Towards 2030: Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. A Sociological Perspective

Klimczuk, Andrzej (Ed.); Kerla, Minela (Ed.); Klimczuk-Kochańska, Magdalena (Ed.); Toczyski, Piotr (Ed.); Dovie, Delali A. (Ed.) Book Towards 2030: Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. A Sociological Perspective Suggested Citation: Klimczuk, Andrzej (Ed.); Kerla, Minela (Ed.); Klimczuk-Kochańska, Magdalena (Ed.); Toczyski, Piotr (Ed.); Dovie, Delali A. (Ed.) (2024) : Towards 2030: Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. A Sociological Perspective, Frontiers Media, Lausanne, https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-8325-5486-9 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/303186 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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Dovie Published in Frontiers in Sociology Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective September 2024 Frontiers in Sociology 1frontiersin.org About Frontiers Frontiers is more than just an open access publisher of scholarly articles: it is a pioneering approach to the world of academia, radically improving the way scholarly research is managed. The grand vision of Frontiers is a world where all people have an equal opportunity to seek, share and generate knowledge. Frontiers provides immediate and permanent online open access to all its publications, but this alone is not enough to realize our grand goals. Frontiers journal series The Frontiers journal series is a multi-tier and interdisciplinary set of openaccess, online journals, promising a paradigm shift from the current review, selection and dissemination processes in academic publishing. 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ISSN 1664-8714 ISBN 978-2-8325-5486-9 DOI 10.3389/978-2-8325-5486-9 September 2024 Frontiers in Sociology 2frontiersin.org Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective Topic editors Andrzej Klimczuk — Warsaw School of Economics, Poland Minela Kerla — Consultant, Sarajevo, The Association of Online Educators, Bosnia and Herzegovina Magdalena Klimczuk-Kochańska — University of Warsaw, Poland Piotr Toczyski — The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland Delali A. Dovie — University of Ghana, Ghana Citation Klimczuk, A., Kerla, M., Klimczuk-Kochańska, M., Toczyski, P., Dovie, D. A., eds. (2024). Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-8325-5486-9 September 2024 Frontiers in Sociology 3frontiersin.org 04 Editorial: Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective Andrzej Klimczuk, Delali A. Dovie, Minela Kerla, Magdalena Klimczuk-Kochańska and Piotr Toczyski 07 Digitally Savvy at the Home Office: Computer Skills of Older Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Europe Ronny König and Alexander Seifert 19 Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor for Children: Understanding the Determinative Factors Among Rural Households in Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam and Md Mahmudul Hoque 32 Scaling up social entrepreneurship to reduce poverty: Exploring the challenges and opportunities through stakeholder engagement Hari Harjanto Setiawan, Tauchid Komara Yuda, Badrun Susantyo, Muhammad Belanawane Sulubere, Mery Ganti, Habibullah Habibullah, Muslim Sabarisman and Ruaida Murni 39 Behind the flexibility: insufficient occupational injury protection of gig workers in China Xiaoxing Ran and Ying Zhao 47 Closing the academy–Business gap by building intellectual capital in professional formation Adela M. Vélez-Rolón, Alejandra Pulido López, Manuel Méndez-Pinzón and Diego Neira-Bermudez 58 Transformative community projects in East Germany’s rural spaces: exploring more sustainable forms of learning, working, and living Joachim Broecher and Janet F. Painter 65 Tribal women empowerment through entrepreneurship: evidence from Mayurbhanj District, Odisha S. Naveen, Jayanta Kumar Parida and Itishree Panda 74 Exploring the concepts of decent work through the lens of SDG 8: addressing challenges and inadequacies Bianca Ifeoma Chigbu and Fhulu Nekhwevha 87 Can COVID-19 mark a tipping point for home-based telework? Conflict between untact technology and rigid institutions in Korea Joonmo Cho, Sanghee Lee and Byungjin Park 101 Determinants of financial inclusion in households in Peru Julio Cesar Quispe Mamani, Santotomas Licimaco Aguilar Pinto, Dominga Asunción Calcina Álvarez, Marleny Quispe Layme, Guino Percy Gutierrez Toledo, Gina Tamara Condori Condori, Luis Vargas Espinoza, Wilian Quispe Layme, Hugo Rubén Marca Maquera and Charles Arturo Rosado Chávez Table of contents TYPE Editorial PUBLISHED 16 September 2024 DOI 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1487233 OPEN ACCESS EDITED AND REVIEWED BY Carol Stephenson, Northumbria University, United Kingdom *CORRESPONDENCE Andrzej Klimczuk [email protected] RECEIVED 27 August 2024 ACCEPTED 03 September 2024 PUBLISHED 16 September 2024 CITATION Klimczuk A, Dovie DA, Kerla M, Klimczuk-Kocha´ nska M and Toczyski P (2024) Editorial: Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective. Front. Sociol. 9:1487233. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1487233 COPYRIGHT ©2024 Klimczuk, Dovie, Kerla, Klimczuk-Kocha´ nska and Toczyski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Editorial: Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective Andrzej Klimczuk1*, Delali A. Dovie2, Minela Kerla3, Magdalena Klimczuk-Kocha´ nska4and Piotr Toczyski5 1Department of Social Policy, Collegium of Socio-Economics, SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw, Poland, 2Centre for Ageing Studies, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, 3The Association of Online Educators, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 4Faculty of Management, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, 5Media and Communication Department, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland KEYWORDS SDG8, unemployment, labor-market issues, social insurance, working poor, precarity, remote work Editorial on the Research Topic Towards 2030: sustainable development goal 8: decent work and economic growth. A sociological perspective Overview This Research Topic explores Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) eight, which is to “promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.” It highlights the COVID-19 pandemic’s severe impact and triggered global economic recession, worsened gender pay gaps, increased undeclared employment, and significantly raised unemployment (United Nations, 2024). From a sociology-specific perspective, this Research Topic examines the global and local implementation of SDG8, its adaptation to different geographical contexts, stakeholder involvement, and issues related to decent work conditions worldwide. The Research Topic was edited in cooperation with two journals: “Frontiers in Sociology” and “Frontiers in Public Health.” The Research Topic contains ten articles by 38 authors in: Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Peru, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States. Four types of articles are included: seven original research articles (Cho et al.;Islam and Hoque;König and Seifert;Naveen et al.;Quispe Mamani et al.;Ran and Zhao;Vélez-Rolón et al.), one review article (Chigbu and Nekhwevha), one perspective article (Broecher and Painter), and one opinion article (Setiawan et al.). This Research Topic deals with, among others, telework, digital skills, education, entrepreneurship, gig economy, intellectual capital, and work-life balance. The Research Topic of articles is organized according to three themes. Frontiers in Sociology 01 frontiersin.org 4 Klimczuk et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1487233 Theme I: transformations in the modern workforce The papers start with Chigbu and Nekhwevha, who focus on promoting decent work and sustainable economic growth within SDG8. The authors argue that this goal requires addressing gender inequality, market economy consequences, informal sector roles, and environmental sustainability. The presented research critically reviews 108 papers, revealing persistent gender biases, income disparities, insecure working conditions, and insufficient support for informal workers, highlighting gaps in achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. The findings emphasize the importance of fair, safe, and secure employment opportunities to support economic growth and uphold workers’ rights. In the following article, Cho et al., based on a South Korean case, introduce recent changes related to home-based telework that has changed rapidly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating adjustments in productivity, evaluations, and employment rules as per the Korean Labor Standards Act. This study underlines the need for societal and institutional shifts, including legal and organizational changes, to sustain post-pandemic remote work and optimize its dynamics for future advancements. König and Seifert continue discussing this subject by focusing on digital skills. Support for their development has become even more critical during the pandemic, especially for older employees working from home, although many still have lower digital proficiency. This research found that, among others, older workers expanded their computer skills during the pandemic. Ran and Zhao focus on another unexpected pandemic effect: the growing importance of occupational injury protection for gig workers in China. The authors show that the current measures are insufficient due to their exclusion from traditional employee benefits. This study contributes ideas for reforming work-related injury insurance to better protect gig workers, offering insights that may also benefit other countries. Theme II: challenges of bridging gaps between education and employment Islam and Hoque’s study on the trade-off between schooling and labor for children in rural Bangladesh opens the next section. This research finds that subsistence needs, labor demand, and parental occupation influence decisions to prioritize work over education. Additionally, factors such as sexual division of labor, credit constraints, and cultural beliefs negatively impact parents’ decisions regarding child schooling, suggesting that interventions must consider these socio-economic and cultural factors. The team of Vélez-Rolón et al., in their research, focused on another example of the relationship between education and employment. The authors argue that rapid technological advances and global challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, underscore the need for educational models that enhance employability and economic growth. The study conducted in Colombia shows that combining academic and company learning spaces helps close gaps and promote economic growth by developing intellectual capital, emphasizing decision-making, interorganizational coordination, and knowledge sharing. Quispe Mamani et al. show that education is crucial for financial inclusion in Peru. Financial inclusion is understood as access to quality financial services, essential for leveraging global opportunities for households and companies. The last paper in this section by Broecher and Painter underlines the potential for creating self-determined, healthy, and sustainable forms of working, learning, and living through a transformative community project initiated in Eastern Germany. The investigated initiative integrates components such as self-directed education and unconditional basic income, aiming to foster active civil society and improve conditions for children and young people, with potential for widespread application in rural and urban areas. Theme III: empowering communities through entrepreneurship and stakeholder engagement The final section focuses on two case studies of actions toward supporting specific communities. Naveen et al. concentrated their studies on empowering tribal women through entrepreneurship. The authors argue that particular programs can enhance their economic and social viability. The study suggests increasing government and organizational initiatives to improve women’s education and financial capacity to start new enterprises, thereby boosting their decision-making power within their families. The team of Setiawan et al. provides another example based on the scaling up of social entrepreneurship. The authors claim that stakeholder engagement is crucial in Indonesia’s state-driven programs to reduce poverty and combine business and social dimensions to improve economic welfare. The research shows that involving state and non-state actors enhances innovation, employment opportunities, and access to capital, ultimately leading to sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Conclusion The results in the Research Topic of articles enable the identification of five directions for further research, namely: (1) the effects of the lack of decent jobs and weak social insurance schemes (see Chen and Carré, 2020); (2) recent technological changes in the world of work related to automation and robotics (see Vos et al., 2023); (3) new forms and models of employment and education responding to megatrends including population aging, climate change, and dissemination of artificial intelligence (see Postepska, 2022); (4) transparent, flexible, and predictable legal employment frameworks development (see Gyulavári and Menegatti, 2022); and (5) development-oriented policies and employment services supporting decent job creation and entrepreneurship (see Shabbir, 2023). Author contributions AK: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. DD: Supervision, Validation, Writing – Frontiers in Sociology 02 frontiersin.org 5 Klimczuk et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1487233 review & editing. MK: Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. MK-K: Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. PT: Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. Funding The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Acknowledgments We want to thank all the authors and reviewers who contributed to the presented article Research Topic, for their dedication to our Research Topic and for sharing their knowledge and time. We are also grateful to the always helpful Frontiers team, whose organizational skills and understanding made this Research Topic possible. Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision. Publisher’s note All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. References Chen, M. A., and Carré, F. J. (eds.). (2020). The Informal Economy Revisited: Examining the Past, Envisioning the Future. Abingdon, OX; New York, NY: Routledge. Gyulavári, T., and Menegatti, E. (eds.). (2022). Decent Work in the Digital Age: European and Comparative Perspectives. Oxford: Hart Publishing. Postepska, A. (2022). “Overview of non-standard work arrangements,” in The Digital Economy and the European Labour Market, ed. M. Urbaniec (London: Routledge), 147–158. Shabbir, M. S. (2023). Exploring the relationship between sustainable entrepreneurship and the United Nations sustainable development goals: a comprehensive literature review. Sustain. Dev. 31, 3070–3085. doi: 10.1002/sd.2570 United Nations (2024). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024. New York, NY: United Nations. Vos, M., de Anderson, G., and Verhulp, E. (eds.). (2023). The Cambridge Handbook of Technological Disruption in Labour and Employment Law. Cambridge; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Frontiers in Sociology 03 frontiersin.org 6 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 26 April 2022 doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.858052 Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 1April 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 858052 Edited by: Magdalena Klimczuk-Kocha ´ nska, University of Warsaw, Poland Reviewed by: Anna Wanka, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany Lutz Bellmann, Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Germany Nora Gray-Gariazzo, Gabriela Mistral University, Chile Aine Ni Leime, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland Hans-Werner Wahl, Heidelberg University, Germany *Correspondence: Ronny König [email protected] Specialty section: This article was submitted to Work, Employment and Organizations, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sociology Received: 19 January 2022 Accepted: 29 March 2022 Published: 26 April 2022 Citation: König R and Seifert A (2022) Digitally Savvy at the Home Office: Computer Skills of Older Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Europe. Front. Sociol. 7:858052. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.858052 Digitally Savvy at the Home Office: Computer Skills of Older Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Europe Ronny König1*and Alexander Seifert1,2 1Department of Sociology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2Institute for Integration and Participation, School of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Olten, Switzerland Digital skills can be a valuable resource in work life, especially in such times as the current COVID-19 pandemic, during which working from home has become new reality. Although increasing numbers of older employees (aged 50 years and above) are using digital technologies to work remotely, many of these older adults still have generally lower digital skills. Whether the pandemic will be a push factor for the acquisition of computer skills in late working life remains unclear. This study investigated the explanatory factors of the computer skills gained by older workers who were working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, using representative data for 28 countries from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analysis of the survey responses of 11,042 employed persons aged 50 years and older revealed that, 13% worked only at home due to the pandemic, while 15% said they worked at home and in their usual workplace. The descriptives indicate that full-time homeworking is more of an option among those with tertiary education and who already have some computer skills. Of the older employees who worked only at home, 36% reported an improvement in their computer skills, whereas of the older workers who worked at home and at their usual workplaces, only 29% reported such an improvement. Our results based on logistic regressions suggest that significantly more women, younger employees, respondents with tertiary educational qualifications, and those whose work was not affected by unemployment or even business closure acquired new computer skills, regardless of whether they were working permanently or only partly from home. The study underlines the importance of investigating the possible digital skills gained from the home office situation resulting from the pandemic. Keywords: home office, corona, COVID-19, digital skills, Europe, older adults, SHARE INTRODUCTION The digitalization of society yields opportunities to maintain daily life activities (e.g., online classes, shopping, medical consultation) and stay engaged with social ties, even in the midst of a pandemic. However, for individuals who are not adept at using technology or have difficulty adapting to technological innovations, living in a digitalized society may be problematic (Lupton, 2015). Further, many people in later adulthood do 7 König and Seifert Digitally Savvy at the Home Office TABLE 3 | Interactions between determinants of improved computer skills. M8 OR P SE M9 OR P SE Worked at home only Workload National broadband access Workload No (Ref.) Unchanged (Ref.) Medium (Ref.) Unchanged (Ref.) No Reduced 1.11 0.469 0.16 Medium Reduced 1.72 0.001 0.29 No Increased 2.06 0.000 0.32 Medium Increased 1.90 0.001 0.38 Yes Unchanged 1.26 0.026 0.13 Low Unchanged 1.22 0.186 0.19 Yes Reduced 1.63 0.000 0.21 Low Reduced 1.14 0.493 0.22 Yes Increased 2.54 0.000 0.36 Low Increased 3.51 0.000 0.76 High Unchanged 1.32 0.029 0.17 High Reduced 1.46 0.020 0.24 High Increased 2.35 0.000 0.40 N3,197 N3,197 Nagelkerke’s R20.104 Nagelkerke’s R20.107 Model c-statistic 0.687 Model c-statistic 0.690 Worked at home only Sex National broadband access Sex No (Ref.) Male (Ref.) Medium (Ref.) Male (Ref.) No Female 1.48 0.001 0.17 Medium Female 1.95 0.000 0.30 Yes Male 1.12 0.357 0.14 Low Male 1.45 0.040 0.26 Yes Female 2.12 0.000 0.23 Low Female 1.85 0.000 0.29 High Male 1.22 0.176 0.18 High Female 2.14 0.000 0.30 N 3,197 N 3,197 Nagelkerke’s R20.104 Nagelkerke’s R20.105 Model c-statistic 0.687 Model c-statistic 0.688 Worked at home only Tertiary education National broadband access Tertiary education No (Ref.) No (Ref.) Medium (Ref.) No (Ref.) No Yes 2.02 0.000 0.26 Medium Yes 1.30 0.086 0.20 Yes No 1.28 0.084 0.19 Low No 0.84 0.377 0.17 Yes Yes 2.63 0.000 0.33 Low Yes 1.69 0.001 0.26 High No 0.69 0.021 0.11 High Yes 1.92 0.000 0.26 N3,197 N 3,197 Nagelkerke’s R20.104 Nagelkerke’s R20.108 Model c-statistic 0.687 Model c-statistic 0.691 Worked at home only National broadband access National broadband access Worked at home only No (Ref.) Medium (Ref.) Medium (Ref.) No (Ref.) No Low 1.11 0.532 0.19 Medium Yes 1.50 0.008 0.23 No High 1.36 0.033 0.19 Low No 1.11 0.532 0.19 Yes Medium 1.50 0.008 0.23 Low Yes 1.68 0.001 0.27 Yes Low 1.68 0.001 0.27 High No 1.36 0.033 0.19 Yes High 1.51 0.004 0.22 High Yes 1.51 0.004 0.22 N3,197 N3,197 Nagelkerke’s R20.105 Nagelkerke’s R20.105 Model c-statistic 0.688 Model c-statistic 0.688 Data sources: Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), wave 8, COVID-19 Survey 1, release 8.0.0, separate logistic regressions (models under control of all variables included in M6 of Table 2), odds ratios (OR), P value (P), robust standard errors (SE), references (Ref.), significant coefficients (p ≤0.100) are displayed bold, own calculations. Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 8April 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 858052 14 König and Seifert Digitally Savvy at the Home Office seemingly contradictory results. First, respondents who recently felt (increasingly) nervous, anxious, or on edge were likelier to gain new computer skills during this phase of the pandemic in comparison to those who had not such feelings. Second, we found the same pattern for a gain in computer skills for employees who had uplifting experiences during the outbreak that gave them inspiration or happiness, and those who said they were looking forward to the time when COVID-19 would abate in contrast to respondents who did not report such positive experiences or expectations. Model 5 controlled for the respondents’ demographics and living conditions. It showed that women in particular experienced improved computer skills from working from home. The younger among the older generation reported the same. Further, those with tertiary education degrees were also more likely to report improved computer skills during the pandemic. We found no influence of migration or the current living situation on changed computer skills. The respondents’ years of birth and sex influenced their self-reported improvement in computer skills in two ways: with a loss and with a gain. In line with previous findings (see for example, Foverskov et al., 2018; Kamin and Lang, 2020), this can be attributed to the natural decline in cognitive abilities with age and to the fact that the women under investigation achieved—despite a similar age distribution—higher cognition scores than men (t-test significant at the p=0.001 level). However, employees whose working hours were reduced due to the pandemic were now also more likely to report that they had acquired new computer skills. This pattern applies mainly to younger employees with tertiary qualifications. Model 6 considered the country-specific distribution of broadband internet access. Whereas, the gross effect indicated improved computer skills for respondents living in countries with national broadband access below and above the European average, the analysis that covered all relevant indicators underlined that the direction of this pattern remained true but simultaneously lost its significance. Based on these findings and to investigate different mechanisms depending on the type of homeworking experienced, we tested the model specified under M6 separately for employees who worked partially (M7-1) or entirely (M7-2) at home. Overall, the results confirmed the previously found mechanisms and pointed out that women, younger employees, those who are highly educated, and those whose work was not affected by unemployment, layoffs, or even business closures acquired new computer skills significantly more often, regardless of whether they worked entirely or partly from home. However, we simultaneously found differences depending on the type and extent of homeworking. Partial homeworking respondents who increased their working time as a result of the pandemic as well as those, who showed increased feelings of nervousness or anxiety were likelier to have learned new computer skills since the outbreak. The same outcome was observed with respondents, who worked partially at home and who resided in one of the ten countries with a generally higher internet distribution such as Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. A similar increase in computer knowledge was seen among full-time homeworkers, especially those whose regular working hours had to be either reduced or increased, those who already had in-depth IT skills before the pandemic, and those who had no prior migration experiences and thus belonged to the native population. The results further showed no influence from the national internet infrastructure on the acquisition of new computer skills for those who were working full time at home. Based on these findings and to capture a broader picture of the effects of the type of homeworking (M8) and national broadband access (M9) on improved computer skills, we included several interaction terms for changed workload, educational background, and sex as indicators for each combination of the categories of the variables used in the equation (Table 3). Here, the results revealed that respondents who had worked entirely at home since the outbreak of COVID19 were more likely to report an improvement in their computer skills. The same applies to partial homeworkers who increased their workload since the spread of coronavirus. A similar effect could be found regarding the interaction between national broadband access and workload for those from countries with an overall better ICT infrastructure. However, respondents from Bulgaria, Croatia, Israel, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovak Republic who lived in countries with a below average distribution of broadband access but who increased their regular working hours could also benefit from improved computer skills. The same applies to employees from countries with “medium” national broadband access (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, and Malta) who either increased or reduced their workload. Regarding sex-specific differences, the included interactions highlight that women in general were more able to improve their computer skills since the outbreak of the pandemic, regardless of their working situation (partial or entirely at home) and country of residence. Among men, only those from countries with belowaverage ICT infrastructure reported an improvement in their computer knowledge. A similar picture was observed for highly educated employees. In comparison to respondents without tertiary qualifications, those with tertiary credentials reported improved computer skills significantly more often, regardless of their working environment (entirely or partially at home) or country. However, for respondents with non-tertiary education, the results indicate that their computer skills also improved if they worked entirely at home. Simultaneously, employees with non-tertiary education but living in countries with “high” national broadband access were significantly less likely to increase their computer skills during this phase of the pandemic. Finally, the interaction between the type of homeworking (partially or entirely) and country-specific internet access showed that, in general, respondents who were permanently working at home significantly more often improved their computer skills, regardless of the ICT infrastructure in their country. Only in countries with a comparatively above-average availability of highspeed internet does the type of homeworking play no role in learning new skills in later life. Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 9April 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 858052 15 König and Seifert Digitally Savvy at the Home Office DISCUSSION Our analysis showed that only 12% of the respondents worked full time at home due to the COVID-19 restrictions, while 15% worked partly from home and partly at their usual workplace. The descriptives indicate that full-time homeworking was more common among those with tertiary education and who already had excellent computer skills before the pandemic. Therefore, working from home was not an option for each older worker, which underlines the possible social inequality of telework (Sostero et al., 2020). Overall, the majority of the older workers who were working from home did not report acquiring new computer skills. However, more of those who worked full time from home reported that they acquired new computer skills than those who worked only partly from home. This reveals a certain “digital push” among the older workers who were working from home (Gallistl et al., 2021). Such a digital push suggests an increase in digital use and skills due to COVID-19 home-related use of ICT (e.g., the internet) for work or social interactions (e.g., video calls with family members). Amankwah-Amoah et al. (2021) also described COVID-19 as “the great accelerator,” having fasttracked the existing global trend toward embracing modern technologies and having ushered in transformations in work life (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021). Against the background of the concept of “digital capital” (Park, 2017; Ragnedda, 2018), our analyses highlight an increase in digital capital, in this case, in computer skills, to some extent related to homeworking due to COVID-19. These new computer skills can be understood as new resources for the digitally oriented future work of older workers aged 50 years and older, and thus as enriching their digital capital set, which will open up to them better opportunities in the labor market even after the COVID-19 pandemic (Milasi et al., 2021). Nevertheless, not all older workers reported an increase in computer skills during COVID-19-related homeworking. In fact, the results highlight that those with few or some digital experiences especially benefited from improved computer skills through pandemic-related homeworking compared to older adults with already excellent computer skills before the pandemic. Overall, the results point out that women, younger respondents, employees with tertiary education, and those whose work was not affected by unemployment, layoffs, or even business closure acquired new computer skills significantly more often, regardless of whether they worked entirely or partly from home. The results further showed that those who worked only partly at home were less able to improve their computer skills than those who switched completely to work from home. Moreover, the previously recurring difference between men and women in the observed age group in terms of technology use (König and Seifert, 2020) was apparently narrowed with the pandemic, as women showed a higher increase in computer skills during the pandemic and regardless of whether they worked entirely or partially from home and regardless of their country of residence. Therefore, the pandemic can be seen as a push factor in acquiring computer skills in later working life, especially for women. However, to overcome the digital gap among older workers, it is important to invest in training to increase digital capital, even after the pandemic (Cros et al., 2021). This also includes a further expansion of the internet infrastructure to guarantee adequate use for everyone—even beyond a pandemic. Even if working from home is not possible for some older workers, the current pandemic has shown that new computer skills are important in maintaining employment remotely and even non-remotely in old age, within the current scenario, but even more so in the future, in which everyone’s work is expected to be digitally dominated. Against the expected accelerated development of new technologies, older workers can remain employed and be empowered to cope with new work-related digital challenges if they are able to use such technologies. Getting older adults to use ICT is one challenge, but once they are already using, for example, work-related new software, getting them to continue using other ICTs is another challenge. Maintaining the use of digital devices by older adults is an understudied but critical area for future research. When ICTs stop working properly, need repairs, require software, and password updates, and change their layout and appearance through software interface updates, some older adults may not be able to keep using them over time (Houston et al., 2019). During such times, older adults may need assistance from IT professionals in their workplace or from their social ties to resolve IT issues and continue using the technology (Kamin et al., 2020). If these sources of support are not available, older adults may end up using the technology less frequently or not at all (König and Seifert, 2020). Although the current pandemic motivated older workers to learn new computer skills, there is a need for targeted funding and programs to meet the needs of these individuals to remain connected to the labor market. This is vital because nearly all occupations are increasingly requiring digital skills, including those that have not traditionally required them, and remote work is becoming more common (Hecker et al., 2021). As people aged 50–60 years grow older, it will be interesting to see how their technology use evolves as new ICTs continue to be developed and disseminated and whether they will be able to maintain their usage of various types of work-related ICT. Technology is constantly evolving; the fast-paced nature of technology development leaves researchers with the challenge of staying abreast of the latest developments in technology and how its use is evolving over time. This also contributes to the limited understanding of the impacts of technology use on older adults and how to maintain their use of such technology over time. Interdisciplinary research, as well as cooperative studies between technology developers and researchers in the sociology and business domains, will be needed in the future to more fully comprehend the many ways in which older adults use ICT, how their ICT use waxes and wanes over time, and the complex pathways through which ICT use may have an impact on older adults’ working lives, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. Limitations As this study focused on Europe, our findings may have limited generalizability outside of Europe. Moreover, our dependent variable was limited (i.e., there was no information on areas, forms, and levels of computer skills), as not all possible facets of digital skills gained during the pandemic could be considered. Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 10 April 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 858052 16 König and Seifert Digitally Savvy at the Home Office Hence, future studies are needed to measure in greater detail the computer skills (objectively and subjectively) of older workers in their home offices and the changes or stability of such skills over time. Although the SHARE data allowed us to investigate an improvement in digital skills in a variety of European countries, especially among older adults, the information is limited to employees whose profession and employer allowed them to switch to a home office in the wake of the pandemic. In addition to this limitation to a certain part of the workforce, the survey also lacked several important variables, such as technology biographies, attitudes toward technology, technology acceptance, the use of technology in the household, and reasons for non-use. Moreover, the SHARE dataset used does not allow the differentiation between work locations and their technical frameworks, requirements (e.g., required employee skills), or inhouse computer training provided. Furthermore, we do not know about the respondents’ use of continuing education services or tools to build their digital skills during the pandemic. Future studies with representative data should focus on longitudinal settings to investigate more deeply the factors that influence the acquisition of digital skills and the educational needs of older adults in later working life. CONCLUSION For the European countries included in this study, our findings revealed a considerable pandemic-related increase in computer skills among workers aged 50 years and older while working from home due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Such an increase in computer skills was observed, especially for women and among people who already had some computer skills before the pandemic. Furthermore, the increases in computer skills were driven by socioeconomic and work-related conditions. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has, to some extent, increased the “digital capital” of older (female) employees, work-related interventions (such as computer skills training among older workers) should be pursued to further promote the digital skills of workers to prepare them for remote work and, generally, for the digital transformation of work in the future. DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: http://www.share-project.org/. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS All authors listed made substantial, direct, and intellectual contributions to the work and approved it for publication. FUNDING The SHARE data collection has been funded by the European Commission, DG RTD through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812), FP7 (SHARE-PREP: GA N◦211909, SHARE-LEAP: GA N◦227822, SHARE M4: GA N◦261982, DASISH: GA N◦283646) and Horizon 2020 (SHARE-DEV3: GA N◦676536, SHARECOHESION: GA N◦870628, SERISS: GA N◦654221, SSHOC: GA N◦823782, SHARE-COVID19: GA N◦101015924) and by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion through VS 2015/0195, VS 2016/0135, VS 2018/0285, VS 2019/0332, and VS 2020/0313. Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR0611, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C, RAG052527A) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org). 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Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 12 April 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 858052 18 ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 14 June 2022 doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.839231 Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 1June 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 839231 Edited by: Minela Kerla, The Association of Online Educators, Bosnia and Herzegovina Reviewed by: Arjan de Haan, International Development Research Centre, Canada Mary Arends-Kuenning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States *Correspondence: Md Mahmudul Hoque [email protected]; [email protected] †ORCID: Rafiqul Islam orcid.org/0000-0003-4811-4536 Md Mahmudul Hoque orcid.org/0000-0002-5263-6145 ‡These authors have contributed equally to this work Specialty section: This article was submitted to Work, Employment and Organizations, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sociology Received: 19 December 2021 Accepted: 16 May 2022 Published: 14 June 2022 Citation: Islam R and Hoque MM (2022) Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor for Children: Understanding the Determinative Factors Among Rural Households in Bangladesh. Front. Sociol. 7:839231. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2022.839231 Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor for Children: Understanding the Determinative Factors Among Rural Households in Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam†‡ and Md Mahmudul Hoque*†‡ Ministry of Public Administration, Dhaka, Bangladesh This research is concerned with understanding the factors behind the trade-off between child labor and child schooling, given the well-documented links between the two. It examines parents’ behavior in their decision-making on their children’s schooling or practicing child labor. Depending on qualitative research methods including 28 semi-structured interviews and two focus group discussions conducted in the rural areas of Bangladesh in 2020, this study reveals the following: subsistence needs compel households, particularly the ultra-poor and the female-headed, to trade off child labor with schooling; due to higher demand of labor, parents engage their children into work instead of schooling; parents of labor-intensive occupations tend to trade off child labor with schooling; sexual division of labor remains obvious; finally, credit constraints and cultural beliefs have negative impacts on parental decision-making on child schooling. Interventions aiming to reduce child labor and increase schooling in these rural areas must remain mindful of the socio-economic and cultural needs. Keywords: child labor, trade-off, schooling, factors, parents, rural households, Bangladesh INTRODUCTION International Labor Organization’s Convention No. 182 illustrates two kinds of adverse effects of child labor—one is the direct effect on the child’s physical, mental, or social development and another is the indirect effect on the child’s schooling (ILO, 1999). Several studies related to child labor also highlight its effect on schooling (Binder and Scrogin, 1999; Ravallion and Wodon, 2000; Ray, 2000; Parikh and Sadoulet, 2005). This research focuses on the trading-off between labor and schooling for children in a developing country context to further this understanding. Although the harmful effects of child labor are generally acknowledged by adults, parents in poor and developing economic contexts are often induced by its monetary returns. Parents often find it hard to bear the costs of schooling (Delap, 2001). Formal schooling is considered a vital contributor to human skills and capital (Mussida et al., 2019; Posso, 2020). Target 4.1 of the 2015 Global Development Agenda calls for ensuring that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education (Boeren, 2019). However, the growing number of school dropouts in developing countries remains a global concern (UNESCO, 2015; Hossain and Akter, 2019; Sarker et al., 2019). This qualitative investigation explores the household-level factors in the rural areas of Bangladesh to explain why parents trade off children’s schooling with labor. 19 Islam and Hoque Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor Previous studies have used various lenses to focus on the issue. Some works analyzed household demographic factors (Grootaert and Kanbur, 1995; Basu and Van, 1998; Salmon, 2005; Huisman and Smits, 2009), while others extensively focused on sociocultural factors and the intra-household demand and supply of labor (Delap, 2001; Bhalotra and Heady, 2003; Emerson and Souza, 2003; Mukherjee and Pal, 2016; Hoque, 2021a). Several empirical findings indicate that parents engaged in laborintensive occupations tend to trade off schooling with child labor in various localized contexts (Bhalotra and Heady, 2003; Haile and Haile, 2012; Yokying and Floro, 2020). A few empirical studies have also examined the intrahousehold decision-making regarding children’s work and labor in rural and urban areas in Bangladesh, and recognized parental occupation as a significant determinant (Amin et al., 2006; Shafiq, 2007; Tariquzzaman and Hossain, 2009). Drawing from the aforementioned works, this study contributes to the empirical literature by focusing on the parents’ occupations in explaining their decisions regarding trade-offs between schooling and the labor of children in rural areas in Bangladesh. Assuming that parents who are engaged in labor-intensive occupations in low-income families in rural areas tend to engage their children in child labor, this study examines whether government interventions influence the respective parental decisions. To our knowledge, no qualitative empirical studies have purely focused on this issue. Based on this assumption, this research was led by two questions: (i) What are the factors that influence households’ decisions in trading off between schooling and child labor in rural areas of Bangladesh? (ii) What government and non-government interventions are perceived to be effective? This study adopted qualitative primary research to address these questions. This paper is organized as follows. The next section outlines the review of literature followed by the research methodology. The subsequent section delineates the findings and analysis. The final section concludes with highlighting the key implications of this study. LITERATURE REVIEW Factors of Child Labor and Schooling Child labor is generally considered harmful as it takes away a child’s childhood and inhibits their social mobility. International Labor Organization (ILO) defines child labor as “work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and interferes with their schooling” (ILO, 2002, p. 15). The latest global estimates state that about 160 million children aged 5–17−63 million girls and 97 million boys—were engaged in child labor globally in 2020 (ILO and UNICEF, 2021). Three major international conventions that set the standards for child employment/labor are—ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Admission to Employment in 1973, ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention, 1999 (No. 182) and United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (UNCRC). Following these conventions, child labor was seen as an unaccepable practice until the mid-1990s when emerging evidence started to back up a common understanding that not all work was harmful for children, and that employment in certain, safe kinds of work could be beneficial to achieve survival level of consumptions and skills (Rogers and Swinnerton, 2002). For instance, Mergos (1992) discovered that children had a positive economic contribution to farm households through peasant agriculture work in the Philipines. Bachman (2000) argues that stopping child labor may bring a halt to the survival incomes of many poor families. Recognizing schooling as a fundamental right and need of children, several studies have idenfiied child labor as a major obstacle in low-income family contexts (Ravallion and Wodon, 2000; Ray, 2000; Parikh and Sadoulet, 2005). Working hours was also found responsible for reducing children’s leisure and outdoor activities (Binder and Scrogin, 1999). Parental and household behavior regarding sending a child to school depends on a wide range of factors. Theoretical and empirical studies have interrogated the trade-off between schooling and labor mainly in low-income contexts. Basu and Van’s (1998) luxary axiom states that a family engages in labor only when the imcome of adult family members is very low (Swinnerton and Rogers, 1999). Poverty was identified as a major driver of child labor. Jensen and Nielsen’s (1997) study revealed that parents could not send their children to school in Zambia due to lack of monetary resources. Buchmann and Brakewood (2000) have drawn similar observations in Thailand and Kenya. Shafiq (2007) and Malik (2013) revealed the trade-off between school enrolment and child labor due to poverty in India and Bangladesh, respectively. However, evidence from various contexts also commonly indicates that the supply of child labor depends on the wage, demand, and opportunities in the market (Parikh and Sadoulet, 2005; Roy et al., 2015; Mukherjee and Pal, 2016; Tama et al., 2018). Besides poverty, several other factors drive households to trade-off between schooling and child labor. Demographic factors like children’s age, number of children and family members, and absence of a parent influence the decision (Tariquzzaman and Hossain, 2009; Malik, 2013; Khan and Lyon, 2015). Duraisamy’s (2000) research based in India revealed that with age, children’s participation in work increases, and schooling decreases. So, in other words, an older child is at more risk in trading-off schooling with child labor (Ray, 2000). In Bangladesh’s rural areas, meanwhile, schooling of older boys depends on the number of children. If the number is high, the probability of schooling is low as the older siblings have to take care of the younger ones (Amin et al., 2006). However, several empirical researches conducted in Bangladesh showed that in many cases the older children often combine work and schooling (Alam et al., 2008; Khanam, 2008; Quattri and Watkins, 2019). It is well-established in the literature that when schools are close to where the children live, this may increase study hours and school attendance (Jensen and Nielsen, 1997; Huisman and Smits, 2009). Ray (2000) found that infrastructure such as the availability of classrooms can reduce child labor hours by increasing school hours. Social and cultural factors are also critical. Delap (2001) argues that besides the economic factors, child labor crucially involves societal norms related to gender and culture. Children’s sex, age, and place of residence appear to play important roles in Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 2June 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 839231 20 Islam and Hoque Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor determining the type of work they perform in communities across rural and urban Bangladesh (Delap, 2000; Salmon, 2005; Tariquzzaman and Hossain, 2009; UCW, 2011; Hoque, 2021b). Perhaps interestingly, there are still some dichotomies in the literature. For example, Khanam (2005, 2008) observed that girls in rural areas must combine household work with schooling to a much greater extent than boys in Bangladesh’s rural areas, while in contrast, Shafiq (2007) found no discrimination based on gender in rural households in Bangladesh. Parents’ Occupation and Education Parental characteristics (i.e., occupation, education, type of employment, and so forth) play an important role in deciding how their children will spend their time. Evidence suggests that most children are employed by their parents for domestic help or to work in family farms and businesses (Fors, 2012; ILO UNICEF, 2021). Parikh and Sadoulet (2005) found in Brazil that self-employed or employer parents engage their children into labor more than employee parents. This indicates that availability or opportunities of work is a determinant of child labor. In Bangladesh, parents in non-labor-intensive occupations generally do not send their children to work, and wealthier rural households in Bangladesh can keep their children in school by bearing the opportunity cost (Amin et al., 2006). However, Bhalotra and Heady (2003) explained how the opposite could also happen. They called this the “wealth-paradox” phenomenon, which is that asset-rich households may engage their children into labor more than the asset-poor households. Due to credit constraints, asset-rich households may not be able to hire labor for their farm, so they may deploy their children into their farms. Several empirical research findings support this paradox (Buchmann and Brakewood, 2000; Ravallion and Wodon, 2000; Baschieri and Falkingham, 2009). Rammohan (2012) found in India that households that own agricultural lands usually let their children combine schooling and work; still, they may pull the children out of school during the harvest season when the demand for labor is higher. Salmon (2005) states that children are generally employed as unpaid labor in the agricultural sector, which indicates the high demand for child labor in laborintensive occupations. Similarly, Rahman et al. (2010) found that children in rural Bangladesh are more likely to work in their parents’ occupations in the agricultural sector. In poor communities, households or families with disabled or illiterate parents are more likely to opt for generating income by engaging their children in child labor (Edmonds, 2007; Webbink et al., 2012). Several studies show that parents’ education has a positive impact on child schooling and negative impact on child labor in Bangladesh (Ravallion and Wodon, 2000; Khanam, 2005; Shafiq, 2007; Ahmed and Ray, 2011; Hossain and Akter, 2019). Ahmed and Ray (2011) reveal that parents’ level of education affects the trade-off decision-making across genders; however, a mother’s education shows a significant inclination toward educating a girl child. Based on data collected from two districts of Bangladesh Hossain and Akter (2019) observe that children of educated parents left school less than less-educated parents. Determinants of Parents’ Decision-Making on Schooling or Child Labor The return from investment of human capital is greater than the return from investing in physical assets (Schultz, 1989). However, when it comes to decision-making, parents often favor having their children combining child labor with informal learning (e.g., home education, religious studies, NGO-run non-formal education). Parental beliefs about the returns from schooling in forming human capital such as skills, knowledge, and health remain a primary determinant (Mukherjee and Pal, 2016). Many parents believe formal education fails to ensure social mobility for their children (Bazin and Bhukuth, 2009). While analyzing urban child labor among poor households in Bangladesh, Tariquzzaman and Hossain (2009) identified parental perception of the low returns from formal education as a significant influence. Poor quality educational provision, low attainment and high dropout rates among poor children are the key factors behind this perception (Tariquzzaman and Hossain, 2009). Some other recognized critical determinants are the distance of schools, low return on human capital investment, large indirect cost of schooling, and low quality of educational facilities (Jensen and Nielsen, 1997). Huisman and Smits (2009) studied 220,000 children in 340 districts of 30 developing countries to find out household and district level determinants of primary school enrolment and found that parental decisions on children’s schooling are influenced by socio-economic and household demographic characteristics, including parents’ education, level of wealth, level of occupation, and gender. Basu and Tzannatos (2003) argue that for many households, child leisure or schooling is a luxury good, and if household income is not sufficient, families cannot afford to keep a child out of productive work or send them to school. Thus, child labor is often a substitute for adult labor. Diamond and Fayed (1998) discovered substitutability of adult and child labor in Egypt, and observed females are substitutes for children, but males are complements. In the case of Bangladesh, Salmon (2005) found that children and mothers are substitutes for each other as children of employed mothers were mostly working in households. Hosen et al. (2010) highlight that many poor and vulnerable parents in Bangladesh often have no alternatives to trade-off child education for paid or unpaid child work. 69.3% of rural parents engage in child labor to increase family income, 4.3% to repay loans, 3.7% for not being able to bear educational expenses, and 4.7% for children’s unwillingness to study. Intra-Household Demand and Supply of Child Labor It is generally agreed that higher school expenditure (fees and other expenses) may induce parents to pull their children out from school (Sabates et al., 2013). However, due to seasonal variation in agricultural activities, particularly in Bangladesh, the adults of the families may be engaged in non-agricultural work to increase income. This may create the substitution effect on the children in the household activities when the adults are busy working outside (Ahmed and Ray, 2011). Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 3June 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 839231 21 Islam and Hoque Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor Arends-Kuenning and Amin (2004) revealed that boys are mostly affected by seasonal agricultural labor demand as they are pulled out of school to meet this increased demand. This usually interrupts their school attendance and performance and thus may result into them dropping out. However, households usually tend to hire adult labor for family farming, which creates an opportunity for children to go to school. But, due to the moral hazards of managing hired adult labor, households may prefer their own family’s labor as family members (especially children) are easy to supervise, and acquainted with the farm (Bhalotra and Heady, 2003). Moreover, levels of household indebtedness may have a negative correlation with child schooling. For example, if a household is in high debt, to pay it off, the adults of the households are likely to need to work longer hours which may create a necessity for children, particularly girls, to help in domestic chores (Ahmed and Ray, 2011). CHILD LABOR AND SCHOOLING SITUATION IN BANGLADESH In Bangladesh, the government provides the mainstream formal primary and secondary education for all public-school students. Primary education consists of a 5-year cycle, and secondary also has a 5-year cycle. The official age of entry into primary school is 6 years, although enrolment at later ages is also quite common. The country introduced compulsory primary education in 1992 along with free textbooks and tuition fee exemption for all children up to grade 5 and up to grade 8 for girls (Ahmed and Ray, 2011). According to Annual Primary School Census 2019, overall enrolment rate in primary school was 97.74–97.65% for girls, and 98.01% for boys. The overall student attendance rate was 88.66%; the primary education cycle completion rate for girls was 83.20%, for boys, this was 80.80%. The overall drop-out rate stood at 17.9%—for girls, it was 15.7%, and for boys, 19.20% (GoB, 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly worsened the situation (Emon et al., 2020; Hoque, 2020). An academic year of schooling has ∼220 school days. Because of the government incentives (i.e., free textbooks, free tuition, free food), the parents can compensate for the foregone earnings of their children (if they had worked instead), which inspires them to send their children to school. Bangladesh Child Labor Survey 2013 estimates that the number of total working children aged 5-17 was 3.45 million (male 2.10 million and female 1.35 million), and the number of children engaged in labor was 1.7 million (BBS, 2015). The survey defined the terms “working children” and “child labor” based on the principles of the 18th International Conference on Labor Statisticians and Bangladesh Labor Act 2006.1The number of children aged between 14 and 17 engaged in child labor was 1.21 million. The national survey further informs that about 67% of child labor takes place in the rural areas, and of the children employed, 29.9% were engaged in the agricultural sector, while 33.3% were engaged in the manufacturing industry. 1Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 defines a child as a person who has not completed his fourteenth year of age. However, the National Child Labour Survey considered the age group of 5–17 as children. Among rural child labor, 63% of children were not attending school during the reporting, 8.4% had never attended school, and the remaining 28.6% combined work and schooling. During the survey, households reported various reasons causing child laborers to drop out of school. As Table 1 shows, 36% of child laborers dropped schooling to support their family income, 15.1% for not being able to afford the expenses, and only 16.1% left school to start working. Notably, among three age groups (6– 11, 12–13, 14–17), more than 1 in 4 children aged 6–11 dropped school to start working, and a significant of children aged 6–13 reported “no school nearby” as a reason for their dropout. The report conveys Bangladesh’s national definition of child labor as: “Child labor is paid or unpaid work that is mentally, socially or morally conjugated with danger to children or the infliction of harm to children; activities that deprive children of the opportunity to go to school, or in addition to schoolwork and household responsibilities, loads additional work done in other places, which enslaves children and separates from their families; work performed by a child under the minimum age for entering into employment relationship with the employer according to the labor legislation of Bangladesh.” (BBS, 2015, p. 16) Bangladesh has been in active collaboration with ILO-IPEC initiatives through adopting the elimination of child labor its policy documents such as “The National Child Labor Elimination Policy, 2010” focus on the planning and implementation of various short, medium and long-term strategies and programmes for withdrawing working children, particularly from the worst forms of child labor, from the workforce, and getting them out of the vicious cycle of poverty and to get them back to school (GoB, 2010). The government has enacted some laws and legal provisions in relation to ILO Convention No. 182 and UNCRC, which include the Constitutional provisions (Art. 18, 20, 34), Penal Code (Secs. 366, 372, 373, 374), Children’s Act, 2013; Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act, 2000 (Sec. 8, 9)—amended in 2003, Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act, 1933, Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006 (Chapter VII), and the Employment of Children Act, 1938 (ILO guidance). The Bangladesh Labor Act, 2006 outlaws the employment of any child <14 years of age and bans anyone below 18 in some categorized list of hazardous works (GoB, 2015). Notably, on 22 March 2022, the country, as a part of the government’s commitment under the National Action Plan on the Labor Sector of Bangladesh (2021– 2026), ratified ILO’s Minimum Age Convention keeping 14 as the minimum age of entry to work (ILO, 2022). METHODOLOGY The review of literature has illustrated various kinds of determinants of parents’ decision-making on schooling or child labor, luxury and substitution axioms, intra-household demand and supply of child labor, opportunity cost of child labor and schooling, the relationship between human capital formation and child labor, and the picture of child labor and schooling in Bangladesh. However, households’ decision-making patterns Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 4June 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 839231 22 Islam and Hoque Trade-Off Between Schooling and Labor TABLE 1 | Distribution of child labor by the reasons of being dropped out, by age group in Bangladesh (Source: BBS, 2015, p. 80). Reasons 6–11 12–13 14–17 Total % Failed examination 6.1 3.4 4.5 4.7 Not interested 8.3 10.2 16.2 15.0 To start working 26.2 15.1 14.6 16.1 To get married 0.0 0.0 3.6 3.0 To support family income 10.6 13.6 16.1 15.3 Parents did not want 8.1 0.0 3.8 4.2 No school nearby 17.8 34.5 2.0 5.0 Could not afford 20.9 20.9 38.9 36 Others 2.0 2.2 0.4 0.7 Total 100 100 100 100 about child labor or schooling and the impact of parents’ laborintensive occupation in rural contexts of Bangladesh have not yet been adequately explored with qualitative insights. Research Design This study aims to analyze the factors behind Bangladeshi parents’ decision-making on whether to send their child to school or to work. The researchers largely depended on interpretivism (i.e., the reality is multi-layered and complex) to answer the research question. Interpretive research unpacks how people ‘feel about the world and make sense of their lives from their particular vantage points’ (King et al., 2019). The qualitative research strategy has dictated the in-depth case studies and interviews which the authors conducted during their fieldwork in Bangladesh. Debout (2016) notes that a qualitative case study permits an investigation to explore various interacting factors resulting in a complex phenomenon. Such studies cognize the subjective meaning that individuals bring to their complicated and multi-layered situations (De Vaus, 2001). Understanding the attitudes, beliefs, and views of the parents regarding the trade-off between child schooling and labor necessitated the exploration of the factors responsible for their respective decision-making behaviors. Bangladesh has a large population (about 160 million) dispersed all over the country (Tama et al., 2021). The authors intentionally chose to conduct their fieldwork in two Upazilas (i.e., small geographical and sub-district administrative units) named Bahubal and Nabinagar which are in the districts of Habiganj and Brahmanbaria, respectively (see Figure 1). These areas reside in the eastern part of the country. Reportedly many children in these areas are engaged in paid work in both the formal and informal sectors (GoB, 2020). As shown in Table 2, the 2011 government estimates report that Nabinagar has 220 schools for 94,871 households, while in Bahubal138 are located for 37,334 households. Children in these areas are generally engaged in labor in small businesses, agricultural and tea farms, welding, transports and so forth. The literacy rate of Nabinagar is 68.62%, while that of Bahubal is 39.4% (GoB, 2020). The representing two districts have a significant difference in geographical features. While most of FIGURE 1 | The study areas (illustration: Authors’ own). Brahmanbaria is agricultural plain land, Habiganj has hills, tea estates, haors,2and forests. People in hilly regions (including Habiganj) have long suffered from regional disparities in education in the country, resulting in a low literacy rate (Khan and Islam, 2010). UNICEF Bangladesh (2020) reports the school dropout rates in the country as 5% in the 5th grade, 6% in the 8th grade and 15% in the 10th grade. These two different geographical units (Nabinagar and Bahubal Upazilas) were chosen because of their similarity in having reportedly high dropout rates (Hossain and Akter, 2019) and variation in 2A Haor is a bowl-shaped large tectonic depression that receives water from rivers and canals to become an extensive water body during monsoon. For more details, visit https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Haor (accessed on 16 April 2022). 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 13 June 2022 | Volume 7 | Article 839231 31 TYPE Opinion PUBLISHED 13 March 2023 DOI 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Piotr Toczyski, The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland REVIEWED BY Sorin-George I. Toma, University of Bucharest, Romania *CORRESPONDENCE Hari Harjanto Setiawan [email protected] SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Work, Employment and Organizations, a section of the journal Frontiers in Sociology RECEIVED 26 December 2022 ACCEPTED 22 February 2023 PUBLISHED 13 March 2023 CITATION Setiawan HH, Yuda TK, Susantyo B, Sulubere MB, Ganti M, Habibullah H, Sabarisman M and Murni R (2023) Scaling up social entrepreneurship to reduce poverty: Exploring the challenges and opportunities through stakeholder engagement. Front. Sociol. 8:1131762. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 COPYRIGHT ©2023 Setiawan, Yuda, Susantyo, Sulubere, Ganti, Habibullah, Sabarisman and Murni. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Scaling up social entrepreneurship to reduce poverty: Exploring the challenges and opportunities through stakeholder engagement Hari Harjanto Setiawan1*, Tauchid Komara Yuda2,3, Badrun Susantyo1, Muhammad Belanawane Sulubere1, Mery Ganti1, Habibullah Habibullah1, Muslim Sabarisman1and Ruaida Murni1 1National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Jakarta, Indonesia, 2Social Development and Welfare, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 3Sociology and Social Policy, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China KEYWORDS poverty, empowerment, social entrepreneurship, stakeholder engagement, relationship Introduction Stakeholder engagement is critical in state-driven social entrepreneurship programs. This engagement is based on the principle of mutual benefit in partnering through the parties’ contributions following their respective roles and capacities. This paper explores stakeholder engagement in social entrepreneurship programs in Indonesia. This program is a program of the Indonesian government to reduce poverty. The issue of poverty is the primary concern of the Indonesian government and the international world. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted increasing poverty because many people have lost their jobs due to policies limiting activities (Laborde et al., 2021). In addition to the ongoing social protection program, the Indonesian government is also working to reduce poverty through the Social Entrepreneurship Program. Social Entrepreneurship is one of the essential factors in sustainable economic development (Lateh et al., 2018). Social entrepreneurship is different from entrepreneurship because it has a social mission and is not only concerned with profit. This program improves the poor’s economic welfare by combining business and social dimensions. Research in the South Punjab region of Pakistan shows that empowerment through social entrepreneurship can significantly reduce poverty (Abrar ul haq et al., 2019). Some parts of Tehran, Iran, implement empowerment strategies through social entrepreneurship to lift marginalized people from poverty (Sadabadi and Rahimi Rad, 2021). Social entrepreneurship can contribute to 10% of the gross domestic product in Kenya (Ngare, 2021). South Korea and Malaysia can increase regional economic growth by creating jobs (Doh, 2020;Mustaffa et al., 2020). Thus, this literature argues that poverty can be overcome through social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship leads to increased innovation, employment opportunities, and access to capital. In the end, social entrepreneurship will succeed with sustainable development. Frontiers in Sociology 01 frontiersin.org 32 Setiawan et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 The Indonesian government implements social entrepreneurship programs in collaboration with non-state actors. This is what distinguishes between developing countries and developed countries. Most entrepreneurship in developed countries is supported by large companies that do not depend on state funding. This paper explores the involvement of stakeholders from two groups, namely state, and non-state. Our research also examines the relationship between state and non-state actors in negotiating program implementation. We also look at the impact of involving different stakeholders on the beneficiary communities. This paper will answer three main hypotheses: first, each stakeholder group’s role is expected to be a complementary relationship. Second, programs offered by the state will be accepted by non-state actors. Third, programs that involve many stakeholders will have a good impact on beneficiaries. Theoretical framework Poverty Poverty is a condition where the basic needs of a decent life are not fulfilled, and the facilities and infrastructure are inadequate (Govender et al., 2007). Bradshaw (2009) defines poverty as a condition where basic food, shelter, health, and safety needs are unmet based on human rights values. When viewed from an economic aspect, poverty refers to the gap between weak purchasing power and the desire to meet basic needs (Rini and Sugiharti, 2016). Anthony Hall and James Midgley (2004) convey the same thing, namely “Conditions of material and social deprivation where people fall below the minimum socially acceptable standard of living or where they experience deprivation relative to other people in society” (Yeates, 2005). The material and social deprivation that causes the individual to live below a decent standard of living or conditions in which individuals experience relative poverty compared to other individuals in society. Poverty is conceptually divided into absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a condition where the basic needs of a decent life are not met, both food and non-food, while relative poverty refers to the position of individuals related to the average state income (FAO, 2021). Poverty is a common problem that must be taken seriously between the government, the private sector, and the community. It is hoped that other people’s concerns and awareness can help reduce poverty, so it is necessary to involve all stakeholders in poverty alleviation efforts, starting from planning, implementation, and evaluation, which are carried out on an ongoing basis (Stroe and Lincaru, 2022). Social entrepreneurship: From discovery to exploration In recent years, social entrepreneurship has grown in popularity (Tali´ c and Ivanovi´ c Duki´ c, 2021). Apart from Indonesia, the movement has spread to other countries, such as South Africa and South Africa. To understand social entrepreneurship, we need to define it as a concept that enables the creation of alternative business models that are market-oriented and provide social good (Terziev et al., 2020). It is crucial to realize that social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship are fundamentally different. There is no doubt that the social aspect of a business is more challenging to be accepted in the private sector because “social” is the opposite of “profit”. The private sector is characterized by profit-making. The concept of social entrepreneurship also contains elements of entrepreneurship. Commercial prospective entrepreneurial behavior theories understand social entrepreneurship as a multidimensional phenomenon in which social entrepreneurs, like non-profit organizations, display innovative behaviors, proactive actions, and risk management characteristics. However, the main focus lies on the company’s social mission (Dwivedi and Weerawardena, 2018). Based on the characteristics of the private sector and the emphasis on social aspects placed on social entrepreneurship, the public sector should be more responsive to social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship can be applied to the public sector because the government must improve governance performance. Practicing social entrepreneurship contributes to social transformation (Cavalcanti, 2021). In Ukraine, for example, social entrepreneurship has been used by the state in developing its rural development strategy (Pechenuik, 2021). Entrepreneurial behavior in African countries continues to be poorly studied, leading to inappropriate policy actions and inadequate support (Urban, 2020). The stakeholder engagement and its relationship The above understanding shows that entrepreneurs have higher self-interest and lower social awareness. Meanwhile, social entrepreneurship has lower self-interest and higher social awareness. The social entrepreneurship program involves many stakeholders. Social purpose organizations pursue multiple missions and address heterogeneous stakeholders (Siebold, 2021). Therefore, it is important for social entrepreneurs to network and communicate effectively with stakeholders. Stakeholder participation in social entrepreneurship programs is very important because it has a direct impact on organizational management (Meyer et al., 2020). An important role as a stakeholder is to achieve organizational commitment (Rodríguez-Fernández et al., 2021). Through coordination between stakeholders and communication facilitation, solutions to social problems can be resolved which lead to systemic changes (Zhao, 2020). Stakeholder mapping can visualize stakeholder perceptions of their values and compare them with an ideal map based on social entrepreneurial missions (Burga and Rezania, 2016). Stakeholder behavior toward social entrepreneurship will influence product, service, and program innovation (Newth, 2016). In Poland, it is seen that the involvement of stakeholders from the institutional environment is crucial in promoting social entrepreneurship programs, including both formal and informal institutions (Pacut, 2020). Thus, stakeholder participation in social entrepreneurship programs is essential (Smith and Woods, 2015). Frontiers in Sociology 02 frontiersin.org 33 Setiawan et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 Stakeholders who have significant influence include governments, institutions, and foreign investors (Zaid et al., 2020). Institutional interactions occur in four ways: complementary, substitutive, accommodative, and competitive (Helmke and Levitsky, 2012). In this article which emphasizes the interaction of formal and informal institutions, we modify the concept of institutional interaction by applying it to the interactions between state and non-state actors. Methodology The research objective is to explore the various actors involved in implementing social entrepreneurship programs in Indonesia. The various stakeholder actors studied were divided into two groups: those from government and non-governmental organizations. Our research seeks to investigate the relationship between government and non-government actors in negotiating the form of the program to be implemented. Furthermore, our research examines whether stakeholder engagement has contributed to community empowerment. This paper reports the findings of semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with 26 informants representing all stakeholders involved in the social entrepreneurship program. Informants from elements of state institutions consist of; Ministry of Social Affairs (one person), Ministry of Industry (one person), Social Service (four people from four locations) Regional Planning Agency (four people from four locations). Meanwhile, non-state elements consist of; Social Facilitators (four people from four locations), Business Incubators (four people from four locations), Beneficiaries (four people from four locations), and Local Entrepreneurs (four people from four locations). The interview process takes place between September and December 2022. Interviews range from 60 to 90 min, covering topics such as the role of the interviewee. At the national level, the Ministry of Social Affairs discussed the description of the social entrepreneurship program, and the Ministry of Industry discussed the role of granting business licenses. At the local government level, the Social Service discusses the implementation of the Social Entrepreneurship Program in the regions, and the Business Incubator discusses the implementation of business assistance. The social facilitator discusses social assistance for beneficiaries of the social entrepreneurship program. After that, the beneficiaries talk about their business trips. The data collection process includes interviews (Prentice, 2017), observation (Greatorex, 2014), and documentation studies (Jones and McCoy, 2019). Interviews were conducted to gather information regarding the following topics: (a) implementation of social entrepreneurship, (b) the role of stakeholders (c) coordination between stakeholders. Documentation studies are carried out by studying reports, books, scientific journals, and other documents. This study collects data using thematic analysis (Sundler et al., 2019), presenting the collected data according to a predetermined theme, specifically stakeholder engagement. Therefore, all data collected will be aligned with stakeholder involvement in implementing social entrepreneurship. This research has several limitations, including being conducted in four locations: Karawang Regency, Sleman Regency, Brebes Regency, and Mojokerto Regency. Thus, the situation described above does not fully represent the situation in Indonesia as a whole. Results Overview of program implementation The Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs has eradicated poverty through social entrepreneurship programs. In 2021, the government will implement a program to improve the poor’s economic welfare. Through this program, the government helps low-income groups of people who receive conditional cash assistance programs. This program can improve the economy of low-income families and reduce their dependence on government assistance. In addition, social entrepreneurship can positively influence community members by increasing access to markets for the poor. A study of the characteristics of social enterprises has been carried out in the East African region, resulting in positive changes in marginalized groups’ socio-economic and political conditions (Maseno and Wanyoike, 2020) and triggering social changes in society. Social entrepreneurship has the potential to achieve social impact across multiple fronts, support Sustainable Development Goals, and rebalance “economic” and “social” fields (Warnecke, 2018). A study conducted in the Indian region explored the impact of social entrepreneurship on poverty alleviation (Shepherd et al., 2021). By applying a similar logic, social entrepreneurship is expected to accelerate poverty alleviation in Indonesia. This is a national development priority to reduce the burden on the poor and increase their income, especially in the bottom 40% of the population (Bappenas, 2017). Stakeholders involved Social entrepreneurship programs will not succeed without stakeholder involvement. The stakeholders are divided into two groups: state and non-state. Stakeholders in the social entrepreneurship program can be seen in Figure 1. State actors State actors can be grouped into two, namely, the central government and local government. This program is designed to reduce dependence on cash transfers among the poor who have received conditional cash transfers. Program beneficiaries receive capital assistance as part of the social entrepreneurship program. State elements involved in the social entrepreneurship program include the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Industry, the Regional Development Planning Agency, and the Regional Social Service. The Ministry of Social Affairs is a leading sector in poverty alleviation through social entrepreneurship. The Ministry of Frontiers in Sociology 03 frontiersin.org 34 Setiawan et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 FIGURE 1 Stakeholder groups in the social entrepreneurship program, namely state and non-state. Industry plays a role in fostering production and granting business licenses. The Regional Development Planning Agency’s role is to include and budget for regional development. The Regional Social Service plays a role in implementing programs in the regions. This role will continue to develop according to conditions in the area. Countries involved in social entrepreneurship are not only concerned with economic gains but also with social goals. So that through social entrepreneurship can solve social problems (Abdullahi et al., 2020), create solutions (Kickul et al., 2014), and solve problems (Chalmers, 2021). Thus, social enterprise is relevant to social work because it aims to solve social issues (Gray et al., 2003). In this paper, the problem that is translated through social entrepreneurship is poverty. Non-state actors The Ministry of Social Affairs appointed a non-governmental organization and a university as the business incubator for the Social Entrepreneurship Program. Institutions such as these have extensive experience in assisting small and medium enterprises. Apart from the business incubator, the non-state actors involved are beneficiaries. This program is intended to help beneficiaries achieve business success. Complementary to this model is the idea that non-state actors’ existence will help solve problems that are ignored by state actors, enhancing government policy programs’ effectiveness in achieving the desired outcome. As with the complementary relationship, the substitute relationship involves non-state actors’ participation in achieving goals that comply with the stipulations. This is evident when state institutions cannot accomplish their objectives (Yuda et al., 2021). In the accommodative model, non-state actors create behaviors or norms that significantly alter formal rules so that the effects are “not follow the expected results”. The latter is a competing model, which is deemed to be the most problematic. In this model, non-state actors in the program move in a direction contrary to the objectives of government policies, resulting in adverse effects. To explain how state and non-state actors interact and shape social entrepreneurship programs, we will elaborate on these four points together. Relations between state actors and non-state actors Government actors and non-government actors have a dynamic relationship. It is not uncommon for them to be interdependent when non-governmental actors need government funding, while governments depend on social organizations to assist in the implementation process. Cooperation agreements between governments and nonstate actors allow governments to provide services to non-state actors. By working with non-state actors, the state empowers the poor through social entrepreneurship programs involving non-state actors as program implementers. The government determines the program, in this case, the Ministry of Social Affairs, but before deciding on the program, it is important to consider the ideas of non-state stakeholders. Initially, state and non-state actors had a hostile relationship because of their different visions and missions. Non-state actors are less satisfied because they have to comply with the rules imposed by the state. Even though at every opportunity, the state always accommodates the ideas of non-state actors. Therefore, state actors gradually began to change in response to input from non-state actors. One example of non-state dissatisfaction is the implementation of programs that have been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic so that the implementation time has been reduced and the targets set have been changed. Apart from the accommodative nature of the relationship, there is also a tendency for a substitutionary relationship because nonstate actors are more experienced in empowering communities through social entrepreneurship programs with limited scope. The Frontiers in Sociology 04 frontiersin.org 35 Setiawan et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 state has the power to finance in a complete sense. Thus, the relationship between planning and funding is accommodative. However, technically the implementation of the program is more of a substitute. Social entrepreneurship effects resulting from stakeholder engagement The policies taken by the government to limit crowds during the COVID-19 pandemic certainly had an impact on MSMEs, including social entrepreneurs. It was noted that turnover decreased following the implementation of the lockdown and working-from-home policies. There has been a decrease in the number of business buyers run by beneficiaries because many fear contracting the Coronavirus. Food usually bought and consumed outside has been diverted to be cooked at home by consumers concerned about the quality of their food. According to previous research from the Social Welfare Center, there are three conditions for receiving benefits: profits before the pandemic, benefits during the pandemic before joining the program, and benefits after participating in the program during a pandemic. Before the pandemic, the average profit was between IDR 50,000 and 99,000, the study found. During the pandemic, the average profit fell below IDR 50,000. They increased their earnings to between IDR 50,000 and 99,000 through the Social Entrepreneurship Program. Because of this, the new social entrepreneurship program has proven capable of returning to prepandemic conditions (Setiawan et al., 2021). Discussion Social entrepreneurship programs cannot run effectively without stakeholder involvement. The state’s involvement is the driving force for all stakeholders in planning, budgeting, mentoring, and monitoring. Social entrepreneurship incubators originating from non-state actors are executors of technical programs from state programs. Initially, the social entrepreneurship program initiated by the central government was rejected by regional stakeholders because it was considered competition. However, through an informal discussion process, each stakeholder realized that there were similarities that became strengths during the discussion process. This meeting point is so that social entrepreneurship programs from anywhere, including from the central government, can be included in the program scheme designed by the regional government and even be developed further in the future. Furthermore, we found that the government’s concept of empowerment still mixes well with the idea of social assistance. Beneficiaries should receive social assistance in an emergency or if they are in a position where they cannot survive on their own. If these conditions are not met, empowerment programs will not be effective since they are concerned with fulfilling their basic needs. Empowerment programs are most appropriate for those whose basic needs have already been met, even if they are being met by social assistance. When persons whose basic needs have not been met are provided with empowerment, they tend to have little motivation to participate in a program. There is an alternative strategy to encourage friendship networks to internalize social risk since the replacement of welfare regimes from products has not been completed (Yuda, 2018,2021;Yuda et al., 2021). These arrangements reflect the prevailing welfare regime in the Global South, where informal relationships interact with statutory provisions and are often conditioned to provide social welfare. The Social Entrepreneurship Program combines two concepts in the Ministry of Social Affairs: empowerment and social protection. Capital assistance is considered to be a type of social protection program. Some evidence suggests that beneficiaries are motivated to participate in the program due to the service provided. However, social entrepreneurship programs can lead to dependency on capital assistance. A key component of strengthening the social entrepreneurship program without increasing dependence is contributing substantially to the beneficiaries. The mentoring beneficiaries will receive guidance in running their businesses through good planning. Conclusion In Indonesia, social entrepreneurship programs tend to be driven by the state because the paradigm of social entrepreneurship has not been widespread among the private sector or other non-state actors. In contrast, in developed countries view social entrepreneurship as a moral obligation. It is important to note that social entrepreneurship programs in developing countries are not just empowerment programs, even though they involve stakeholders, because capital assistance is still provided. These programs may have arisen as a result of beneficiary dependence on aid. Beneficiaries who participate in programs launched by the government may receive services not because they are struggling to get out of poverty. Empowerment is defined as a strategy through effective planning so that beneficiaries do not depend on government assistance. Scientifically, the transformation from social assistance to empowerment is not easy to do. It takes a long time in the empowerment process so that beneficiaries can be empowered. this is the limitation of this research because the program is implemented in one fiscal year, so the impact of the program is not yet clearly visible. Interesting future research to study is the meaning of beneficiaries of the empowerment program. If the meaning is still like social assistance then the purpose of empowerment will not be achieved. Nomenclature -Resource Identification Initiative -Life Science Identifiers Author contributions All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication. Frontiers in Sociology 05 frontiersin.org 36 Setiawan et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1131762 Funding This research was funded by the National Agency for Research and Innovation (BRIN) through RP-TKPEKM No. B-4252/III.12/HK.00/11/2022 (Activity Code: RRP2-17/2022). Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Publisher’s note All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. 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Environ. Manag. 27, 1344–1360. doi: 10.1002/csr.1888 Zhao, M. (2020). Social entrepreneurship for systemic change: the case of Southeast and South Asian countries. J. Asian Public Policy 14, 1–25. doi: 10.1080/17516234.2020.1796325 Frontiers in Sociology 07 frontiersin.org 38 TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 17 April 2023 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1117180 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Magdalena Klimczuk-Kocha´ nska, University of Warsaw, Poland REVIEWED BY Henry Egbezien Inegbedion, Bowen University, Nigeria Johanna Weststar, Western University, Canada Marina Simonova, Samara State Technical University, Russia *CORRESPONDENCE Ying Zhao [email protected] SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Occupational Health and Safety, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health RECEIVED 06 December 2022 ACCEPTED 29 March 2023 PUBLISHED 17 April 2023 CITATION Ran X and Zhao Y (2023) Behind the flexibility: insufficient occupational injury protection of gig workers in China. Front. Public Health 11:1117180. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1117180 COPYRIGHT ©2023 Ran and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Behind the flexibility: insufficient occupational injury protection of gig workers in China Xiaoxing Ran1and Ying Zhao2* 1Institute of Population Research, Peking University, Beijing, China, 2Medicare and Care Security Research Office, Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security, Beijing, China Objective: Occupational injury protection is essential to safeguard the basic rights of workers. This article focuses on a group of gig workers who have emerged on a large scale in recent years in China and aims to explore their status of occupational injury protection. Methods: Based on the theory of technology-institution innovation interaction, we adopted the institution analysis to assess the work-related injury protection of gig workers. The comparative study was used to evaluate three cases of occupational injury protection in China for gig workers. Results: Institutional innovation failed to respond to technological innovation and provided insufficient occupational injury protection for gig workers. The work-related injury insurance was inaccessible to gig workers due to they were not treated as employees in China. The work-related injury insurance was not available to gig workers. Although some practices were explored, shortcomings remain. Conclusions: Behind the flexibility of gig work is insufficient occupational injury protection. According to the theory of technology-institution innovation interaction, we believe the reform of work-related injury insurance is increasingly essential for improving the situation of gig workers. This research contributes to expanding understanding of gig workers’ situation and may offer a reference to other countries on protecting gig workers against occupational injuries. KEYWORDS gig economy, gig worker, flexibility, occupational injury, work-related injury insurance 1. Introduction In recent years, the gig economy has been a prominent topic in the field of work (1). It is subordinated to non-standard work (2), and mainly contains crowdsourced work and on-demand work (3,4). Crowdsourced work typically refers to a range of tasks that are completed through digital platforms. 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Frontiers in Public Health 08 frontiersin.org 46 TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 04 May 2023 DOI 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Magdalena Klimczuk-Kocha´ nska, University of Warsaw, Poland REVIEWED BY Slawomir Banaszak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland Gulbakhyt Sultanova, Narxoz University, Kazakhstan *CORRESPONDENCE Adela M. Vélez-Rolón [email protected] Manuel Méndez-Pinzón [email protected] Alejandra Pulido López [email protected] RECEIVED 19 June 2022 ACCEPTED 29 March 2023 PUBLISHED 04 May 2023 CITATION Vélez-Rolón AM, Pulido López A, Méndez-Pinzón M and Neira-Bermudez D (2023) Closing the academy–Business gap by building intellectual capital in professional formation. Front. Sociol. 8:969285. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 COPYRIGHT ©2023 Vélez-Rolón, Pulido López, Méndez-Pinzón and Neira-Bermudez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Closing the academy–Business gap by building intellectual capital in professional formation Adela M. Vélez-Rolón1*,Alejandra Pulido López2*, Manuel Méndez-Pinzón3*and Diego Neira-Bermudez4 1School of Management, Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración, Bogotá, Colombia, 2School of Management and Business, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia, 3School of Management and Business, Politécnico Grancolombiano, Bogotá, Colombia, 4School of International Business, Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina, Bogotá, Colombia Introduction: The rapid advances in technology, market pressures, globalization, and, recently, the COVID-19 pandemic show the need to find educational models that respond to these realities while improving the employability levels of young people and promoting economic growth. This research analyzes how the professional formation model, where two learning spaces, the academy, and the company, are combined, promotes the closing of gaps and economic growth, through the development of intellectual capital that arises from this relationship, in an emerging economy such as Colombia. Methods: The methodology used corresponds to a qualitative approach, where the vision of the actors involved in the training process at the undergraduate level in Colombia is analyzed through semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and documentary analysis. Results and discussion: The results show five major elements to consider for the formation of the intellectual capital required for the success of the relationship and the reduction in the gaps between academia and business: decision-making mechanisms, inter-organizational coordination, knowledge. KEYWORDS professional formation, intellectual capital, SDG 8, knowledge management, decent work and economic growth Introduction Technological progress, globalization, the market, and a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment (VUCA) have driven knowledge as the key factor that promotes competitiveness creation, growth, and wealth of the countries, contributing to facing complex problems that affect humanity and that are highlighted in the 2030 Agenda. In this context, intellectual capital must be understood as the force that allows the resolution of these problems. One of the major issues is youth unemployment. Young people face difficulties in labor markets, precariousness and predominance of low-skilled jobs, low work experience, occupational turnover and informality, income instability, lack of legal protection, and limited training and career opportunities, which generate occupational instability and do not allow them to acquire the qualifications, experience, and skills necessary for future job stability (International Labour Office, 2020;Organización Internacional del Trabajo, 2021). In addition, they are three times more likely than adults to be unemployed (International Labour Office, 2020). Frontiers in Sociology 01 frontiersin.org 47 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 According to the International Labour Organization, young people in Latin America returned to employment possibilities more quickly than adults after the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a phenomenon explained by youth informality in the labor market and the recovery of the activities with the highest youth employment; however, the youth unemployment rate in 2020 and 2021 was ∼22% (Organización Internacional del Trabajo, 2021), which is higher than the global rate of 13.6% in 2020, becoming this a matter of concern in the region. By 2020, globally, one-fifth of young people were not gaining experience or income from work, nor were they improving their education levels or skills (International Labour Office, 2020). Regardless of the sector of the economy, companies require employees with knowledge and skills in information technologies that support activities and technical functions in different areas (International Labour Office, 2020). Having a university education degree reduces the risk of job displacement due to process automation, given the skills acquired for problem-solving, which generates the challenge of ensuring quality academic programs with sufficient coverage and closing the gap between business and academy, bringing, consequently, the challenge that will lead to the development of solutions to the affairs that afflict the world nowadays. Dual training is the model that has brought the business sector and academia closer, also known as Vocational Education and Training (VET) systems. In 2001, Colombia implemented this vocational training model through a cooperation agreement between the German government and the chambers of commerce, to seek competitiveness and improve the productivity of companies in the country, closing the gaps in training. Studies analyze this type of training in different parts of the world, and some of these focused on transfer (Euler, 2013; Gonon, 2014;Hinrichs, 2014;Gessler, 2017b); in Latin America, it is described (Rojas, 2015;Molina, 2016;Espinoza Freire, 2020; Peguera Carré et al., 2021;Zapata et al., 2021), focusing on the experience since its implementation, analyzing the gaps and challenges for its understanding, limitations, and possibilities, and being this a potential field for research considering the contribution of this model to economic growth and decent work as it has been proposed worldwide (Vélez Rolón, 2019). Knowledge management in professional formation Drucker (1993) suggests the relevance of understanding knowledge as the most valuable resource for economic growth, in the so-called knowledge society. In organizations, this knowledge must be created from the interaction of the tacit knowledge of each member and the explicit knowledge created in the organization (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;Nonaka and Konno, 1998;Von Krogh et al., 2000). This generates value for the organization, taking advantage of the use of knowledge as an intangible asset, the intensive use of technology and processes efficiency, and the development of innovations (Hislop et al., 2018). This occurs from two fundamental processes: first, knowledge management, assumed as the identification, capture, systematization, and use of organizational knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;Firestone and McElroy, 2003;Senge and KIm, 2013), and second, the transfer of knowledge seen as the bidirectional process flow of knowledge; from the theory of communication, this flow requires three determinants: the willingness of the transfer or the receiver; the appropriate channels of transmission; and understanding the value and use of the knowledge transferred (Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000). Intellectual capital Intellectual capital has been studied from the value creation and the competitive advantage of organization approaches. Edvinsson (1997) defines intellectual capital as the set of knowledge, experience, technology, customer relationships, and professional skills that an organization has; it is the knowledge assets that turn into value and create innovation (Sardo et al., 2018), from the creation and connection between expertise, experience, and competence inside and outside organizations (Do Rosario et al., 2008), and is conceived as a source of competitive advantage (Sharabati et al., 2010). This intellectual capital, understood as intangible assets, does not appear on the company balance sheets but generates more value for organizations than physical assets (Hashim et al., 2015). This generation of value and competitive advantage comes from the combination of the dimensions of intellectual capital: human capital, structural capital, and relational capital (Do Rosario et al., 2008;Kianto et al., 2017;Sardo et al., 2018; Li et al., 2021). Human capital is considered the main source of competitive advantage (Do Rosario et al., 2008), as it is a source of renewal, creativity, and innovativeness (Sardo et al., 2018), and includes the knowledge, qualifications, skills (Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010), experience, commitment, and motivation (Kianto et al., 2017) of an organization’s employees. It is the individual stock of knowledge that is further nurtured by their willingness, skills, and training (Li et al., 2021). This capital is not owned by the company since it leaves as soon as members of the organization leave (Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010;Kianto et al., 2017;McDowell et al., 2018). On the contrary, structural capital is understood as the nonhuman assets of an organization, which are embodied and stored in information systems, databases, programs (Do Rosario et al., 2008), production processes, information technologies (Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010), information systems, work procedures, know-how (Edvinsson and Sullivan, 1996), innovations, business processes (Roos and Whitehill, 1998;Do Rosario et al., 2008), and organizational capabilities, culture, and intellectual property (Sardo et al., 2018). This capital is owned by the organization and remains in the organization when employees or members of the organization are no longer part of it. Finally, relational capital, sometimes known as social capital (Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005;Kianto et al., 2017;Li et al., 2021) or customer capital (Bontis, 1998), includes relationships and knowledge with customers, suppliers, industry, partners, connections and relationships with authority (Do Rosario et al., 2008;Sharabati et al., 2010;Kianto et al., 2017;Li et al., 2021), and Frontiers in Sociology 02 frontiersin.org 48 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 stakeholders and also includes brand loyalty, image, and reputation (Sardo et al., 2018). Professional formation Tertiary education models have been changing and evolving in ways that allow them to respond to the needs of education and the growing demands of the market and the pressures of the complex problems of the twenty-first century. Hanna (1998) classifies these new models from the point of view of education providers, considering the abovementioned pressures, a classification that is still relevant and has given some relevance to models about contextual pressures. In this research, models that reflect the business-academy alliance are analyzed. Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995) encompassed this alliance from the triple helix model, which explains the relationship between government, industry, and universities for the production of knowledge and innovation; later, a fourth helix was included that sought to explain these relationships enclosed by social complexities (Carayannis and Rakhmatullin, 2014), arguing that the relationships between these actors must be understood within a system that allows the production and diffusion of knowledge (Lundvall, 2010). It is in this context of knowledge production, in which academy–business cooperation networks become a driver of economic growth while allowing universities to play a different role in generating value for society (De Fuentes and Dutrénit, 2012; Sam and van der Sijde, 2014;Bikse et al., 2016). Faced with this reality, this training model, developed in Germany, has taken great relevance to approach the academy–industry relations and to close the gap between academia and the productive sector. The model is based on the training of young people in two alternate spaces: the academy and the company, implemented in different ways around the world (Eichhorst et al., 2015). Such variation in models is linked to the development of training itself, pressured by historical and cultural processes in each country, which determines the way how it should be adapted (Euler, 2013; Gessler and Howe, 2015). Some of the characteristic elements of dual training are as follows: (1) having two learning spaces, (2) job rotation during the professional internship, (3) the existence of a work plan created between teachers and company instructors, and (4) the existence of tutors in the classroom and the company. High youth unemployment rates, coupled with the need to train competent human capital, have revived the debate on the relevance of implementing dual training models, bringing several challenges. In this scenario, companies face obstacles when developing dual training programs. One major obstacle is financial, deepened by the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD, 2021); the incorporation of technology, remote work, and flexibility to take breaks during work periods were some of the mechanisms used by companies that are expected to continue to counteract the effects of the crisis in the short and medium term and develop in this way training and VET. That is why higher education institutions are the ones that must take on the challenge of generating spaces and strategies that offer the possibility of practical learning through simulations and other information technologies, applied projects, the use of laboratories, and other experiential learning strategies (OECD, 2021). In this sense, and to ensure higher levels of employability of young people, integrated policies are required to promote research and development that foster new sectors and innovations leading to job creation and, on the contrary, to promote the updating of the educational offer taking into account market needs and trends that include personal and digital skills (International Labour Office, 2020). In this context, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2020) recommends actions for the construction of VET systems in future by countries. Among these, it proposes the interaction between employers and unions, planning for changes in the labor market, financial aid, availability of digital and distance education, promotion of digital badges, development of transversal competencies, incorporation of vulnerable groups, and teacher qualification (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2020). Research questions The study addresses the following research question: How can professional formation contribute to the development of intellectual capital and bridge the gap between academia and business in emerging economies? case Colombia. Data and methods The research methodology chosen was the case study, which allows for the examination in depth of the dynamics and relationships of a phenomenon under study (Yin, 2009), allowing to establish relationships between cases (Hancock and Algozzine, 2011). For the selection of these cases, a non-probabilistic purposive sample was selected, which is characterized by allowing the researcher to define according to the need of the research. The case studies chosen for this research correspond to the five higher education institutions (HEI) that have had education programs with professional formation models in Latin America, part of the Duale Hochschule Latinoamérica (DHLA) (DHLA). For each case study, the same strategy of individual analysis was established to continue with the cross-checking of data and the construction of relationships and overviews. The research presents a qualitative approach, in which different data sources and data collection techniques were used to validate the results, through a triangulation process, and the information was organized in a database analyzed through the ATLAS Ti 22 software, where the chain of evidence for each case was maintained (Yin, 2009). The qualitative research techniques used were as follows: 16 semi-structured interviews with professors, internship supervisors, businessmen, and managers of the HEI; analysis of 43 official documents of the model corresponding to guidelines, institutional strategic plans, internship follow-up plans, web pages, and improvement plans made by students; additionally, 10 group interviews were conducted with students of the five HEI. For the data collection, it was necessary to identify the actors such as professors, internship supervisors, entrepreneurs, and managers of the HEI and to develop profiles for each one, generating the codes for their respective identification in the matrixes where the results are compared, and the instrument and Frontiers in Sociology 03 frontiersin.org 49 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 TABLE 1 Theoretical constructs. Variable Definición Autores Knowledge management This variable describes the activities that generate knowledge in the company, its relationship with innovation, and the knowledge cycle. Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995;Nonaka and Konno, 1998 Human capital It refers to the knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, commitment, training, willingness, motivation, and aptitudes of the members of an organization. Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010;Kianto et al., 2017; McDowell et al., 2018;Li et al., 2021 Structural capital It refers to the non-human assets of an organization: information systems, databases, software, production processes, information technologies, information systems, work procedures, know-how, innovations, business processes, organizational capabilities, culture, and intellectual property. Edvinsson and Sullivan, 1996;Roos and Whitehill, 1998;Do Rosario et al., 2008; Zeghal and Maaloul, 2010;Sardo et al., 2018 Relational capital This variable includes relationships and knowledge of customers, suppliers, industry, partners, connections, relationships with authority, stakeholders, brand loyalty, image, and reputation. Sharabati et al., 2010; Kianto et al., 2017;Sardo et al., 2018 Knowledge transfer The variable refers to the mechanisms that enable the flow of knowledge. Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000 Source: Author’s elaboration. size of the sample were also codified for each HEI, as well as the main characteristics and general information of each institution. The methodological process was carried out from the documentary analysis and data collection through interviews based on the selected theoretical variables. Subsequently, the individual and group interviews were transcribed, generating a list of categories and assigning them to each question to finish with the analysis, categorization, and development of the reports. Data analysis In this process, the responses of the participants were categorized and codified, grouping them in an orderly manner, facilitating the comprehension of the categories identified theoretically (see Table 1); the variables used for the data analysis gave rise to the deductive categorization (see Figure 1), which allowed understanding the construction of intellectual capital. The information extracted from the documents was analyzed, and both individual and group interviews and observations were transcribed, categorizing and classifying each variable proposed in a database using the qualitative data analysis software ATLAS TI v22. For this analysis, lists were constructed with the categories to be assigned to each case, as defined by Hernández Sampieri et al. (2014), giving values that facilitate the identification of each item of data; this list of codes and categories was based on the literature, taking as a basis a documentary analysis of the theoretical foundations found for the construction of the instruments used. FIGURE 1 Knowledge management. Source: Author’s elaboration. Deductive encoding This step began with the assignment of sections of interviews, individual and group, documents to each of the categories identified from the theoretical references of the research, called units of significance (US), which represent fragments of the interviews, focus groups, and documents analyzed that are associated with each theoretical category defined. Inductive encoding For this encoding, it was necessary to periodically review and add codes when necessary, and the 800 (US) were grouped into codes from the data, finding 37 codes that allow to understand the construction of intellectual capital in professional formation. This process concluded when the units of significance were repeated in each of the cases, and when they were assigned to the categories and finally to the codes. Emerging categories The analysis of the data results in the development of five metacategories that allow the recognition of the most important elements to consider for the development of intellectual capital in the professional formation model in Colombia, which at the same time explains how they favor economic growth when closing the academy–business gaps. Results Deductive codification The deductive codification process was carried out by considering the variables proposed from the theory that allows the development of intellectual capital: relational capital (46.5%), human capital (21.25%), and structural capital (32.25%). A total of 800 units of meaning were found from the analysis of the different data collected (Figure 2). Frontiers in Sociology 04 frontiersin.org 50 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 FIGURE 2 Intellectual capital. Source: Author’s elaboration. FIGURE 3 Structural capital. Source: Author’s elaboration. Inductive codification Based on the contributions made by the participants and the analysis of the official documents, 37 indicative categories were identified, which were grouped into each of the abovementioned theoretical categories. The structural capital built-in professional formation for the participants in the research should contain the following elements: clarity in the normativity and financing of the model, the necessary preparation process in the universities before starting the internships, and the development of contents that account for learning and approaches from the classroom and the company, having clarity in the learning evaluation models not only of the students but also of the organizations and of the model itself. This should also consider the size, capabilities, nature of the companies and their organizational culture, the measurement of the same through clarity in the KPIs, the development of knowledge codification, and the alignment with the differential value proposition that the model itself offers (Figure 3). Frontiers in Sociology 05 frontiersin.org 51 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 Some of the arguments that support these results are as follows: “The ease of applying what we learn depends on the size of the company and the sector in which they are, in SMEs you can bring more knowledge (Student).” “The model requires harmony between the university and the companies, but as there are few companies, it is difficult for students to do their internships well applied, we have cases where they are very small companies, then they go to do one, the marketing internship, and they put them to do something about quality management or they put them to do something else, so sometimes they tend to deviate a little from the concept of the internship and they will do it more for commercial needs” (Practical Coordinator). Students can adequately apply their knowledge in a large company or a small company, or they can be in a large company and not apply any of the knowledge, the important thing is the accompaniment that we are doing (Decision makers). “There are regulatory barriers in Colombia that have very complex financial implications because in general, the dual model in all countries where it has been implemented has a strong support from the company in terms of financing the students because there is a retribution in the training process” (Program Director). The formation of human capital becomes the higher purpose that should mediate the academy–business relationship in professional formation, and the results show the key aspects for this to happen: the development of competencies in students, teachers, and instructors, a strong component of training in soft skills, constant feedback processes between the different actors in the process, the open willingness of employers to transfer their knowledge to students and of students to apply the knowledge acquired in the classroom, the construction of the necessary interaction to follow-up internships, and the necessary training for students to become the key candidates for generational change in organizations (Figure 4). Some of the contributions made by participants were the following: “The coordination between university professors and company instructors allows students to feel that they are learning and applying their knowledge simultaneously” (managerial focus group). “It would be necessary to create a proper profile or overview of the company where the best route is outlined for students and for them to apply their work proposals” (interview internship coordinator). “The DHLA teacher must be an experienced researcher and use high-level bibliographic sources in his classes; (...) He must know the level of the student at each stage to identify the appropriate teaching material and use the most appropriate methods. The DHLA teacher must know in general terms the business training plans and the objectives (according to the training framework plan) of each area.” (official document DHLA_08) There is a formula that is very simple and practical, and it is that in this work with the company the university must select professors to do the follow-up there, but additionally, the companies must assign mentors, these mentors work together with the professors, and they are the ones who are going to facilitate this process (Program Director). The construction of relational capital should be understood as the differential of this type of training compared to other existing ones. The first element is the university–business articulation, the possibility of creating networks of partners, the shared coordination of the model, the closing of the gap between academia and business in terms of time and resources, the constant development of internships for students, the development of channels for the constant exchange of formal and informal knowledge, the possibility of traceability of the training and growth of students, the bidirectional flow of knowledge, the spaces in the organizations that allow the training of students and promote employability, the recognition of the value of the knowledge generated, and the development of applied research and innovation processes (Figure 5). In this regard, the participants state that: “The student is implementing within the company improvements, which is a competitive advantage for the company” (entrepreneur). “Studying gives us the possibility to bring new and creative ideas to the company, helping in the creation of more value” (student). “I help them in training, but when they are already trained I want them to help me in the business as well” (entrepreneur). “With the university business model, what the company does is that it anticipates the training process of the workers and gains the person’s study time with a learning process and when that person joins the company after finishing their studies they will be much more productive than another person who comes from a conventional model” (entrepreneur). “From my point of view, it depends a lot on the company where you can apply what you are seeing at the moment” (student). “The most valuable thing about the model is the opportunity to capitalize on the student’s knowledge in the organizations, through the internship projects” (internship coordinator). “The company provides a contribution in knowledge management from organizational structures and the business environment to the academy in favor of competitiveness and value creation” (Program Director). Development of the final categories—Metacategories A total of five final categories emerged from the codification and categorization process carried out during the analysis process. The proposed categories allow comprehending of the necessary elements for the construction of intellectual capital in professional formation, understanding that this process takes place in the academy–enterprise relationship. Frontiers in Sociology 06 frontiersin.org 52 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 FIGURE 4 Human capital. Source: Author’s elaboration. The categories that emerge allow explaining the necessary elements that intervene in the construction of the intellectual capital academy–enterprise relationship are as follows (Figure 6): 1. Decision-making mechanisms. 2. Interorganizational coordination. 3. Knowledge transfer capabilities. 4. Knowledge systematization. 5. Added value of the professional formation model. Discussion This research has analyzed the point of view of the different actors involved in the professional formation process in Colombia, the way to build intellectual capital, from the relationship between academia and business. The results were grouped into three types of capital: relational capital, structural capital, and human capital, based on the processes of generation and transfer of knowledge for their analysis. The understanding of how intellectual capital developed from the implementation of professional formation makes it possible to explain how the gap between academia and business can be closed in a way that favors the country’s economic growth. Decision-making mechanisms According to the findings, the decision-making mechanisms in the professional formation processes in Colombia are linked to the structural capital necessary for its operation, and these conditions vary in different countries where the model has been implemented; in the Latin American case, specifically in Colombia, the academia–industry relations occur at the micro-level, i.e., only between institutions. Germany, on the contrary, presents different levels of relationships, being the role of the government a relevant point, stated also by Gessler (2017a) developed by Rojas Hernández et al. (2019). This becomes a challenge for Colombia, where professional formation as an educational model has been regulated for a few years and the implementation mechanisms are still poorly understood. Interorganizational coordination The results show that learning spaces must be explained from their particularities and needs, it is necessary to understand the curricular model of training that must be implemented in the companies and to recognize this space as a training space rather than a practice space; on the contrary, universities must manage to incorporate the learning promoted by the business sector. Training spaces must be aligned for the proper development of training where the context plays a fundamental role (Lucas et al., 2012). Additionally, the results evidence the importance of interorganizational dialog and the relevance of tutors, coinciding with Gessler and Hinrichs (2015). Knowledge transfer capabilities Knowledge transfer processes between the classroom and business are mediated by the interest of the parties, so there must be an awareness of the generation of value from them (von Krogh et al., 2001). In this regard, the participants stated that there is a high interest in sharing knowledge by the entrepreneurs; however, this is linked to the size of the company, the spaces, and channels of dialog, and the business culture, which agrees with Rodríguez Gómez (2009) who states that knowledge transfer is strongly related to the organizational culture. Regarding the channels through which knowledge transfer takes place, the informants stated that they are mostly informal, which is supported by Eom and Lee (2010) findings, who also identified that informal channels are the most used way to transfer knowledge between the academy and business, Frontiers in Sociology 07 frontiersin.org 53 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 FIGURE 5 Relational capital. Source: Author’s elaboration. FIGURE 6 Metacategories. Source: Author’s elaboration. the communication and transfer channels must be clearly defined to capture knowledge more effectively, and the motivation to interact plays an important role for the use of these channels (D’Este and Perkmann, 2011). Concerning the use of knowledge, the findings show how this is a process that is conditioned by the type of organization, its willingness to cooperate, and the structure of the educational Institution, and on this, Kanama and Nishikawa (2017) state that companies can improve their innovative performance Frontiers in Sociology 08 frontiersin.org 54 Vélez-Rolón et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.969285 when collaborating with academia, only if there is clarity about the value of knowledge. Concerning the transfer, the most relevant issue is to understand what is the real value of knowledge, the results in this sense show that there is a high potential to use the knowledge generated in the academy–business relationship, and it is necessary to have all the structure for its use; in this sense, different studies raise the importance of activating this knowledge (Gupta and Govindarajan, 2000), and this requires the development of a coordinated strategy for this to occur. Knowledge systematization To understand how to create intellectual capital capable of contributing to economic development from professional formation, it is necessary to implement measurement and monitoring processes that allow not only the traceability of the process but also to demonstrate the true value of training. These findings coincide with the results obtained by different authors (Hinrichs, 2014;Gessler and Hinrichs, 2015). The added value of the professional formation model Professional formation value creation can be understood from different perspectives, and one of them is the possibility of generating new applied knowledge from incremental innovation processes, coinciding with the contributions of Euler (2013) regarding the implementation in other countries, and Kaiser et al. (2015), who highlights the role of networks for innovation. Thus, the academy–business relationship not only promotes cooperation and knowledge generation but also results in the generation of innovations that enable economic growth and sophistication of the productive sector (von Krogh et al., 2001;Eom and Lee, 2010). On the contrary, professional formation enables faster business response times (Gessler and Hinrichs, 2015), allows students to influence the improvement of processes through learning (Bandura, 2010), and improves knowledge transfer through collaboration (Chiaburu et al., 2010). Intellectual capital, professional formation, and economic growth Based on the categories analyzed, the construction of intellectual capital through professional formation is evidenced by its human capital, structural capital, and relational capital dimensions and its impact on closing gaps between business and academia. Human capital is built mainly from the development of personal skills and the willingness to transfer knowledge, through inter-institutional coordination, student competencies, training of instructors, and constant feedback in the category of knowledge transfer capabilities, follow-up of internships, and the generational relay and application of knowledge as evidence of the added value generated by the professional formation model. The strengthening definition of structural capital from the dual model is demonstrated across the regulations and financing as decision-making mechanisms, the implementation of inter-organizational coordination that prepares students for the internships, develops content, formulates the learning model, and establishes both organizational and the model learning assessment. Moreover, this capital is strengthened by the ability to transfer knowledge between academia and business through the proposal and establishment of learning strategies and evaluation processes, considering the capabilities and size of companies, their nature, and organizational culture, formalized in a specific measurement system and the codification of knowledge. The added value created by the professional formation model is reflected in a differential value proposition for the parties involved. Finally, relational capital management promotes the model strengthening through the mechanisms used for decision-making from the articulation between academia and business, and the generation of networks and their traceability. Similarly, with inter-organizational and knowledge coordination, the gap between academia and business is closed, which promotes the development of successful internships, the formal and informal knowledge exchange, and the generation of value of the professional formation is evidenced by win–win relationships, the employability of young people, the creation of innovations and knowledge, and collaborative research processes. Conclusion Human capital is a determining factor in the economic growth of a country, especially in the so-called knowledge society, so it becomes a real factor of production. In this way, it is important for countries to commit in terms of investment in the education of competent human capital, research, innovation, and technological development, to improve the productive structure of the business (Hyde, 2015;Greiner et al., 2016;Stiglitz and Greenwald, 2016). In the case of Colombia, it becomes a necessity, first, to train the existing labor force, which is low-skilled and much focused on low-value-added services, and this should be shifted into conceiving education as an endogenous factor in its economic growth formula (Thelen, 2006;Acevedo, 2007). Second, the great changes in organizational models, the speed with which enterprises grow, and the new normality resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic provide a favorable context for professional formation to become a model that accounts for these changes, especially because of the immediate response in academic training. Consequently, a positive relationship is found between the development of intellectual capital through professional formation models and economic growth and decent work, through the closing of academia and business gaps. The comprehension of the business, economic and social needs by higher education institutions, and knowing their capacity to respond in an articulated manner with the company promote Frontiers in Sociology 09 frontiersin.org 55 Broecher and Painter 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1164293 mutual learning, as was once the case in a natural way. Of course, in the past, there were often power structures, dependencies, peer pressure, or a lack of acceptance of individuality. Taking care not to revert to prior times, yet preserving the best ideas and experiences, we would combine them with a new transformative philosophy. The humane values are always decisive, the orientation toward the good, as we can learn from communitarianism or the philosophy of O’Donohue (1998). Along with these social considerations, the farm project in Anhalt is about very practical things (Broecher, 2023a,b). Learning opportunities include repairing, rebuilding, and modernizing historic buildings, farmhouses, stables and barns, and partly timber-framed buildings. These activities preserve the area’s cultural heritage and start to implement ecologically valuable building materials and smart technologies (Figures 1,2). Other learning areas under exploration are organic farming, fruit growing, and sheep farming. Discussion This study aims to connect the critical analysis of social structures with an outline of an alternative model for working, learning, and living, a model that aims at sustainable development for all, including nature, wildlife, and the whole planet (United Nations, 2016). Providing an unconditional basic income and converting state-controlled compulsory schooling into selfdesigned compulsory education are two central parameters for the change sought here. In short, we advocate the transformation of learning, growing up, working, and living, as areas narrowly intertwined. Significant support exists in German society for establishing unconditional basic income, but there is also opposition. In the United States, many deem this policy as too radical, although there are places open to discussion. Skeptical citizens distrust such a solution, fearing exploitation. Others reject basic income because they see it as a form of social redistribution which encourages passive and selfish behavior. But this project views the presence of a basic income as an incentive to act entrepreneurially and to take on social responsibility. Examining contemporary German society, the conversion of compulsory schooling into a self-designed compulsory education is divisive. Homeschooling and freer learning formats have existed in the United States over time. In Germany, however, opponents repeatedly express a fear that children and young people will resist learning on their own. Conversely, even under the current conditions, there is an emerging group of students who learn too little or who do not go to school regularly, causing a variety of problems, excessive costs, and subsequent problems. Therefore, despite everything, there is a need beyond school for alternative places of learning. This transformative community-project movement, like most reform movements, does not appear without its skeptics and critics. They question the idea of establishing transformative communities because they relate the idea to abuse of power, manipulation, and exploitation. For example, they make the connection with such abysmal projects as Colonia Dignidad. To be successful, government agencies must oversee them so that those involved have their human rights guaranteed, and democratic principles are a reality. Transparency and accessibility are paramount to the projects, as are clear philosophical explication and financial disclosure. These projects must prohibit the conditioning or indoctrination of youth in religious, political, and other respects. They must not subjugate ideologies, manipulate, or exploit them. Learning and age-appropriate work conditions should have voluntary participation. It is important to realize that in contemporary German society, there is still a great deal of mistrust of a concept like the commons. This mistrust recalls the socialism that existed, as was present in the GDR and other Eastern European countries. Human character flaws will remain a challenge when, for example, selfishness and egotism prevail in dealing with the resources that should be available to everyone (Hardin, 1968). We hope to stimulate discussion so that people question the fixation on the accumulation of material goods that is dominant in today’s Western societies due to capitalism and the manipulation techniques that work within it (Marcuse, 2014), hoping to arrive more at a philosophy of being (Fromm, 2013). Conclusion Unconditional basic income would allow for the dismantling of the gigantic administrative apparatuses that distribute social transfer payments. Tax money released could be redirected to the projects, to the people themselves. Such a shift would allow civil society to assume maximum responsibility for itself. The state school system would continue to exist overall, but transformative community projects could reduce their capacity. Young people should never be left with no educational opportunities at all. This approach would provide options for a path to education in a traditional sense, and one to the transformative projects mentioned. Ideally, teacher education of the future could include the context of social, economic, and ecological transformation, including participatory and collaborative practices (Alsop et al., 2007). Thus, the teaching profession could be reinvigorated and charged with new attractiveness. Work would be more self-determined and therefore healthier, resulting in reduced medical expenses. Mobility on the roads could be reduced, with positive effects on the climate, as children and youngsters would no longer have to be shuttled as much, and the sedentary time during transport for adults would be less. This new pace would lead to a decelerated way of life that would benefit people currently living in stressed environments both locally and globally. However, a study from Japan (Klien, 2019) indicated that the mindset of people who long for more selfcreated work can be strongly influenced by the capitalist system. This study noted that people need to learn to release the mental pressure they carry from such a system. What a fascinating prospect for young people to grow into a healthier world right from the start, with solid social embedding, allowing them to develop their individual potential, always with a view to the overall context on this planet. Frontiers in Sociology 05 frontiersin.org 62 Broecher and Painter 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1164293 Data availability statement Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. There are two documentation volumes published by Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany, about the project with a total of around 700 photos and graphics. Both books are available in print and as e-books. For bibliographic information, see the reference list Broecher (2023a,b). Author contributions Both authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication. Acknowledgments The authors thank Friedhelm Decher, University of Siegen, Germany, for discussing with us the theoretical framework of this article and for sharing his knowledge of sociological and philosophical literature. Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Publisher’s note All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. 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Naveen [email protected] RECEIVED 04 February 2023 ACCEPTED 14 July 2023 PUBLISHED 03 August 2023 CITATION Naveen S, Parida JK and Panda I (2023) Tribal women empowerment through entrepreneurship: evidence from Mayurbhanj District, Odisha. Front. Sociol. 8:1158770. doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 COPYRIGHT ©2023 Naveen, Parida and Panda. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Tribal women empowerment through entrepreneurship: evidence from Mayurbhanj District, Odisha S. Naveen*, Jayanta Kumar Parida and Itishree Panda School of Social, Financial and Human Sciences (KSFH), Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Introduction: Empowering women in a tribal context through entrepreneurship is an approach for enabling and making them economically and socially viable. This paper aims to highlight entrepreneurship in a specific tribal context and provide insight on some instances or cases relating to women’s empowerment. Although there are many initiatives from international organizations and governmental institutions to support women entrepreneurs, especially tribal women, they suffer from isolation as a result of their language and lifestyle differ from the rest of society, which made the growth of their business and ability to compete arduous, and thus affected their ability to make various decisions in their lives. This study examines the pathway to a better understanding of increasing access to entrepreneurship for tribal women in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha. Methods: The sample size was 111 Santhal tribal women entrepreneurs, and all of them were interviewed using an interview schedule and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Two analytical tools were used (a linear regression model to find which dependent variables influence entrepreneurs and the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) to measure the progress in social and economic opportunities). The respondents was interviewed and asked on the various WEI indicators before and after an entrepreneurship intervention. Results and discussion: It was observed through the results that the empowerment of women has changed in a positive direction after establishing their work; according to the indicators of the study, the Women’s Empowerment Index has changed from 0.61 to 1.26. It was also found that entrepreneurship has a positive and significant impact on women’s decision-making within the family, and therefore, it was suggested through research to increase the intervention from the government and related organizations with more initiatives that contribute to the possibility of increasing women’s education and their financial ability to open new enterprises. KEYWORDS entrepreneurship, women, tribal, Women Empowerment Index, empowerment 1. Introduction Women in India are entitled to equal rights with men according to the constitution and laws established by the government. However, rural women do not enjoy the same social and economic freedoms as men, as is the case in urban areas (Kumar, 2013;Agrawal and Khare, 2019). They still rely on men to provide the family’s income and spend most of their time on household chores (Datta and Gailey, 2012). Empowering women can serve as a cornerstone for development to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in relation to families, communities, and even nations (Williams et al., 2022). It is the process that equips Frontiers in Sociology 01 frontiersin.org 65 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 women with the knowledge and skills necessary to expand their participation, control, and decision-making (Akhter and Cheng, 2020). The trend of making women play an important role has begun to increase in the past two decades, as they started to acquire skills on an equal footing with men and attempted to create their own projects (Kapoor, 2019). Women’s engagement in business enhances their capacity in three directions: asset ownership, business cycle ownership and therefore income, and achievement (Andriamahery and Qamruzzaman, 2022). Entrepreneurship has become common among women in India (Datta and Gailey, 2012). It has significantly increased in the past two decades and has become a driving force for the economy (Jahanshahi et al., 2011). Local and non-governmental organizations, as well as governmental organizations, have significantly focused on tribal women, providing numerous initiatives and political decisions, and offering many opportunities to work in poultry and livestock farming, crop cultivation, fruit and vegetable growing, and other types of entrepreneurship. Women’s participation from ethnic, tribal, or indigenous backgrounds can contribute to increasing human resources in the country (Sarma, 2014). However, tribal women in India spend most of their time performing their school duties and face numerous challenges such as food insecurity, lack of education, domestic violence, and poor healthcare (Maiti et al., 2005). Therefore, entrepreneurship is not an easy option for them, especially in an environment that suffers from underdevelopment and economic weakness. Lack of funding, education, and difficulty in accessing resources make their business activities less profitable and less effective when compared to other communities. Studies on women’s empowerment through income-generating activities are commonly conducted, however, tribal studies in this area are rare and have not addressed the Santhal tribe located in the Mayurbhanj District, where women have been neglected or excluded from research. To date, there have been no studies on tribal women’s leadership in the Mayurbhanj District, which is part of the state of Odisha in India, and no previous statistical studies have been conducted on the significance of the statistical relationship between entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, and decision-making. These are the research gaps that this study will address, making it distinct from other studies. The urgent need to understand how tribal women can continue their businesses is a distant vision for both the government and policy makers, and it should motivate researchers to conduct future research. This study will contribute to addressing several questions, such as: How can tribal women entrepreneurs succeed in empowering themselves in their communities? Can tribal women really make more household decisions with increased empowerment in entrepreneurship? The relationship between tribal women’s empowerment and household decision-making will be explored in order to bring about social change. This study has the potential to positively impact future research by understanding the impact of entrepreneurship on women’s empowerment. The growth of business entrepreneurship among tribal women is very limited and slow, and the study was limited to 111 tribal women, it may have been difficult to conduct an investigation about tribal society due to its special nature. The study was limited to empowering women in decision-making within the family, knowing that there are various other factors such as competence and self-determination and satisfaction with life are not taken into account. In this perspective, in-depth research is needed to find out whether entrepreneurship increased their decision-making power and made them innovative, risk-taker, and pro-active to continue their business activities or not. Besides, scholars will get to undertake future research on that issue. 2. Literature review Women’s empowerment procedures contribute to the improvement of women and are significant change agents (Mehra, 1997). The studies have found that empowerment is an integrated process (Naila, 2005;Akhter and Ward, 2009) that contributes to increasing women’s ability to reach great bargaining power when they work outside their homes (Anderson and Eswaran, 2009). Other studies have shown that giving women the opportunity increases their ability to control their income and increases the labor force in general (Field et al., 2021). To restore gender balance, training can create income for women (Creevey and Edgerton, 1997), increase their assets and earnings, and increase the supply of female labor; however, it presents many challenges (Bandiera et al., 2017). Opportunity is one of the important concepts in entrepreneurship, as researchers consider that entrepreneurs seize opportunities because they have prior knowledge of the labor market, or as a result of developing their social networks and thus knowing the market’s need, and because they are distinguished by a set of personal characteristics such as optimism that always drives them as a belief to achieve success in Entrepreneurship (Ardichvili et al., 2003;McMullen et al., 2007). Maslow’s theory relies on three dimensions of human needs, including growth, connection, and connection, and that relates to linking the need-satisfaction relationship strongly (Alderfer, 1969). There are certain tools that aid in promoting the employment of women as Agri-entrepreneurs. These include land ownership, cooperative agriculture, policy implications, and ICT tools, SHG— SME. Regarding the possibilities that can be taken advantage of, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), non-governmental organizations, and universities that aim to advance agricultural work are a few examples (Jena et al., 2018). Microcredit is one method of assisting Entrepreneurs in the Odisha regions, and it has a significant positive effect in a number of areas. However, there are some challenges for Entrepreneurs, including the low loan amounts compared to those at the national and regional levels, their reliance on middlemen, and a lack of market access (Rajpal and Tamang, 2021). Agricultural education in India can help encourage entrepreneurship and follow the best methodologies to succeed in it, as a study by Banerjee et al. (2020) there is a correlation between the desire to work in entrepreneurship, career planning, and agricultural labor capacity. An Indian agricultural university’s students were the subjects of this study. Using the analytical SOWT method, Revelsal and others examined the external and internal factors influencing a small Frontiers in Sociology 02 frontiersin.org 66 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 FIGURE 1 Conceptual framework. farmer support program called youth agripreneurship development (YAD). It was discovered that both independence and knowledge can be internal factors that have an impact on the community under study, as well as external factors like imposition brought about by the program’s resources and threats from both innovation and partnerships. To overcome threats, various strategies have emerged, such as increasing knowledge, using independent technology to increase knowledge, and using both of the knowledge networks (Refiswal et al., 2021). A one-of-a-kind study by Sarangi et al. (2022) of the impact of immigrants and indigenous entrepreneurs on development in the state of Odisha. Indigenous entrepreneurs have demonstrated a positive impact by increasing overall employment opportunities and facilitating access to immediate employment and adequate livelihoods for marginalized low-skilled workers. With the help of a structured questionnaire, a study on about 40 entrepreneurs by Agarwal et al. (2021) was carried out across various regions of India (Bungalu, Mumbai, Pune, and roughly 11 other cities). Agricultural entrepreneurs faced several problems, including high costs, shortage of skilled labor, and marketing issues. One of the most important proposals of the study was the creation of a database through which income and expenditures could be recorded for all urban entrepreneurial agricultural projects. In order to establish aquaculture production on a large scale, the study also suggests changing some policies to redistribute land uses and demonstrating greater interest in research collaboration between the public and private sectors. Encouraging the development of arable gardens and landscape design will also help to activate the roles of architects and gardeners. Joseph Schumpeter gave one of definitions of entrepreneurship and said that every person who works to create a new project and realizes the importance of the opportunity to create a business is considered an entrepreneur (Gill and Ganesh, 2007). But this definition has changed over the years. According to Nkechi et al. (2012), the entrepreneur was described as a creative and innovative person who understands problems and finds appropriate solutions to them. He is the person who performs the entrepreneurial function. Women’s entrepreneurship appeared in the late nineties and became important to researchers about 30 years ago. Stephens et al. (2021) mentioned that female entrepreneurs serve the community and bear all the risks in order to gain economic freedom and feel empowered. The research developed the hypothesis based on the concepts of empowerment and entrepreneurship. 3. Conceptual framework This paper used the concepts of women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship by following the previous methodologies with the addition of modifications commensurate with the subject of the study and the research area. The term “empowerment” Frontiers in Sociology 03 frontiersin.org 67 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 FIGURE 2 Location map of the study areas in India. was developed so that it takes on many visions, some of whom mentioned that it is a person’s ability to live as he wants (Kabeer, 1999), and it was developed to mean the ability to achieve and obtain resources, and the approach of women’s empowerment was widely used by academic researchers and policy makers (Lincoln et al., 2002). It measures income, employment, and the ability of decision-makers within the family; all of these are related to the social and economic dimensions, and all studies found that women are able to achieve satisfaction through their work and provide adequate support for the family. The process of linking entrepreneurship, empowerment, and decision-making is not easy because the concept of entrepreneurship has many dimensions and is difficult to measure. Increasing profits and the concept of empowerment must be linked to the development of entrepreneurship, as more achievements at the level of entrepreneurship will generate more profits and thus be reflected in empowerment and the decision-making process. As the empowerment tool is the main key to the success of setting up any enterprise, it is weighted by material procurement, managing the activities of a business, labor hire, price setting, and selling products. For family issues, family life education, household maintenance, savings and expenditures balance, medical care, coping mechanisms, arranged marriage, etc. are all considered. Training participation, ability to visit friends, families, and others, ability to use public transportation, and women’s use of media, etc. are measured for mobility. Knowledge is weighted by working rights knowledge; education is important, as are sanitation, pure drinking water, food preservation, and treatment. Figure 1 shows the available opportunities for entrepreneurship. In this approach, we find that entrepreneurship makes women active, risk-taking, innovative, and faces many challenges to reach a successful and profitable business, It also makes women confident in making individual decisions and feels empowered. This research doesn’t just add a new definition and meaning for “entrepreneurship” and “women’s empowerment,” it also provides new tools and indicators that may be used to measure the importance of tribal women in India. Frontiers in Sociology 04 frontiersin.org 68 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 TABLE 1 Characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the sample (n=111). Social characteristics Frequencies % Age group Women up to 35 years old 15 13.5 Women from 35 to 45 years old 75 67.6 Women above 45 years old 21 18.9 Family size Small families (1–3 members) 22 19.8 Medium families (4–6 members) 66 59.5 Large families (7 and above) 23 20.7 Literacy rate Women with literacy 16 14.41 Economic characteristics - - Personal business revenue Below Rs. 10,000 22 19.8 From Rs. 10,000 to 25,000 70 63.1 Above Rs. 25,000 19 17.1 Household expenditure based on the important Children education 20 18 Food 70 63.11 Clothes 12 10.8 Medicine 5 4.5 Others 4 3.6 Type of the house Pucca 95 85.6 Katcha 10 9 Half building 6 5.4 Own research. The study is an analysis of reality and a translation of what exists for tribal entrepreneurship, and its aims are as follows: (1) Find the factors of entrepreneurship for women in the studied area (empowerment and decision making). (2) To estimate the relationship between empowerment and entrepreneurship. (3) To know the basics of reaching decisions within the family of tribal women. 4. Materials and methods The study was conducted in Mayurbhanj District, which is located in Odisha state, India. The data were collected from Bijatola block, where Santhal tribes constitute about 77% of its total population (Mohanty, 2017). A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select sample farm households in the study area. The first stage was to select 13 villages in which Santhal tribes are present. In order to identify the women entrepreneurs in these villages, the second stage was to contact key informants in each village; thereafter, simple random sampling was used to select 111 women entrepreneurs. The interview schedule has been designed based on the conceptual framework to conduct face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 20 participants in each village to collect some primary data information and reach the research objective (Figure 2). Linear regression model used to identify the influencing factors, where entrepreneurship was dependent variable (Y), and the independent variables were as follows: age (X1), family size (X2), literacy (X3), membership with NGOs (X4), number of training hours (X5), and personal business revenue (X6). Here is the formula that was used: Yi=a+β1X1+β2X2+β3X3+B4X4+β5X5+β6X6+Ui Here, the change in one of the regressions is measured by the marginal effect (ME). Marginal effects assess discrete change as a method of predicting probability changes when independent variables are present. In this aspect, six social and economic variables—including age, education, number of training courses, business revenue, family size, and membership with NGOs—are taken into consideration to assess a reliable estimation of the extent of change in entrepreneurship. When all other variables were held constant at their means, the marginal effects demonstrated how the identified factors changed from 0 to 1. Women Empowerment Index (WEI) used considering before and after the entrepreneurship situation. After the entrepreneurship situation. Non-entrepreneurial situations of the selected tribal women was the best for baseline data. This is based on choosing a base or end line for entrepreneurship, which ranges from 5 to 7 years of experience. Experts, relevant individuals, and researchers discussed the choice of 20 indicators for women’s empowerment, which are: five for setting up an enterprise, six for family issues, four for mobility, and five for knowledge, which were used in the study, so that the highest value is 2 (women are leaders in decision-making) and is in a state of empowerment, and the lowest value is 0, which indicates men’s control over decision-making is in a state of disempowerment. Women Empowerment Index (WEI) was given in equations (Bose et al., 2009) as the following: WEIi=Pn i=1xi n Where women are not empowered when the WEI is ≤1, and they are empowered when the WEI is more than 1, and nis based on the number of dimensions under each indicator, such as family issues, n is equal to 6. Women’s entrepreneurship was evaluated on the basis of three components, including innovation, risk-taking, and pro-activities, which were further evaluated by nine items, three of each. While the four components of the decision-making process were used to understand the level of empowerment among tribal women entrepreneurs, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to validate the latent construct’s fitness, reliability, and validity. Frontiers in Sociology 05 frontiersin.org 69 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 TABLE 2 Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) results. Explanatory variables Coefficient Standard error Z-statistic Probability Age (X1) 0.061 0.312 0.71 −0.0412 Family size (X2) −0.045 0.111 −0.39 −0.221 Literacy (X3) 1.062∗∗ 0.323 4.50 0.614 Membership with NGOs (X4) 2.160∗∗ 0.361 8.14 1.735 Number of training (X5) 2.537∗∗ 0.482 5.91 1.435 Personal business revenue (X6) 0.00041∗0.00026 2.11 0.001 Constant −7.553 1.257 −2.34 −12.131 Pseudo R20.7518 LR Chi square 512.22 Log likelihood −37.321176 ∗Significant at 5% level. ∗∗Significant at 1% level. TABLE 3 Marginal probability results. Explanatory variables Standard error Z-statistic Probability Marginal effect Age (X1) 0.022 0.71 0.421 0.0031 Family size (X2) 0.0412 −0.39 0.564 −0.013 Literacy (X3) 0.071 4.50 0.000 0.514∗∗ Membership with NGOs (X4) 0.05103 8.14 0.000 0.711∗∗ Number of training (X5) 0.0776 5.91 0.000 0.513∗∗ Personal business revenue (X6) 0.00014 2.11 0.017 0.00041∗ ∗Significant at 5% level. ∗∗Significant at 1% level. Composite reliability testing was also done to guarantee the data’s internal consistency. 5. Results and discussion Entrepreneurs were divided according to age into several groups, and the highest percentage was (67.6) between 35 and 45 years old, and the percentage of women who could write and read was about 14.41%. This low percentage may be due to the difficulty of reaching tribal women, or it may be the result of the educational curricula (Mohanty, 2017), or caused by the poor financial situation of the family and their inability to go to school, because they work in collecting forest products for their livelihood (Tudu and Das, 2022). A study by Haddad et al. (2016) indicates that education is factor that can influence choice behavior and profoundly affect personal development. About 59.5% of the households in the research sample were found to have households with an average number of 4–6 members, which is higher than the national average household size based on Global Data 2021. It was also noted from Table 1 that a number of women in the sample have personal business revenue that exceeds 10,000 rupees, which is about 80.2% of the total. Women indicated that there is a priority in spending, and the importance is different, as spending on food is followed by spending on education for children, and then clothes. Table 1 shows that families live in Pucca houses with mud walls and tin roofs (85.6%), and some women live in houses with bamboo roofs. The sanitary system is not good, and 9% of the women houses (with half of the building) is not used. Socioeconomic status of tribal women has studied by a few researches (Subramanian et al., 2006;Mungreiphy and Kapoor, 2010); to find out their sustainable livelihood status, Kaushal and Kala (2004) conducted a study and measured their livelihood disparities. Four of the explanatory variables that contributed to taking up entrepreneurship, success, increase income (literacy, membership with NGOs, number of trainings, and personal business revenue). Literacy and the number of training sessions helped them make more informed decisions in their enterprise by directly updating their knowledge and increasing their capacity for understanding. They were able to increase their confidence and lessen their economic vulnerability due to higher personal business revenue and membership with NGOs. Age is one of the variables positively affecting entrepreneurship, but in the studied case, age was not significantly associated with entrepreneurship, and this may be because the majority of the research sample were middle-aged women (from 35 to 45 years old) and they were not very interested in new projects but rather in developing their traditional projects. Table 2 shows that the size of the family contributed negatively to entrepreneurship, which may be a result of the increased work that women do at home and Frontiers in Sociology 06 frontiersin.org 70 Naveen et al. 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1158770 TABLE 4 Results of Women Empowerment Index. Indicators WEI before entrepreneurship WEI after entrepreneurship Set-up an enterprise 0.55 1.30 Material procurement 0.28 1.15 Managing the activities of a business 0.67 1.27 Labor hire 0.25 1.17 Price setting 0.71 1.49 Selling products 0.82 1.44 Family issues 0.67 1.28 Family life education 0.73 1.13 Household maintenance 0.77 1.33 Savings and expenditures balance 1.04 1.55 Medical care 0.41 1.29 Coping mechanisms 0.30 1.16 Arranged marriage 0.76 1.25 Mobility 0.61 1.32 Training participation 0.67 1.44 Ability to visit friends, families, and others 0.51 1.06 Ability to use public transportation 0.66 1.35 Women’s social festival attending 0.95 1.43 Knowledge 0.62 1.14 Working rights knowledge 0.51 1.06 Education important 0.41 1.05 Sanitation 0.56 1.08 Pure drinking water 0.66 1.34 Food preservation and treatment 0.96 1.15 Overall WEI 0.61 1.26 Own research. TABLE 5 Reliability and validity tests results. Construct Concept Cronbach’s alpha Reliability test result Entrepreneurship Empowerment 0.501 0.146 Decision making 0.289 0.079 Own research. the lack of time during which they can control the project. It may also be due to a lack of money after securing the various needs of the family. According to Table 3, the chance of starting a project increases by 0.3% as age increases 1 year. Other variables also had the same positive effect, such as changes in education, the number of trainings, and personal income, which increased by 51, 7, and 0.04%, respectively. As for the membership with organizations, it was the only one with a positive and significant effect, at 71%. Several studies have been conducted on tribals in Mayurbhanj District, Odisha, on their traditional knowledge (Panda et al., 2011), their education statue (Behera, 2015), the impact of women participants in Self-Help Groups (SHGs) microfinance programs (Rajpal and Tamang, 2014;Rajpal, 2016), and the constraints faced by them to become entrepreneurs (Mohapatra et al., 2012). The women’s empowerment index often shows the extent to which women are able to take a set of actions and decisions as a result of entrepreneurship, as they can achieve financial independence and become more powerful than before in many ways, such as making the decision to marry and children, control living expenses, and attend social festivals. With some exceptions for men, which give men the ability to make decisions, such as recruitment processes for labor to assist in entrepreneurial activities. We note from Table 4 that women entrepreneurs have been empowered to a greater extent compared to before entrepreneurship, and the women’s empowerment index reached 1.26. It is noted from the table that among tribal women, women have been empowered in terms of mobility (1.32), followed by decisions related to the setup of an enterprise (1.30), then decisions related to family issues (1.28), and finally knowledge (1.14). Frontiers in Sociology 07 frontiersin.org 71 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 05 frontiersin.org circumstances, it is more likely that the reverse causal link prevails (Frey and MacNaughton, 2016). For instance, sociologists like Hammer etal. (2022) emphasize that significant formal job increases have not been made despite industrial progress. In reality, the informal sector predominates and is characterized almost universally by subsistence pay, employment, and social instability, all of which fall under immoral work (Hammer etal., 2022). The problem is that the working conditions of those employed in the unorganized sector are risky, lack social protection, and are polluting, which increases the likelihood that employees will get sick or injured and jeopardize their health and well-being (Adei etal., 2021). According to an ILO assessment from 2019, most countries still have a long way to go before attaining inclusive and decent employment for all, and development on SDG 8 was slowing down. According to Hammer and Ness (2021), from a socio-political perspective, the agenda of SDG 8 and similar interventions fail because not enough attention is given to the heterogeneity and complexity of intersecting social and material relations that support informal and precarious work and its role in capital accumulation. For instance, businesses intentionally alter the makeup of their workforce to limit labor’s ability to negotiate and lower the value of labor power (Chigbu and Nekhwevha, 2022c). The issue is that unionized workers are more likely than their non-union colleagues to speak up against indecent workplaces, which includes an increasing preference for non-unionized female workers and rural and semi-rural workers (Hammer and Ness, 2021; Sojourner and Yang, 2022). Critical factors influencing capital accumulation with consequences for the structure and differentiation of the workforce include the asymmetrical power relations between capital and labor and the state’s involvement in institutionalizing a flexible labor regime (Hammer and Ness, 2021). Having given the introduction to this section, our research objectives are methodically constructed and accomplished to grapple with the complexity of creating decent employment within the auspices of SDG 8. First, wethoroughly examine the delicate link between gender income disparity and the achievement of decent work within the context of SDG 8. Second, our scientific investigation extensively explores the injustices inherent in purely market-based labor markets, examining their numerous contributions to the terrain of decent labor. The third goal of the study is to shed attention on the complicated difficulties contained within informal employment and the larger economy, which are sometimes disregarded within the scope of SDG 8. Finally, our research emphasizes the critical need to strengthen the integration of environmental sustainability into the fundamental fabric of SDG 8. These problems illustrate the vital need for an in-depth analysis of the challenges and shortcomings of pursuing decent employment and economic expansion. 4.1 Gender and income inequality: decent work Gender disparities in the labor market remain a persistent challenge and should beat the heart of decent work discourse because women often face barriers to accessing decent work, including gender-based discrimination, wage gaps, and limited representation in decisionmaking positions. Achieving gender equality in the workplace requires addressing these challenges and promoting policies that ensure equal opportunities, fair pay, and work-life balance for all genders. Gender equality is essential for both sustainable development and economic prosperity. Keeping in mind the SDG 8 goals, the objective is to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men by 2030. The problem is that when women enter the workforce, they are less likely than males to find employment (ILO, 2017). For instance, Statistics SouthAfrica (2021) shows that the unemployment rate for women in SouthAfrica is 8.1% points greater than that of males. Men are more likely than women to have paid employment regardless of race. Still, women are more likely than males to beengaged in unpaid work, even in Asia and Germany, indicating that the labor market is more favorable to men than women (ILO, 2020; Toczek etal., 2021). Many variables, such as long-standing institutional impediments, socioeconomic and technical development, and economic drive and shocks, persistently drive gender inequalities in the workforce (WEF, 2022). Because of the pervasive gender disparity in the labor market (Khairy and Ghoneim, 2023), women have fewer opportunities to advance professionally and raise their salaries than men (Khairy and Ghoneim, 2023). This is especially true in male-dominated fields such as engineering, construction, and information technology (Khairy and Ghoneim, 2023). Among the factors that make it difficult for women to get acceptable employment are the “glass ceiling” and other forms of workplace discrimination against female employees, working conditions, and occupational segregation, all of which are significant challenges to overcome (de Pryck and Termine, 2014; Khairy and Ghoneim, 2023). According to the International Labor Organization’s 2017 World Employment and Societal Outlook – Trends for Women, social norms and a variety of socioeconomic obstacles, including work-life balance, marital status, and lack of transportation, are preventing women from advancing in the workforce (de Pryck and Termine, 2014). Also, economic hardships, sexism, and racism experiences have historically prevented women from accessing decent employment (Autin etal., 2022) and have been significant across industries (Fabry etal., 2022). According to Ferrant etal. (2014), women spend 2–10 times as much time as males on unpaid care labor. The uneven allocation of caring obligations is connected to discriminatory social structures and stereotypical views on the appropriate roles for men and women. The examination of gender disparities in labor outcomes, such as labor force participation, salaries, and job quality, fails to take into account gender disparity in unpaid care work (Ferrant etal., 2014), and this is one of the missing links. As Vyas (2021) put forward, it is no longer acceptable to attribute women’s stagnation in the labor market to a lack of education or concerns about their suitability for a particular position. Despite their credentials, women all over the globe are taking on the dual duty of caring for others and working, and as a result, they often have to accept insecure jobs. This is because women must perform unpaid care labor due to family commitments (Vyas, 2021). The position of women in the labor market and their status and authority inside the family are all impacted by the male–female wage gap (Witkowska, 2013; Toczek etal., 2021). In conclusion, according to the literature, objective 8.5, which calls for full and productive employment, decent work for people of both genders and equal remuneration for labor of equal worth, has not yet been averagely attained. Objective 8.8 goal of promoting safe and secure working conditions for all employees, particularly those in 78 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 06 frontiersin.org precarious employment (women), is currently difficult to achieve. SDG 8 seeks to promote decent jobs and economic prosperity for all persons, but continuing gender inequities in the labor market pose substantial hurdles to attaining these goals. Gender discrimination, income inequalities, and a lack of representation in leadership roles are just a few of how women’s careers are held back (Menéndez-Espina etal., 2020; Smith etal., 2021). To promote gender equality in the workplace, sustainable development, and economic success, these obstacles must be overcome. Women already experience discrimination in the workplace because of their gender, and the salary difference, poor working conditions, and occupational segregation only worsen things. Again, women’s access to safe, respectable jobs is hampered by the time and energy required for unpaid care duties. Policymakers and stakeholders must apply various strategies to overcome these problems and realize SDG 8’s goals and targets 8.5 and 8.8: ▪ Promoting Equal Opportunities: Enacting rules that eliminate discriminatory practices and obstacles to access in the workplace for both men and women. ▪ Supporting Work-Life Balance: Policies promoting work-life balance should beenacted to aid working mothers in juggling their professional and personal lives. ▪ Closing the Wage Gap: Equal pay for equal effort, as well as addressing the gender wage gap via equitable compensation methods, is essential to closing the wage gap. ▪ Reversing Gender Roles in the Workplace: Promoting female engagement in historically male-dominated fields via strategic programs and initiatives. ▪ Creating Safe and Secure Work Environments: Prioritizing the promotion of safe and secure working conditions, especially for women in precarious employment, is crucial to creating safe and secure work environments. ▪ Addressing Unpaid Care Work: Taking up the issue of uncompensated care work means advocating for an equal allocation of caregiving obligations and recognizing and respecting uncompensated care labor. ▪ Challenging Gender Norms: Promoting gender equality through combating the assumptions and discriminatory practices that keep women at a disadvantage in the workplace is a vital part of the movement to challenge gender norms. ▪ Investing in Education and Skills Development: Investing in education and training helps women acquire the knowledge and abilities they need to secure stable employment. ▪ Advocating for Women’s Empowerment: Pushing for more opportunities for women to take on positions of influence in organizations and society. ▪ Data Collection and Monitoring: Strengthening data collecting and monitoring mechanisms to measure progress toward SDG 8 and eliminating gender inequalities in the workplace. Prioritizing and executing these policy measures may help nations make substantial progress toward achieving SDG 8 and other associated SDGs by reducing the gender gap in the labor market and fostering decent employment for everyone. The labor market and inclusive and sustainable economic development are bolstered when barriers to gender equality and suitable employment are removed. 4.2 The injustices of market economy: rethinking sustainable development goal 8 The struggles for decent work and economic growth within the purely market-based labor markets have been multifaceted and debated for many years. While market economies have promoted innovation, efficiency, and overall economic growth, they also face challenges that can hinder decent work opportunities, equitable economic progress, and SDG 8. The rise of capitalism was the catalyst for both current economic expansion and the fight for decent employment. The quest for purely market-based labor markets to compete globally has led to economic concentration (Sell, 2020). Given that capitalism is inherently growth-oriented and is based on the logic of competition and accumulation (Hall and Davis, 2021), it produces the modern problems of unemployment and labor-capital conflicts (Xu and Chakraborty, 2021), as well as income inequality (Chowdhury and Żuk, 2018; Ranaldi and Milanović, 2022). The emergence of purely market-based labor markets resulted in a significant reduction in human well-being across all areas, with salaries falling below the minimum necessary for sustenance and a decline in human size (Sullivan and Hickel, 2023). Like never before in the history of capitalism, the global economic geography has undergone a significant transformation in terms of the magnitude and content of international flows of commodities, services, and financial assets, as well as the localization of industrial activity, mainly manufacturing (Ricci, 2021). The liberalization of local and international markets for commodities, capital, and labor, pushed via a wide range of neoliberal economic policies by almost all governments worldwide, has been the defining feature of this period (Ricci, 2021). Global value chains have been claimed to lead to new types of worker poverty, and many sectors’ mostly female workforces are hyperexploited (given salaries below the level necessary for subsistence) (Selwyn, 2019). Workers in a market economy are under tremendous pressure to meet very high and rising productivity goals, receive base pay that is insufficient to cover their needs for individual and social reproduction, put in a lot of overtime, and as a result of these combined pressures, suffer physical and emotional degradation (Selwyn, 2019). Yang etal. (2021) emphasized that capitalists are engaged in “wage theft,” which is the illegal underpayment or non-payment of employees’ wages and that even workers’ minimal legal rights are not enforced (Cole etal., 2022). This also includes paying less than the minimum wage, refusing to pay for labor during regular business hours or authorized overtime, denying breaks, and making employees pay for supplies or damage (Bernhardt etal., 2009). As work has become more precarious, marked by uncertainty, low income, and limited social benefits and entitlements (Menéndez-Espina etal., 2020), it is regrettable that even the advanced economy with a wellestablished legal and institutional framework has failed to enforce even basic legal standards (Sell, 2020; Yang etal., 2021). The necessity for capital to extract surplus value from labor leads to wage theft, and most obviously, unlawful underpayment allows management to enhance actual surplus value by documenting legal salaries while reducing cash payments (Yang etal., 2021). Despite these alarming issues, workers participate in their exploitation and work in precarious conditions due to inadequate work protection, which may have severe consequences for productive employment and decent jobs, − which are essential components of Goal 8 of the SDGs (Silaban etal., 2021). 79 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 07 frontiersin.org Additionally, encouraging precarious positions may make it more challenging to implement Goal 8 on decent work (Silaban etal., 2021). Regardless of a country’s degree of development, critical personnel are often underpaid by 29%, with this percentage being notably high in high-income nations that employ a significant proportion of foreign workers (ILO, 2023). Many of these employees in several essential industries have little unionization and collective bargaining coverage or none at all (ILO, 2023). These problems are seen as a sort of contemporary slavery known as labor exploitation, in which a person is made to work against their will, is under their boss’s authority, and is compelled by economic circumstances to accept inadequate compensation (Yang etal., 2021). Despite the substantial economic expansion, there is constant proof of worker exploitation in the periphery of the new global economy and labor pressure in older, more established industry centers (Mayer and Pickles, 2010). Through innovation and market competition, purely marketbased labor markets offer opportunities for skills development and adaptation; however, due to its emphasis on profit-driven market dynamics, rapid technological advancements, and the allocation of resources based on market forces, market economies have impacted skills mismatch in the labor market. Due to this, there is a discrepancy between the talents that companies value and those that job seekers possess (Livingstone, 2019; Chigbu and Nekhwevha, 2022a; Chigbu etal., 2023). Due to the capacity of market economies to develop and adapt new technology, the labor market is constantly disrupted and altered (Min et al., 2019; Minbaeva, 2021; Lefèvre et al., 2022). Additionally, the emphasis on efficiency and competitiveness under capitalism pressures companies to change and continue to besuccessful. This need for efficiency often leads to the automation of repetitive operations and the need for higher-level abilities that can complement and collaborate with technology (Brugger and Gehrke, 2018; Ra et al., 2019; Chigbu and Nekhwevha, 2022b). The consequence might bea skills mismatch as people lacking the required abilities may struggle to find acceptable jobs. Variability and unpredictability, upskilling, deskilling, and skills polarization (Mishra et al., 2019), the replacement of people with machines in the workplace, and the “deskilling” of existing functional jobs (Braverman, 1998) are all contributing to the unskilled proletariat. The SDGs’ sustainability goals are violated by Goal 8 (Hickel, 2019: 1) because the “global growth of 3% per year renders it empirically infeasible to achieve (a) any reductions in aggregate global resource use and (b) reductions in CO2 emissions rapid enough to stay within the carbon budget for 2°C.” While SDG 8 is based on the idea of enhancing the relationship between a business and its workers, job automation has the opposite impact, undermining the fundamental notion of decent employment and leading firms away from rather than toward the fulfillment of SDG 8 (Braganza etal., 2021). These are traits of degrading employment practices and market economies’ labor restructuring. Many struggle to find quality employment because they lack the skills to prosper in the changing industry. To foster economic development and provide fair employment opportunities, it is critical to close the skills gap via education, training, and lifelong learning (Chigbu etal., 2023). As production increases, the workforce does not experience the same positive growth in the manufacturing industry (Chigbu and Nekhwevha, 2022c). This might be the reason why critics have emphasized that expanding productivity as stipulated in SDG 8 has not resulted in a concomitant improvement in the standard of living of people, and sustainable development cannot bebased on further economic growth (Robra and Heikkurinen, 2019). The inequities inherent to the systematic processes of exploitation that are distinctive of market economies are not considered by SDG 8 or its larger sustainability agenda (Bianchi and de Man, 2021). The logic of growth, competition, and profit-making that underpin the continuous development and expansion of specific industries are in opposition to the SDG-led agenda (Bianchi and de Man, 2021). The idea of sustained and inclusive growth reinforces the primacy of capital and market notions of justice and continues to perpetuate a growth-driven development model rather than addressing the structural injustices that entrench inequalities and reproduce exploitative labor practices (Bianchi and de Man, 2021). The SDGs are yet another international instrument, as stated by Milivojevic et al. (2020), that makes rhetorically solid commitments to the intersections of labor, migration, and exploitation but lacks the clarity and operational strength it requires to lead the path in reducing, if not eliminating, such exploitative practices. The elements that support or contribute to the circumstances for labor exploitation are still not taken into account by this tool (Milivojevic etal., 2020). Trebilcock (2005) linked a lack of competent governance to a lack of decent work. A lack of governance, poor institutions, and contradictory political commitments may hinder progress on human rights concerns such as target 8.8’s labor rights. 1 The commitment of target 8.6 to dramatically improve the labor market situation of young people of NEET by 2020 was not met; for instance, see statistics in studies by Cieslik etal. (2022) and Picatoste and Rodriguez-Crespo (2020). Political will, commitment, and the structures and mechanisms for proper governance are essential (Trebilcock, 2005) in achieving decent work within SDG 8. Sadly, the new 2030 development plan favors market-based economic growth tactics above the attainment of everyone’s entitlement to full employment and a reasonable standard of living (Frey and MacNaughton, 2016). In this scenario, SDG 8’s expression and measurement of economic progress continue to leave many people behind (Meurs et al., 2019) due to the ongoing rise in insecure employment (Silaban etal., 2021) and increasing worker exploitation (Selwyn, 2019). In conclusion, of this section, the advent of market economies has been connected with contemporary economic expansion and the fight for decent labor. This complex link suggests that the objective of a decent job cannot bewholly realized within the existing economic system. Purely market-based labor markets, driven by competition and accumulation, have spawned various problems, such as unemployment, labor-capital disputes, and charges of exploitation and underpayment. Moreover, the growth of market economies has resulted in a decline in human well-being, including subsistence-level income and detrimental effects on human height. The impact of capitalism has also transformed the global economic geography, spurred by neoliberal policies that have liberalized markets and led to new types of worker poverty, which disproportionately afflict female workers. The ubiquitous problem of “wage theft,” which involves illegal non-payment or underpayment of workers’ wages, occurs even though the most fundamental legal norms are not enforced under 1 unescap.org 80 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 08 frontiersin.org insecure working circumstances. Despite SDG 8’s focus on inclusive and sustainable development, capitalism’s structural inequities and exploitative labor practices are not sufficiently addressed. In addition, the SDGs’ pledges to address labor exploitation and the interconnections of labor and migration have not been translated into adequate operational capacity to minimize or eradicate exploitative behaviors. With unstable labor on the rise, securing suitable employment remains a challenge. Economic circumstances continue to promote labor exploitation, defined by forced work and insufficient remuneration, as contemporary slavery. Extreme income and wealth disparities must beaddressed for human rights, health, political and economic stability, and world peace. It is vital to challenge market economies’ prevailing growth paradigm and promote a counterhegemonic discourse to address these challenges and those linked with informal labor successfully. 4.3 Challenges and neglected realities of informal work and economy within SDG 8 The SDG8 may not adequately address workers’ challenges (home-based workers, street vendors, domestic workers, waste pickers) in the informal sector, who often lack legal protection, social security, and essential benefits such as healthcare and pensions. Overcoming the challenges associated with the informal economy is vital to achieving decent work and inclusive economic growth. According to Tucker and Anantharaman (2020), “informal work” refers to various income-generating activities not covered by state labor laws and wage relations. In addition, “informal sector employers are frequently harsh, ignore the law, and easily dismiss their workers with little to no recourse to legal remedies” (Bonner and Spooner, 2011). For Dewick etal. (2022), the nature of informal work is heavily polluted with illegal activities such as disguised child labor (Singh etal., 2023), which goes unmonitored by any form of government (Padmavathi and Aruna, 2022). It has been argued that the market and state have failed in delivering optimum economic welfare to informal workers even in the case of well-planned and highly urbanized cities (Singh etal., 2023), as it is sometimes stigmatized as troublesome and unmanageable (Padmavathi and Aruna, 2022). Even while the informal economy contributes to the GDP (Charmes, 2012; Dell’Anno and Adu, 2020) and overall production and consumption in both developing and developed countries (Horodnic etal., 2022), it is sometimes not included in a nation’s GDP, unlike the formal sector (Padmavathi and Aruna, 2022). In a different view, women often engage in informal work, particularly in domestic services, which is undervalued and unrecognized, perpetuating negative stereotypes (Jackson, 2019). Critics have expressed worry about the escalating disparities surrounding the gender wage gap, particularly about the unpaid labor that women engaged in domestic work in the informal sector (Jackson, 2019; Singh et al., 2023). Addressing this issue involves recognizing and valuing unpaid domestic work, challenging negative perceptions, and ensuring equal opportunities for all genders (Jackson, 2019). To promote sustained inclusive and economic growth for all in line with SDG 8, it is crucial to prioritize gender equality (Jackson, 2019). Unfortunately, trade unions and other workers’ organizations undoubtedly face many real challenges in organizing the informal workforce, irrespective of sector or country (Bonner and Spooner, 2011), due to a lack of tradition of democratic functioning, financial self-reliant to pay regular membership dues, legal and regulatory framework, stable and specific workplaces, worker identity and undefined workplaces (Bonner and Spooner, 2011). The exclusionary aspect of organized trade unions inadvertently excludes a sizable segment of the workforce. The vulnerability of informal workers is exacerbated by their lack of legal recognition (Routh, 2015; BernalTorres etal., 2019), which contradicts the fundamental idea of decent work enshrined in SDG 8. Furthermore, SDG 8 underlines the significance of providing safe and secure working conditions for all workers, regardless of employment status. However, the lack of legal protections exposes informal workers to exploitative behaviors, undermining the promotion of fair working conditions (Williams and Youssef, 2014). Furthermore, the absence of knowledge and awareness about rights and the existence of trade unions among informal workers impedes the achievement of SDG 8. The SDGs view decent work as requiring workers to beempowered with knowledge and participate in decision-making processes, hampered by this lack of awareness. Too often, policy elites, including those promoting sustainable development, overlook that informal workers produce urban economies with social and environmental value (Tucker and Anantharaman, 2020) and promote the circular economy and sustainable development (Di Maio and Rem, 2015). The industry is crucial to survival and, more likely, continued livelihoods for persons with low skill levels (Jackson, 2019). However, growth-oriented economies – the core of SDG 8 – reproduce environmental deterioration, economic inequality, and poverty, the exact factors that drive so many people to engage in informal labor (Tucker and Anantharaman, 2020). The fundamental problem is that policymakers still do not have a reliable KPI for boosting the informal sector (Di Maio and Rem, 2015). Despite efforts to integrate the Decent Work agenda into social policies and programs, political processes are structurally unstable; therefore, there are no precise strategic approaches for addressing a capacity gap particular to the informal sector (Dhakal and Burgess, 2021). Our primary conclusion in this section is that SDG 8 may not sufficiently address the issues faced by workers in the informal sector, resulting in a lack of legal protection, social security, and decent working conditions. Casual workers, who constitute a substantial component of the labor population in several developing nations, engage in income-generating activities outside of official labor regulations and are vulnerable to exploitation by employers who often flout the law. Consequently, the government does not oversee several aspects of indecent labor in this area. In addition, the gender disparity gap, especially in terms of unpaid labor undertaken by women in domestic employment, is a worrying problem that reinforces negative stereotypes and necessitates equitable opportunity and acknowledgment of unpaid domestic work. Unfortunately, authorities often disregard the substantial contribution of informal labor to urban economies, social value, and environmental sustainability. In addition, unions and workers’ groups confront obstacles in organizing the informal workforce, such as the absence of a history of democratic functioning, financial independence, legal and regulatory frameworks, stable workplaces, worker identity, and unclear work arrangements. For fostering sustainable development, reaching SDG 8, and contributing to reducing carbon emissions that harm the environment, it is crucial to recognize the informal sector’s significance and establish appropriate metrics to support its growth. 81 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 09 frontiersin.org 4.4 The need to strengthen the integration of environmental sustainability within the framework of SDG 8 The phenomenon of indecent workplaces poses existential severe threats to achieving SDG 8 (Raimi, 2020). For example, due to growing unemployment rates and greater levels of precarious employment in the labor market, Sub-Saharan Africa has a low inclination toward decent work (Raimi, 2020), while their focus is on economic growth that might hamper the environment. Scholars have argued that SDG 8 is presently part of a climate delay argument since the inclusion of economic development and the emphasis on boosting employment both contribute to unsustainable and unfair results (Kreinin and Aigner, 2022), severe several environmental and human health problems (Sun et al., 2016). For example, China is the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, with manufacturing accounting for approximately 30% of total economic production. The fast economic growth of China and the expanded availability of goods and services raise the need for energy, such as hydroelectricity usage. Sure, hydroelectricity consumption hurts CO2 emissions, which helps to mitigate environmental degradation; however, it also has adverse environmental and societal risks, such as degenerated wildlife habitat, worsened water quality, obstructed fish mobility, and shrunk recreational opportunities on rivers, which cannot beoverlooked (Adebayo etal., 2021). China’s economic development, for example, has dramatically decreased poverty in recent decades, allowing it to enter the ranks of upper-middle-income nations. Unfortunately, its economic prosperity has been accompanied by substantial decreases in air quality; in fact, its air pollution has increased far quicker than its economic development (Dang and Serajuddin, 2020). Another troubling problem is that as many as 96 nations lack data on SDG 13, “Climate Action,” making it difficult to adequately assess progress across countries and time (Dang and Serajuddin, 2020). There has been much discussion on absolute decoupling, which happens when environmental problems are decreased but economic development is maintained. Since capitalism, no matter where it is, is prone to crises, growth-dependent, and market expansion, it is impossible, according to the present state of climate science, for there to bea time of no growth or “de”-growth under market economies (Hall and Davis, 2021). However, although relative decoupling has been demonstrated in certain nations, total decoupling remains challenging owing to purely market-based labor market growth and dynamics (Ward et al., 2016). GDP growth would have to be significantly decoupled from energy and material usage and environmental repercussions for it to besustainable; yet, there is no evidence that GDP growth can bedetached in the long run (Ward etal., 2016). Nevertheless, at the core of green manufacturing is the need for the industry to combine numerous goals, including equitable development, environmental protection, and productivity, via a plethora of regulatory frameworks (Fu and Irfan, 2022). In conclusion, while SDG 8 target 4 aims to “improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and strive to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation,” it does not explicitly emphasize the need for sustainable economic practices that minimize environmental impacts caused by intense economic competition and growth-oriented market economies. In a neoliberal capitalist society, pursuing GDP development often comes at the price of ecological sustainability. In addition, China’s industrial supremacy and economic growth have resulted in a substantial rise in energy use, notably hydroelectricity, which has had detrimental environmental effects. The difficulty is achieving complete decoupling, in which economic expansion continues but environmental consequences decline. This work becomes more complex, particularly given that many nations lack adequate data on climate action, highlighting an urgent need for enhanced monitoring and reporting methods. 5 Discussion – complex path to SDG 8: unraveling challenges and charting future courses The global community faces numerous hurdles in achieving SDG 8. This debate goes into four crucial study findings, each of which sheds light on critical impediments impeding the achievement of SDG 8’s objectives. Weexplore the intricate tapestry of challenges and opportunities inherent in the path toward sustainable and decent employment for all by addressing gender disparities, grappling with the nuances of market economy systems, confronting the realities of the informal sector, and navigating the intricate balance between economic expansion and environmental sustainability. 5.1 Gender disparities: breaking the chains of discrimination The persistence of gender disparities in the labor market is a substantial impediment to achieving SDG 8. Despite tremendous progress in recent years (Fink etal., 2018; Tripathy, 2018; Samuel etal., 2020), women face formidable obstacles, ranging from systemic prejudice to socioeconomic disparities. Gender equality in the workplace is not just a moral issue; it is also a strategic necessity. Research regularly shows that economically empowered women lead to more considerable societal benefits, such as increased economic growth and social cohesion (Costa etal., 2023; Naveen etal., 2023). Comprehensive strategies and targeted activities are required to break down these barriers. Encouragement of female involvement in education and training, promotion of mentorship programs, and advocacy for equal pay are all critical steps toward making the job market a fair playing field for all women (Pignatti, 2016; Tabassum, 2019; Devadas and Kim, 2020). 5.2 Market economies paradox: balancing growth and social equity A closer look into market economic systems shows a paradox at the heart of economic development. While purely market-based labor markets promote economic progress and innovation, they also encourage income inequality, job insecurity, and exploitation (Wray, 2009; Galanis etal., 2017; He, 2022). Because of this dichotomy, economic policy must becomplex. Governments and institutions must actively lessen the negative impacts of uncontrolled capitalism by instituting progressive taxation, assuring equitable salaries, and strengthening social safety nets. Furthermore, cultivating a corporate social responsibility culture can incentivize corporations to contribute 82 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 10 frontiersin.org constructively to society (Verma, 2015; Varona, 2020; Chigbu and Nekhwevha, 2022c), thereby balancing the tensions between economic growth and social equality. 5.3 The informal sector: bridging gaps in legal rights and social security Although the informal sector employs a sizable fraction of the global workforce, it is nevertheless underserved by SDG 8. Workers in informal economies frequently lack legal rights and social security, exposing them to exploitation and poverty (Garzón-Duque etal., 2017; Dwi Winarni et al., 2019). Recognizing the enormous contribution of the informal sector to economies, governments must provide legal protections and social welfare benefits to these people. Formalizing the informal sector through accessible registration processes, tailored financial services, and vocational training can uplift millions, fostering inclusive growth and narrowing disparities (Catherine and Jacob, 2014; Khamis, 2014; Tara etal., 2020). 5.4 Balancing economic expansion and environmental sustainability: a delicate act Economic growth, a crucial aspect of SDG 8, frequently collides with environmental sustainability imperatives. Rapid industrialization and resource-intensive production put a strain on ecosystems (Sharma, 2018; Bandurin and Bandurina, 2021), offering considerable challenges to achieving sustainable development (Kuznetsova et al., 2020). Revolutionary changes in production processes and consumption patterns are required to reach equilibrium. Embracing green technologies, developing circular economies, and investing in renewable energy sources are critical measures (Berg et al., 2018; Adeosun etal., 2023). Simultaneously, raising awareness and cultivating an environmental culture can stimulate behavioral shifts, supporting sustainable practices throughout companies and communities. As weface these problems head-on, weset the groundwork for a more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous society in which the promises of SDG 8 become lived realities for every individual, regardless of gender, socioeconomic background, or job position. 6 Conclusion This detailed study delves into the underlying complexity of the current labor market by evaluating the complicated web of problems within the goal of Decent Work and Economic Growth – SDG 8. Our aims were designed to elucidate the multifaceted dimensions of this pursuit, and the findings, as presented, highlight the critical need for nuanced and holistic strategies in the face of gender and income inequalities, the inherent injustices of market economies, the oftenoverlooked realities of informal work, and the imperative of integrating environmental sustainability into economic practices. Wediscovered that continuing gender gaps in the labor market pose a substantial barrier to realizing SDG 8’s objective. Women continue to encounter enormous obstacles, ranging from discrimination to occupational segregation. Examining market economic systems found a perplexing link between economic development and adequate employment. While capitalism promotes economic growth and innovation, it produces income inequality, insecure work, and exploitation. Our study indicated that the informal sector, which employs a sizable proportion of the global workforce, is still underserved by SDG 8. Workers in this sector lack legal rights and social security and are frequently exploited. Economic expansion often collides with environmental sustainability, creating substantial obstacles to SDG 8. The current emphasis on GDP development, particularly in capitalist cultures, contributes to environmental deterioration, which is aggravated by a lack of decoupling of economic expansion from resource use. To achieve decent work and economic growth in the 21st century, a paradigm shift is required – one that embraces gender equality, challenges purely market-based labor market conventions, empowers informal workers, and promotes environmental sustainability. Because of the complexities of these difficulties, coordinated efforts, new policies, and a commitment to social justice are required. By confronting these multifarious concerns head-on, nations may pave the way for a future in which decent work is not just a goal but a fundamental human right, providing prosperity for everyone and protecting the well-being of our planet for future generations. This study is a rallying cry, calling governments, scholars, and global citizens to collaborate in breaking down barriers and establishing a path toward a more equal and sustainable society. 6.1 Future research direction Building on the findings and knowledge gaps identified in our study, some potential future research areas can beexplored to deepen our understanding of decent work and sustainable economic growth within the context of SDG 8. One of these prospective study directions includes: “Case Studies on Successful Decent Work Initiatives.” Conducting in-depth case studies on countries or regions that have made significant progress in promoting decent work and achieving sustainable economic growth within the framework of SDG 8 can offer valuable insights and best practices for other nations to adopt. Author contributions BC: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. FN: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Funding The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Reference/ Grant Number: PSTD2204133322. We also acknowledge the Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC) at the University of Fort Hare South Africa, and the National Institute for the 83 Chigbu and Nekhwevha 10.3389/fsoc.2023.1266141 Frontiers in Sociology 11 frontiersin.org Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) for their financial support for this study. Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could beconstrued as a potential conflict of interest. Publisher’s note All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher. References Adebayo, T. S., Agboola, M. O., Rjoub, H., Adeshola, I., Agyekum, E. B., and Kumar, N. M. (2021). 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Conflict between untact technology and rigid institutions in Korea JoonmoCho 1, SangheeLee 2 and ByungjinPark 3* 1 Department of Economics, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 2 Department of Consilience, Korea Polytechnic University, Siheung, Republic of Korea, 3 Department of Economics, HRD Center, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea Background: Previously, Korea showed a passive attitude toward home-based telework; however, this stance rapidly changed after the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustaining home-based telework entails adjusting productivity conditions, introducing performance-based evaluations, and modifying employment rules, as required by the Korean Labor Standards Act, which demand the consent of most workers. This study aims to explore the societal and institutional shifts necessary for ongoing home-based telework post-pandemic. Methods: This study discusses the sustainability of home-based work based on survey data and materials from institutions and previous research. It used data from the Workplace Panel Survey provided by the Korea Labor Institution for 3 years (2015, 2017, and 2019) to examine the status of home-based work and business responses. It also addresses legal issues related to changes in working conditions and worker-management agreements resulting from telework implementation. Legal aspects of telework are explained using relevant sections of Korea’s labor laws. Results: To establish home-based telework as a working method relevant to the Fourth Industrial Revolution after the pandemic, essential discussions are needed regarding its fundamental applicability to specific job sectors. Moreover, to activate home-based telework without deteriorating working conditions, achieving agreement between workers and management is imperative. However, legal complexities necessitate systemic changes for effective resolution. For the sustainable continuity of telework, a blend of societal awareness and institutional transformations is indispensable. Discussion: The growth of home-based telework through untact technology expansion is hindered by inflexible Korean labor laws, judicial precedents, and worker-management relations. The absence of necessary legal and organizational changes could lead Korea to revert to pre-pandemic norms or slow implementation. Initially prevalent in IT, home-based telework has expanded across sectors due to the pandemic. Leading the “new normal,” companies creatively enhance productivity through telework, but rigid systems and outdated cultures could impede post-pandemic progress. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for forward-looking institutional changes and adaptation to advancing technology. It provides valuable insights for organizations and policymakers to optimize work dynamics and enhance employee and employer well-being in the post-COVID-19 era. OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Delali A. Dovie, University of Ghana, Ghana REVIEWED BY Valentin Marian Antohi, Dunarea de Jos University, Romania Denisa Vasilescu, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, Romania *CORRESPONDENCE Byungjin Park [email protected] RECEIVED 06 September 2023 ACCEPTED 14 November 2023 PUBLISHED 29 November 2023 CITATION Cho J, Lee S and Park B (2023) Can COVID-19 mark a tipping point for home-based telework? Conflict between untact technology and rigid institutions in Korea. Front. Public Health 11:1289809. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1289809 COPYRIGHT © 2023 Cho, Lee and Park. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 29 November 2023 DOI 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1289809 87 Cho et al. 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1289809 Frontiers in Public Health 08 frontiersin.org immediate responses, were initially believed to be unsuitable for remote work. However, these jobs quickly transitioned to home-based telework when call centers became sites of mass infection (44). The pandemic has forced experimentation to determine whether homebased telework is suitable for Korea. Some examples suggest that a surge in home-based telework may not be a temporary measure. Certain companies that have implemented telework for all employees have indicated their intentions to continue telecommuting. They envision a culture of business openness, sharing, and communication through the development of new business tools, possibly leading to their transformation into smart offices (45). Considering this trend, it is important to explore whether homebased telework can become a method of business innovation not only during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic but also in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The pandemic has acted as a turning point for organizations, prompting fundamental concerns over their methods of operation and job performance evaluation (46). However, to determine whether the home-based telework method introduced abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea can last and expand in the post-pandemic era, various reviews and assessments should be conducted. We now consider the possibility of expanding home-based telework methods in Korea following this outbreak. 3.3 Review on the possibility of home-based telework methods to expand in Korea 3.3.1 The possibility for change in the passive attitude of Korea Conducting thorough reviews from various perspectives is crucial to determine the potential expansion of home-based telework methods in Korea following the pandemic. One key aspect is identifying jobs that can beeffectively conducted through home-based telework. The survey examined the reasons for the previous lack of a flexible working system in Korea and found that over half of all jobs were deemed unsuitable for such a system. Table4 provides insight into the reasons for not utilizing flexible working methods. According to a previous survey, the main reasons for difficulties in encouraging flexible work included the nature of the job (52.3%) and organizational culture and environment (23.0%) (47). Collectively, these results indicate that the primary obstacles hindering the introduction of home-based telework are the lack of suitable job roles and the nature of the work itself. 3.3.2 Judicial procedure required for the adoption of home-based telework in Korea When introducing home-based telework in Korea, it is required to obtain the consent of individual workers or engage in consultation with worker groups before making any changes to working conditions. The process for implementing home-based telework includes the following scenarios: First, if a provision concerning the implementation of homebased telework is already present in the collective agreement, employment rules, 1 or labor contract, the company can implement home-based telework by issuing an order in accordance with the relevant provision. In such cases, individual workers are considered to have implicitly agreed to home-based telework, allowing the employer to implement it by exercising the right to personnel orders. Additionally, if the individual labor contract includes a provision allowing the employer to designate the workplace, the employer can introduce home-based telework by designating the employee’s home as the workplace without requiring any separate consent (Provision in Possession Method). However, such cases are rare in Korea, which has passively adopted home-based telework. In situations without any provision related to implementing home-based telework, as previously mentioned, a company can only introduce home-based telework with the explicit consent of individual workers. As most Korean workplaces lack specific provisions for home-based telework, its implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic likely required obtaining the consent of individual workers. Nevertheless, if social distancing is imperative to prevent the spread of the infection, implementing home-based telework can bejustified through consultation with workers or worker groups. Consequently, a stay-home order or home-based telework (transfer) order, in which the home becomes the workplace, can bereasonably issued2 (Right of Personnel Order Method). Meanwhile, if home-based telework is officially introduced for all employees or a specific job group, working conditions, such as the service regulations related to home-based telework applied to relevant employees, must bemodified. In such cases, conditions cannot bealtered solely by the consent of individual workers; rather, home-based telework must beintroduced by amending the employment rules that apply to all employees. However, if the proposed working conditions, such as the service regulations for home-based telework, are not more disadvantageous to workers than the existing working conditions, the opinion of the labor union shall be heard if such an organization represents the majority of the workers. In its absence, the collective opinion of the majority of workers should be considered (Article 94, Paragraph 1, Main Body of the Labor Standards Act, Normal Method to Change Employment Rules). However, if the proposed 1 Employment rules specify the working conditions to beapplied uniformly to the workers in a business place regardless of the designation. In Korea, the business places that employ more than 10 workers are obliged to establish employment rules (Article 94, Main Body of the Labor Standards Act). Although employment rules contain the working conditions and working discipline of the workers in business places existing in Korea and Japan, they also can also nullify the relevant contract provisions if the labor contract concluded by an individual worker falls short of the standard set by the employment rules (Article 97 of the Labor Standards Act). 2 Article 23, Paragraph 1, of the Labor Standards Act stipulates, “The employer shall not dismiss…leave of absence, or transfer…without good cause.” Whether a personnel change, such as an order to work from home or a stay-home order (transfer or leave of absence), is based on a good cause is determined through business necessity, disadvantages in life, and the consultation procedure required under the principle of good faith (Supreme Court, April 11, 2000, Pronouncement of Ruling No. 99du2963; Supreme Court, Sep.10, 2009, Pronouncement No. 2009du10440, etc.) 94 [Document text truncated for crawler view.]