Cristina Parente

Purpose: This study aims to analyze 10 organizational experiences in Spain that have implemented a reduction in the weekly working hours – either full or partial – through a four-day working week, without a reduction in salary, exploring motivations, applied models and organizational impacts from a management perspective. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with human resources managers, general managers and executive teams from organizations in various sectors (including technology, industry, education and hospitality) across six Spanish autonomous communities. The analysis focused on identifying common patterns in the motivations for adoption, implementation approaches and perceived organizational effects. The motivations combined work-life balance objectives, social responsibility considerations and talent attraction and retention strategies. Different implementation models were observed, including daily reductions in working hours, the elimination of Friday work and rotating shift systems adapted to specific operational requirements. Findings: The findings indicate that the primary motivations for adopting a four-day workweek were improving work-life balance, strengthening talent attraction and retention and increasing organizational efficiency. Organizations considering a four-day workweek should adapt implementation models to sectoral characteristics, establish clear performance indicators and promote ongoing evaluation processes to monitor organizational and employee outcomes. Originality/value: The study provides empirical evidence in the Spanish context, challenging the paradigm that links productivity with the number of hours worked and filling a significant gap in the literature.

Background: There is a race to innovate, develop or create hydrogen production technologies to accelerate energy transition and create a hydrogen economy. Acceptance has been used in social science literature as a lens through which to anticipate possible challenges surrounding hydrogen technologies. However, very few studies problematize perceptions and focus on the production of hydrogen. Hence, this study aims to bridge these theoretical and empirical gaps using a mixed-method approach based on semi-structured interviews (n = 7) and a questionnaire survey (n = 73) to understand stakeholders’ perceptions of hydrogen production sources through a social construction of technology lens. Results: The findings suggest a tendency to favor hydrogen produced from renewable sources and to reject hydrogen produced from non-renewable sources. All the examined groups conform to this pattern. Their perceptions are based on prior knowledge of hydrogen technologies, with participants seeking information from specialized sources or from activities promoted by their organizations. Participants anticipate that hydrogen will be generated primarily through renewable energy sources and utilized where direct electrification is unfeasible. In addition, they envisage that the hydrogen economy will enhance energy democracy through representative participation in decision-making. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged that the topic is limited to certain social groups and kept away from the public eye. Furthermore, unlike the benefits, the perception of risk appears to have no impact on perceptions’ construction. High confidence in science appears to minimize the recognition of potential risks and bolster the recognition of potential benefits. There is, however, a lot of uncertainty about the possible real impacts of the hydrogen economy. Conclusions: There appears to be a collective perspective on hydrogen production sources, indicating the existence of social representations. Nevertheless, group attitudes and backing towards hydrogen vary. The participants identify hydrogen as a matter that remained unnoticed for over a decade, despite its prominent position in the policies and economic approaches of numerous countries. The topic has been relegated to third parties. This exclusion of civil society from decision-making may justify the NGO group's critical stance towards hydrogen. Moreover, it suggests that energy democracy, which is based on information dissemination and participation, is not being achieved.

Resumo Este texto apresenta a edição temática sobre interpretações sociológicas acerca do trabalho decente na Economia Social e Solidária (ESS). Na primeira parte, são expostas diferentes correntes teóricas interpretativas sobre o trabalho na modernidade para contextualizar o conceito de trabalho decente ou digno, lançado pela Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT). Em sequência, a análise da interface entre a ESS e o trabalho decente, como campo de estudo, é desenvolvida com base em pesquisa bibliométrica elementar. Na última parte, os artigos que compõem este volume da revista são apresentados.

This text presents the thematic issue that approaches the sociological interpretations of decent work in the social and solidarity economy (SSE). The first part presents different interpretative theoretical currents about work in modernity and contextualizes the concept of decent work launched by the International Labor Organization. Subsequently, the interface between the SSE and decent work as a field of study is developed based on bibliometric research. The last part presents the articles that make up this issue of the journal.

This article proposes the basis of an integral design project management approach as a strategy to empower transformative processes. It is believed that in a context of humanitarian crisis it is vital and urgent to think of design guided by spirituality, and this as a means, facilitator of transformative processes to favor the recovery, flourishing and continuity of life. The study takes place within the framework of design project management, an area that currently does not sufficiently recognize dimensions of spirituality. The Design Thinking design project management approach and the Theory U management methodological framework are critically discussed, promoting possibilities to develop prototypes for future testing and implementation. It is proposed that the spiritual dimension should be a fundamental component of a design project management strategy that intends to be integral: multidimensional and holistic, where spirituality is presented in an expanded, defragmented and contemporary vision. The concept of integral design project management is presented as a differentiation from the two aforementioned models: it draws on different classical and contemporary outlooks. Theoretical references on wisdom for contemporary complexity, design and spirituality, spirituality for contemporaneity and the Souths communities are analysed. These become a source of inspiration for design, as well as the identification of components of spirituality for empirical and theoretical construction. Following a qualitative, deductive and inductive approach, the fieldwork takes place in an online and face-to-face ethnographic and auto-ethnographic format with three Souths communities from Portugal and Brazil that have implicit spirituality-driven design project management approaches. As a conclusion, we propose the Pulse Approach model, based on the ancestral wisdom philosophies of quilombola and Afro-Brazilian communities from Brazil, and of a family farming community that preserves ancestral wisdom philosophy around the linen cycle in Portugal. The proposal is grounded on the observations and experiences in the fieldwork, as well as with special emphasis on Mãe Beata de Yemonjá (Costa, 2000,

Os empreendimentos solidários no Brasil representam uma das faces da desigualdade social e operam com limitações técnicas e materiais que se refletem na forma de produzir, gerir e comercializar. Nesta configuração, a assistência técnica é um direito a ser assegurado de modo permanente pela política pública, a fim de criar condições de manutenção e reprodução dos empreendimentos, promovendo sustentabilidade. Neste artigo propomos compreender como as condições definidas pela política dos centros públicos de economia solidária (CESOL) da Bahia se desenvolvem na prática de implementação com objetivos de promoção de sustentabilidade dos empreendimentos econômicos solidários. A pesquisa, de base qualitativa, conclui que a política dos CESOL fomenta articulações institucionais e políticas nos territórios e favorece, através de uma metodologia apropriada de assistência técnica socioprodutiva, a sustentabilidade dos empreendimentos solidários. No entanto, há fatores limitantes de ordem institucional e política que diminuem a amplitude e o alcance das ações desenvolvidas.