Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to explain frontline employee absence as a form of concerted resistance in a public service welfare environment. Design/methodology/approach – Conflicts over absenteeism can be interpreted as a mix of formal and informal struggles...

Service skill definitions have been over-extended, by equating compliance with skill, and underdeveloped, by not recognising service jobs' invisible social and organisational aspects. Existing approaches to determining service skill levels draw on occupational qualifications and capacity for...

Policymakers in Latin America increasingly are turning to policies that have high economic rates of return and a favorable impact on income distribution. By providing financial services to small businesses and poor households -which normally lack such services- credit unions help secure growth...