Kōtuitui

New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online

Call for papers: special issue

New Zealand Studies of Work and Well-being. 

Kotuitui: The New Zealand Journal of Social Science On-line has invited Professor Kerr Inkson of the University of Waikato and Associate Professor Keith Macky of Auckland University of Technology to be guest editors of a Special Issue covering the above topic. 

The relationship between people and their work, and the effects of work and employment on people’s well-being, are areas of continuing and indeed growing research interest. For example, increasing participations rate for women in the workforce have created a new group of workers whose personal and family life may potentially be enhanced or harmed by their new employment situation. Recent data on the growing diversity in forms of employment have also led to concerns that growing segments of the workforce may be becoming marginalised, while increases in the length of the average working week and drives to lift labour productivity suggest work has become more intensified for many employees.  Coupled with newer developments in managerial practices, such as offshoring, and continuing pressures to improve workplace efficiencies, employee job security continues to erode while at the same time opportunities to exercise voice may have been weakened. Indeed, the notion that work is becoming more stressful is commonplace, together with a sense of a growing imbalance between work and non-work life. Further, forms of work organisation and styles of organisation culture and leadership are changing in diverse ways that may advantage or disadvantage workers’ well-being. And it is increasingly clear that what people experience at work, and their affective responses to such experiences, are critical mediating factors between how they are managed and organisational as well as societal outcomes.

This Special Issue seeks to draw on the body of social science research on such issues to make authoritative assessments of the relationships between work and well-being in New Zealand, and where possible to recommend policy and other interventions aimed at improving workers’ well-being. Papers relating to the specific issues noted above are welcome, but papers relating to any other aspect of the subject area will be equally welcome. Suitable papers may come from a range of disciplinary perspectives, e.g. labour economics, social geography, employment relations, sociology, industrial/organizational psychology, ergonomics, organisational behavior, social anthropology, family studies, organisation studies, or management. Empirical papers are sought, as are original reviews of, and commentaries on, previously published research.  

Submissions should not have been previously published. The research being reported should either have been conducted in New Zealand, deal specifically with New Zealand issues, or be presented in such a way that applicability to New Zealand is made explicit. Other than that, papers should have the characteristics of all Kotuitui publications, e.g. high quality and the expectation of being cited internationally. Potential authors are advised to read the criteria available on the Kotuitui website carefully. 

Papers should be not longer than 6,000 words including references, and should otherwise conform to the instructions provided for authors on www.rsnz.org/publish/authors/instruct_auth.php. The editors may refer papers submitted but not included in the Special Issue to the editors of Kotuitui for consideration as papers submitted normally for publication. The editors reserve the right to reject papers deemed unsuitable without review, but otherwise all papers will be double blind-reviewed and may be returned to authors with requests for revision before any commitment to publication is given. 

Kotuitui is a peer-reviewed on-line journal published by the Royal Society of New Zealand, with a special focus on New Zealand topics and issues in social science. it is included in the EBSCO Publishing database SocINDEX with full text, and is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. Its Editors and Editorial Board include some of the most eminent social scientists in the country (click here for biographies).

Intending authors who have ideas for a paper are encouraged to write to Professors Inkson and Macky at kinkson@mngt.waikato.ac.nz and keith.macky@aut.ac.nz for advice on their ideas, without any commitment to publication.

In order to be considered for the Special Issue, papers must reach Kotuitui not later than 30 June 2008. The intended date of publication of the Special Issue is early 2009. Papers may be submitted at www.rsnz.org/publish/authors/submit.php or emailed to the editors.

Please note: No page charges will be made for papers in this Special Issue.

Editors: Kerr Inkson has a PhD from the University of Otago and is an Adjunct Professor of Management at the University of Waikato. He has previously held chairs at the Universities of Auckland, Otago, and at Massey University. An expert in general management, organisational behaviour and career development, Kerr has published over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and 12 books. His latest books are  Cultural Intelligence (co-authored with David C Thomas, published by Berrett-Koehler, 2004), Understanding Careers: The Metaphors of Working Lives (Sage Publications, 2007), and Working on the Edge: A Portrait of Business in Dunedin (co-edited with Victoria Browning and Jodyanne Kirkwood, Otago University Press, 2007). He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society and the New Zealand Institute of Management, a Distinguished Member of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management, and was Chair of the Tertiary Education Commission’s PBRF Business and Economics panels in 2003 and 2006.

Keith Macky obtained his PhD from Massey University and is currently Associate Professor of HRM at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT). His has had a varied career in both academic and business environments, having held positions at Auckland University, Massey University, UNITEC, Ernst & Young and KPMG. He has published research in areas as diverse as the psychological effects of unemployment, organisational downsizing, high-performance work systems and their impact on employee well-being, and why people do or do not join unions. In addition, he has authored five books, the most recent of which, Managing Human Resources: A Contemporary New Zealand Perspective, is currently in press.