Women workers, social sustainability and working time: a study in a cooperative guided by the principles of solidarity economy

Mariane Lemos Lourenço and Carlos Eduardo Neres Lourenço

Social Responsibility Journal, 2016, vol. 12, issue 3, 571-583

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate time management as a source of social sustainability in a Brazilian cooperative based on the principles of the solidarity economy, guided by democracy and self-management. This type of organization which is founded on self-management and management of working hours can permit flexibility in the work schedule, an aspect that the literature shows to be one of the indicators of social sustainability. The focus of this study is the female workforce. Design/methodology/approach - The research was qualitative, using case study methodology. With respect to the temporal perspective, this is a longitudinal project. The result of this contact was a field diary in which observations on the functioning of the cooperative and its activities were recorded. In addition to these observations transcribed in the field diary, interviews were conducted with members. These were guided by a script to raise issues related to work routine and project management. Findings - The results showed that self-management of working time allows flexibility, which can indeed be seen as a source of social sustainability that can provide working women with possibilities for meeting the various, conflicting demands they face from both work and family. This was seen to be a positive factor because many women in Brazil are heads of their households and are uniquely responsible for work, family and other responsibilities. Originality/value - The qualitative meaning of working time is what may be linked to social sustainability because it is connected to self-management of working hours.

Keywords: Social responsibility; Flexible working hours; Women workers; Sustainable development; Social sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:srjpps:v:12:y:2016:i:3:p:571-583

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-09-2015-0140

Access Statistics for this article

Social Responsibility Journal is currently edited by Prof David Crowther

More articles in Social Responsibility Journal from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().