The European labour market reveals significant disparities between migrant and national workers in terms of employment rates, job quality, and occupational outcomes. This paper proposes a robust approach to analysing migrant segregation and differences in employment outcomes by correcting for selection bias within worker groups, thereby addressing both observed and unobserved factors related to work attitudes among migrants and natives. It also constructs counterfactual distributions, providing reliable insights into working condition disparities. Empirical evidence from the 2024 Labour Force Survey for Italy, France, and Germany shows that national workers generally benefit from better working conditions, high-skilled occupations, and more attractive sectors. In contrast, migrant workers are disproportionately concentrated in low-skilled occupations, including elementary roles, medium-skilled industrial positions, and accommodation and food services, with a notable presence in the household employment sector in Italy. Even after accounting for individual characteristics and using a counterfactual approach, migrants remain overrepresented in low-skilled and service-oriented positions and underrepresented in managerial and professional occupations, particularly in Italy. These findings highlight the persistent cultural and institutional barriers facing migrants, emphasising the need for comprehensive integration policies and labour market reforms.
Conscious Capitalism (CC) has gained prominence as a management approach rooted in ethical values, sustainability, and the creation of value for multiple stakeholders. Despite conceptual advancements, no validated scale currently exists to measure CC organizational practices. This study aimed to develop and validate the Conscious Capitalism Practices Scale (CCPS), grounded in established theoretical dimensions. Conducted in Brazil, the quantitative research involved two survey-based phases: a preliminary study (n = 144) and a validation phase (n = 391). Convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity were assessed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling using SmartPLS 4 (version 4.0.9.2) and JASP (version 0.19.1). The final scale, comprising 10 factors and 43 items, demonstrated strong fit and reliability indices. The instrument contributes to the empirical operationalization of CC and offers a diagnostic tool for organizations committed to ethical and sustainable management practices.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, advancing blockchain-based financial services without any intermediaries. Despite the advancements, the DeFi ecosystem faces diverse risks that impede its mass adoption. Hence, the current study addresses the question: What are the key prevailing risks in DeFi, and how can they be mitigated? To address this question, we adopt a multi-vocal literature review (MLR) methodology that comprises analyzing academic and grey literature. Academic literature is retrieved between 2015 and July 2025 from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, and grey literature is gathered from Google Search up to July 2025. Following the predetermined inclusion/exclusion and quality criteria, we selected 83 valid resources for data analysis, comprising 50 academic studies and 33 industrial literature documents. The study identifies 21 DeFi risks, grouped into technical, macroeconomic, legal and regulatory, and user-centric risks. The study reveals that interoperability issues, smart contract vulnerabilities, liquidity risks, and insufficient consumer protection mechanisms significantly impede DeFi’s mass adoption. Furthermore, the study emphasizes that key interventions, such as smart contract audits, decentralized oracles, collaboration among regulators, insurance, and full disclosure mechanisms, are essential to mitigate DeFi risks. Hence, the study provides practical insights for DeFi developers to understand DeFi risks and adopt interventions to reduce them, for policymakers to build collaborative regulatory frameworks, and for DeFi users to better comprehend the risks in the DeFi ecosystem.
The notion of ‘narrative capital’, as developed by Bruni (2018) and Reading (2019), refers to the transformative power of stories in shaping identity, collective memory, and institutions. This study explores women’s narrative capital connected to the Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples, one of Italy’s oldest charitable institutions, founded in 1602, through which dowries and other forms of charitable assistance have been provided to vulnerable women. Many women, particularly from the Neapolitan aristocracy, known as Dame Benefattrici (Female Benefactors), contributed financially and exerted informal influence within the institution. The study draws on archival sources that document their roles in welfare, governance, and wealth redistribution.’ The article argues that women’s narrative capital is co-constituted by two interconnected registers: an authorial or curatorial voice, exemplified by Teresa Filangieri’s Storia della carità napoletana (1875), and a distributed or inscriptive infrastructure embedded in dowry records, wills, donation registers, and institutional deliberations published while the Pio Monte was in operation. The former legitimises the latter, while the latter provides the experiential and ethical substrate that gives the former historical depth. Combining microhistory, gender history, narrative studies, and archival analysis, the study reinterprets archival traces and authored narratives to illuminate women’s economic experiences and collective practices of care, showing how women contributed to generating social trust, redistribution, and institutional legitimacy.
Existing literature has yet to examine whether a positive relationship between relative income and life satisfaction holds in Macau, a region characterized by rapid socioeconomic development, cultural diversity, and relatively comprehensive social welfare provision. Based on 1,023 respondents from the 7th wave World Values Survey in Macau, this study explores how relative income relates to life satisfaction and the underlying mediation mechanisms. The results reveal a positive association between relative income and life satisfaction, and it is also potentially mediated by acceptance of income inequality, generalized trust, and control perceptions. This positive association remains robust across various demographic groups. By offering empirical evidence from Macau, this study contributes to social comparison theory by shedding light on the potential cognitive and social mechanisms underlying the association between relative income and life satisfaction.
