynn, PhD
|
Senior Lecturer Dr. Matt Flynn is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University in London. He researches and teaches global HRM and age management. He participated in an EU funded project on knowledge management; older workers as a vulnerable occupational group; and the relationship between gender, qualification and work. |
| |
|
Shanyuan Foo, MA
|
Graduate Research Assistant Shanyuan Foo is a graduate research assistant at the Sloan Center of Aging and Work at Boston College. She completed her Master's in Sociology from Boston College in 2009. Her area of research focuses on the labor markets and working conditions in Asia. She also has strong research interests in the intersection of social policy, employment and gender. |
| |
|
Masa Higo, MA
|
Research Associate Masa Higo is a research associate at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, where he is in charge of supporting research recruiters' activities as the project manager for the Generations of Talent Study. Masa is also a doctoral candidate in the Sociology Department at Boston College. His research focuses mainly on cross-national comparative studies on the role of public policy with respect to older worker labor force participation and retirement in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom. |
| |
|
Dirk Hofacker |
State Institute for Family Research |
| |
|
Shoghik Hovhannisyan, MA |
Research Assistant Shoghik Hovhannisyan is currently pursuing her PhD degree in Economics at Boston College and she is also actively collaborating with the Sloan Center on Aging and Work. Shoghik holds a Masters degree in International Development Policy from Duke University and a masters degree in Economics from Boston College. Since 2005 she has also been involved as a consultant in various organizations including the World Bank, Urban Institute and Duke Center for International Development. |
| |
|
Haesang Jeon, MSW
|
Graduate Research Assistant Haesang Jeon is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work at Boston College. Haesang’s area of research includes self-directed long-term care services for disabled older population. She also has a strong research interest in racial/ethnic disparity between elders when receiving long-term care services. |
| |
|
Jungui Lee, EdD
|
Post-Doctoral Research Associate Jungui Lee is a research associate at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, where she works on Country Context Studies and coordinates other researchers in regard to this project. She has taught human resource development and lifelong education and her research interests include educational program development and evaluation for older adults, career development of older workers, and cross-national comparative research with regard to training policies. |
| |
|
Suzan Lewis, PhD
|
Professor, Organizational Psychology Dr. Suzan Lewis is a Professor of Organizational Psychology at Middlesex University Business School, London. Her research interests include diversity issues, -especially relating to generation and the life course, gender and "work- life balance" in relation to workplace practice, culture and change in diverse national contexts. |
| |
|
Tay K. McNamara, PhD
|
Co-director of Research Tay K. McNamara is the co-director of research at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. Due to her past experience in using large datasets, she both serves as an internal consultant and to oversee research projects related to secondary data sets. Additionally, her current research projects include secondary analysis related to work in countries around the world and a primary data collection project dealing with state agencies as employers. |
| |
|
Julie A. Norstrand
|
Graduate Research Assistant Julie A. Norstrand is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Social Work at Boston College. Julie' s area of research is focused on understanding the impact of the social environment on the physical and mental health of older adults. She also has strong research interest in better understanding the relationship between social networks and employment status of older adults. |
| |
|
Elizabeth Okongo
|
Graduate Research Assistant Elizabeth is currently doing her final year of Masters Degree in Education, special Education with specialization in severe disabilities, deaf/blind. Thesis focuses mainly on Communication ability for the deaf/blind, which calls for specialization in sign language for the deaf as well as Braille literacy for the blind. She has a great interest in research methodology. |
| |
|
Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, PhD
|
Associate Professor of Management and Strategy Ariane Ollier-Malaterre is an Associate Professor of Management at Rouen Business School. She has been a post-doctoral researcher with the Sloan Center on Aging and Work. Ariane has a 10-year professional experience and holds a PhD in Organizational Behavior from ESSEC Business School and CNAM University, Paris. She has compared Work-Life Balance organizational initiatives across France, the UK and the US. Her research interests include the Individual/Organization relationship, Work-Life and flexible working, Lifecycle and Aging, Protean Careers, and qualitative methodologies. |
| |
|
Chiara Paolino
|
PhD Candidate Chiara Paolino’s scholarly interests lie in understanding how HR management is able to enhance, in a feasible and effective way, individual and organizational performance. Chiara is currently involved in different research projects about topics such as employee segmentation, employee engagement, the effects of internal/external hiring of the top management team. Moreover, she is interested in investigating diversity management issues through research projects on gender, aging and disabilities. Chiara currently works at the Management Department in Bocconi University and in the Organization & HR department in the SDA Bocconi School of Management. |
| |
|
Emma Parry, PhD
|
Research Fellow, Human Resource Research Centre Dr. Emma Parry's research interests include recruitment and selection, particularly the use of the internet for recruitment and selection, the use of technology in HR, age discrimination at work, talent management and international HRM. Emma is currently managing the Recruitment Confidence Index, a quarterly survey of UK recruitment trends, and is also managing Cranet, an international Network of business Schools that conducts a comparative survey of HRM policies and practices in around 40 countries worldwide. |
| |
|
Farooq Pasha, MA
|
Research Assistant Sloan Center on Aging & Work, Boston College Doctoral Student Department of Economics, Boston College Farooq Pasha is a research assistant at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, where he is part of the Global Initiatives project. Farooq is also a doctoral student in the Economics Department at Boston College. His research at the center focuses mainly on job related values in developing countries. |
| |
|
Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, PhD
|
Director Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes directs the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College. She is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Social Work, and has appointments at the Boston College Carroll School of Management and the Business School at Middlesex University in London. She was the Co-Principal Investigator for the 2006 National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development and the 2007-2008 Age & Generations Study. Her current work includes oversight of the 2009 Talent Management Study. She will be leading the 2010 Generations of Talent study with colleagues from around the world. She was invited to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging as an issue expert, and recently co-edited a special issue of Generations (2007) that focused on aging and work. Dr. Pitt-Catsouphes was a recipient of the 2007 Work-Life Legacy Award. She serves on several boards and advisory committees, including the National Advisory Committee for Workplace 2010 at Georgetown University, the Strategy Board for the Association of Work/Life Professionals at the World of Work, and the Purdue Center for Families. Dr. Pitt-Catsouphes’ articles have been published in a number of scholarly and practitioner journals. She was a founding co-editor for the international journal, Community, Work and Family. Her publications include The Work-Family Handbook: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives and Approaches to Research, published by Erlbaum Publishers (2006) which she edited with colleagues. She received her B.A. from Tufts University, MSP from Boston College, and PhD from Boston University. |
| |
|
Rea Prouska, PhD |
Senior Lecturer, Human Resource Management Rea Prouska is a Senior Lecturer in HRM and programme leader for the BA HRM degree at Middlesex University. She lectures in second and final year modules on HRM. She has an MSc and PhD from the University of Manchester. Her research interests are in HR outsourcing and graduate employability. |
| |
|
Najwa Safadi |
Research Assistant Sloan Center on Aging & Work, Boston College Doctoral Student Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College |
| |
|
Heike Schroeder |
PhD Candidate |
| |
|
Chantel Sheaks |
Executive Vice President/Principal of Government Affairs Chantel Sheaks' focus is on the impact of workplace flexibility on employee benefits and other tax issues, with a current focus on older worker issues, such as phased retirement. In addition, Ms. Sheaks is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a course on health and welfare plans. Prior to joining Workplace Flexibility 2010, Ms. Sheaks was a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery. |
| |
|
Philip Taylor, PhD |
Professor of Employment Policy, Business, Work and Aging Centre for Research |
| |
|
Qingwen Xu, PhD
|
Assistant Professor of Social Work Dr. Xu is an Assistant Professor of Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. Her major research focuses on laws and social policies, and their impact on the well-being of populations in transition. |
| |
