Bakgrund: Hafsah Faizals We hunt the flame från 2019 är en roman vars berättelse utspelar sig i Arawiya, en värld inspirerad av Ancient Arabia (en värld som fanns innan Islams uppkomst). I berättelsen får vi följa Zafira, en 17-årig kvinna som på grund av samhällets normer får klä ut sig till man, en berömd jägare. Romanen belyser tydligt Arawiyas samhälleliga normer och vad som förväntas av det manliga respektive det kvinnliga könet. För att få chansen att rädda sin hemstad var enda alternativet för henne att klä ut sig till en man eftersom om någon hade vetat om hon var kvinna hade hennes prestationer och hjältelika gärningar blivit fråntagna henne.

Syfte: Syftet med vårt arbete är att undersöka hur Zafira Bint Iskandar i We Hunt the Flame skildras utifrån ett genusperspektiv och de rådande könsnormerna i romanens värld. Vi ska undersöka om hon är en normbrytare eller inte.

Teoretisk bakgrund: De teoretiska ramverken som ligger till grund för vårt arbete är Yvonne Hirdmans teori om genusordningen och Maria Nikolajevas motsatsschema.

Metod: Den valda metoden för detta arbete är en närläsning, vi gör en karaktärsanalys på Zafira för att se hur hon framställs i boken, utifrån Hirdmans genusteori. Vidare stödjer vi oss på den kvalitativa tolkningsmetoden, det hermeneutiska synsättet, men även Nikolajevas motsatsschema.

Resultat: Analysen visar att Arawiya är ett mansdominerat patriarkalt samhälle där kvinnan är underordnad mannen. Zafira får på grund av omständigheterna dölja sin könstillhörighet för att kunna försörja sin familj. Det gör hon genom att bete sig på ett stereotypiskt maskulint sätt. Genom våra teoretiska utgångspunkter har vi mött en kvinnlig karaktär som kritiserar ett samhälle som begränsar kvinnan, och som bryter mot stereotypiska egenskaper genom att agera på ett sätt som anses vara manligt. I Arawiya är kvinnors positioner begränsade där de inte kan exempelvis bli kalifens efterträdare eller styra ett land. Genom analysen får vi se tydligt hur Hirdmans genusordning bekräftas i Arawiya. Zafira beskrivs ha typiskt manligt kodade egenskaper som att vara självständig, stark, modig, beskyddande och folkets försörjare. Dessa manligt kodade egenskaper är det som stärker hennes mansroll som hon intar då. Trots detta så betyder det inte att hon inte framställs som kvinnlig, då hon gör det i viss mån. Hon betraktades vara sårbar och visar även rädsla vilket är en typiskt kvinnlig egenskap. Det vi har kommit fram till är att protagonisten Zafira Bint Iskandar uppvisar kritik mot genusordningen och bryter mot könsnormerna i Arawiya och faller framförallt i den manliga kategorin i stället för den kvinnliga.

This thesis is about newly arrived adult migrants' meaning making and learning in Swedish society during the two years' introduction period, after they have received the residence permit. I have specifically studied Arabic speaking adults' meaning making and learning, by carrying out observations and individual in-depth interviews with 12 migrants. The introduction period consists mainly of three so called introduction measures; the civic orientation course, Swedish for immigrants (SFI), and different work related activities, such as internship at different work places.The results show that etablering is about shaping the newly arrived adult migrants into "good" citizens, through the introduction measures, among other things in the civic orientation course, which is regulated through the policy documents, and which so to say provides meaning to the newly arrived. The "good" citizen has some specific characteristics, which, roughly, are that he or she is independent (and advocates individuality), free, equality thinking, secularized, law-abiding (which includes being honest), responsible, and a "good" parent. These characteristics are expressed in different ways in the civic orientation course, for instance through the course material. The Swedish society is described as something desirable, and different from what is implied to be "Arabic" values and ways of thinking. The idea of the "good" citizen appears to aim at constructing the adult migrants' (and their families') identity, something which many of the study's respondents make a resistance to.As concerns the migrant's new experiences, it is, for example, those which the migrant get through the contact with the Swedish Public Employment Service (SPES) that affect the meaning making in the new society. The meaning which most of the respondents have made of the SPES's measures for them is that this authority only offers "prepackaged" solutions, and does not provide the help or support that they need. Also the experiences which the migrant has in the civic orientation course, and the meaning which "old" migrants give to him or her, play a role when he or she makes meaning of Sweden and Swedes, and of his or her new life situation. Further, it has been shown that it is those experiences that the adult individual has been socialized through, and those which he or she has gained through work or education in his or her country of origin, which affect his or her meaning making in Sweden. It is mostly values which concern child upbringing and religion that lead to a certain understanding and construction of one's new life. These values, when related to the values which are included in the "good" citizen idea, also lead to either a resistance or a readiness towards the meaning giving that is embedded in the "good" citizen notion.

Despite Sweden's commendable performance in integration policies, as highlighted by the Migration Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) 2020 report, non-European born (NEB) individuals continue to face significant barriers to integrating into the labour market. This thesis presents these challenges, focusing on how labour market policy influences NEB long-term unemployed in Western Sweden integration, and the perceptions for street-level bureaucrats’ role and labour market conditions in impacting the integration process.Designed as a single-case study, this thesis delves into the local context in Western Sweden’s labour market integration for NEB long-term unemployed, providing a nuanced understanding of these issues. The findings suggest that labour market policies can have positive impacts, but their success depends on the consideration of local context. Future research with broader samples and diverse perspectives, including longitudinal studies, is essential to further illuminate these findings.

In 2005, the Swedish Crime Prevention Agency published a report about the link between immigration and crime. Since then, no comprehensive study has been conducted even though Sweden has experienced a large influx of migrants in combination with a rising crime rate. This study conducted by Goran Adamson and Tino Sanandaji is the first purely descriptive scientific investigation on the matter in fifteen years. The investigation (from 2002 to 2017) covers seven distinct categories of crime, and distinguishes between seven regions of origin. Based on 33 per cent of the population (2017), 58 per cent of those suspect for total crime on reasonable grounds are migrants. Regarding murder, manslaughter and attempted murder, the figures are 73 per cent, while the proportion of robbery is 70 per cent. Non-registered migrants are linked to about 13 per cent of total crime. Given the fact that this group is small, crime propensity among non-registered migrants is significant.

Drawing on an extensive amount of work by other researchers, as well as some literary sources from the time, Goran Adamson discusses the widespread view that Nazism was anti-sex. Indeed, during Nazi rule homosexuality and street prostitution were persecuted, and Jews and “degenerates” were prevented from having sex (not merely by law, but by elimination). However, reported circumstances such as cheap access to condoms, a high number of pregnancies during party rallies, and quasi-religious cultivation of “the Germanic sexual instinct” would suggest that matters may have been much less restrictive for the majority of Germans. The idea of an overall Nazi anti-sex attitude may well have been constructed by intellectuals from the Freudian Left/Frankfurt School, especially their theories of an intimate connection between sexual repression and authoritarianism. Such views gained widespread popularity with the 68’ generation, and they were an essential reason why sexuality came to be considered the cure for all social evils. This overestimation of the significance of sexual liberation, and recent conservative reactions to it, constitute an important part of today’s political landscape.

In this piece, Goran Adamson argues that the anti-racist rhetoric is naive and dangerously counter-productive. In theory, they refer to populist parties fueling on the anti-racist elite’s outcries. In practise, however, the anti-racists have forgotten all about it, and seem to believe that right-wing populism will vanish if only it is told off. Shocked, anti-racists say populist parties gain voters despite having certain views. But nobody votes on a party despite its view. True to leftist sensationalism, anti-racists always talk about fascism within right-wing populist parties, thereby overlooking a wide array of other causes for voter appeal. Prone to instant aggression, anti-racists react with fury to any populist provocation, thereby contributing to the meteoric rise of contemporary populism in the West. Instead of conducting a proper analysis, anti-racists say how can people vote on these parties and so on - much like an anti-racist bourgeoisie. Anti-racists, Goran Adamson claims, seem to think knowledge of right-wing populism is compromising, as if you would be tainted by it. In fact, it is the other way around. Criticism requires knowledge - and an ignorant anti-racist might, in the long run, have no power to resist the allure of right-wing populism. People vote on right-wing populist parties, anti-racists maintain, because these people fail to understand. But they claim they do, even though they have reached other conclusions. The responsibility of the financial and political classes for provoking popular reactions is minimized, while the distress among ordinary people is belittled or moralized. The political class ignores a central leftist principle: social behavior has often political/economic explanations. As a direct result of multiculturalism, the pet theory among anti-racists, society’s underprivileged groups - domestic workers and migrants - are in constant conflict instead of uniting against globalization and neoliberal deregulation. This is called divide and rule. In their quest for ideological purity, any anti-EU sentiment, anti-racists claim, is right-wing extreme, hence driving scores of voters into the arms of right-wing populism. These parties are further boosted by the fact that anti-racists sneer at family values and cultural traditionalism. Vocal victims of EU’s austerity measures are dismissed as right-wingers, further fueling political polarization. Popular and populist, anti-racists maintain, is basically the same thing. As a result, democracy becomes politically tainted, and the anti-racist elites are the only safe-guard against unaccountable elites. Right-wing populists never cease to talk about our roots, while multiculturalists never stop talking about roots overseas. Save for that geographic detail, they are two branches of the politicalromantic tree. Right-wing populist parties prosper, but not despite anti-racist efforts, Goran Adamson argues, but as a result of them.

This longitudinal comparative thesis studies the securitization of migration in Sweden. It empirically contributes to the existing knowledge by examining official government data, drafted by the Social Democratic led government after the migration crisis in 2015, and Moderate led government after the signature of the so called Tidö-agreement in 2022. The aim is to study and compare how each government motivated, and securitized migration in their policies. To this end, this thesis used securitization theory to examine whether the Tidö-agreement presents a case of continuity and/or discontinuity in comparison to the securitization of migration conducted by the Social Democratic led government. The content of propositions and government declarations was analysed with the help of qualitative content analysis, where both inductive and deductive strategies were separately employed. The findings indicate that the Tidö-agreement is a mixed case of continuity and discontinuity in Sweden’s migration policies.

I den bästa av världar [In the best of worlds]Den bästa av dagar [The best of days]Vi slapp ju nazister [We did not have Nazis]Så vad ska vi klaga? [So what should we complain about?]

In the above poem, trans* activist and spoken word poet Yolanda Aurora Bohm Ramirez (2018) both names the ways the lives of specific groups of people in Sweden are threatened by the increasing neo-Nazi violence and illuminates the response of the majoritarian population to these threats: their demands of silence where protest and criticism is made nearly impossible.

The focus of this book is on the many far from predictable transformative political processes on gender, sexuality and coloniality that grow out of the broad range of bodies and actors engaged in politics outside the hegemonic order and in everyday activities. These processes are not conducted by states, governments or transnational nongovernmental organisations; rather, they are examples of politics in-between states, organisations and national imagined communities. In this first chapter we will introduce some of the main themes, regarding these processes we in our joint research programme have worked on over the last couple of years.

This open access book seeks to understand how politics is being made in a pluralistic sense, and explores how these political struggles are challenging and transforming gender, sexuality, and colonial norms. As researchers located in Sweden, a nation often cited as one of the most gender-equal and LGBTQ-tolerant nations, the contributions investigate political processes, decolonial struggles, and events beyond, nearby, and in between organizations, states, and national territories. The collection represents a variety of disciplines, and different theoretical conceptualizations of politics, feminist theory, and postcolonial and queer studies. Students and researchers with an interest of queer studies, gender studies, critical whiteness studies, and civil society studies will find this book an invaluable resource.

The implementation of evidence-based methods in hospital settings is difficult and complex. The aim of the present study was to highlight the implementation process concerning a new working method, i.e. a new assessment tool, based on the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health (ICF), among psychiatric nursing staff on five participating wards at a Swedish county hospital. Descriptive, qualitative data were collected through focus group interviews pre- and post-implementation. Data were analysed using directed content analysis, guided by Normalization Process Theory (NPT). The results revealed that just one of the five participating wards met the criteria for a successful implementation process. The results confirm previous studies showing the difficulty of implementation. Although participants agreed with the intention of the model, they were reluctant to apply it in practice. The implementation process seemed to be influenced by factors such as: time pressure; heavy workload; stress; lack of routines in using the tool; lack of nursing staff; as well as cultural characteristics and resistance to change.

The paper articulates a model of urban governance, developed through emergent analysis of the rulers, methods, rules and logics evident in the practices of security governance in Hout Bay, Cape Town. Informed by the concept of hybrid governance, this grounded theorising draws on extensive fieldwork on security governance practices in a complex urban neighbourhood to present a model of multiple and sometimes contending forms of governance that include, but are not limited to, bureaucratic, market, developmental, network and informal governance. Our model emerges from a critique of top-down approaches to understanding governance that starts with the state, institutions and law, or approaches that primarily focus on formal partnerships between the state and business or other social partners. The view from above can miss important aspects of how residents are governed ‘from below’ and informally. Hence it is impossible to understand from the formal, and in advance of grounded research, exactly how many places in urban Africa are governed. Exposing the particular and local forms of governance in urban Africa can support improved forms of service delivery and citizen’s experiences of living in their city. In addition, while our model may be relevant in other places, more important is the methodology of identifying the rulers and methods, but especially the rules and logics of practice, to surface the specific, and complex, forms of governance in an urban place.

The purpose of this study is to explore how ads on Instagram can create a positive attitude for the recipient. This was investigated through a quantitative survey where the respondents, girls belonging to generation Z, got to choose between ads, identify what caught their interest and describe their experience of the ads. The results show that ads with human presence are chosen more often than those without human presence, and there is a slight advantage for those ads with visible face compared to those without visible face. The results also show that when the ads have a visible face, the human is the recipient’s main focus, while ads with a human presence without a visible face are considered to emphasize the product more. The ads with human presence are generally considered to be more inspiring while the most common experience of the ads without human presence is that they are informative. This study complements previous literature by arguing that human presence in itself is a powerful stimulus to capture the attention of recipients on Instagram. We conclude that human presence is a contributing factor to creating a positive attitude for the recipient on Instagram and that it is further enhanced if the ad has a visible face.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe newly graduated nurses´(NGNs´) experience of work-integrated learning (WIL), from an educational and occupational perspective.

Background: NGNs often find themselves unprepared to meet occupational demands on their competence on entering working life, and express difficulties integrating educational theory into a practical context. Qualitative and effective WIL becomes particularly important for NGNs to develop the competence required to handle the transition from education to working life.

Design: This is a qualitative, descriptive study with an inductive approach.

Methods: Seven focus-group discussions were performed and subjected to qualitative content analysis.

Results: The results revealed that WIL for NGNs includes personal mastering of several professional roles: a self-directed and collaborative learning role, a relational nursing role, and a transition from a student role to a collegial role. Furthermore, WIL entails adapting to organisational requirements, including development of contextual workplace knowledge and understanding; striving for confidence in medical-technical performance; and developing an experience-based understanding of clinical situations.

Conclusion: The results reveal that WIL is complex, encompassing adaptation to roles and personal capabilities that increase new graduates´competence and preparation for work. In addition, WIL requires personal commitment to one’s own learning as well as organisational and social support. 

Collaboration in emergency work is challenging on many levels. The unforeseen and temporary nature of incidents presents basic challenges. Another important challenge is boundaries between specialized and autonomous emergency service organizations. We need to know more about how exercises are performed to increase the individuals and organizations preparedness for future joint response work. The aim of this study was to explore how boundary work is carried out at the incident site during exercises, and how boundary awareness is developed based on this boundary work. The analytic focus was on how boundaries were identified, negotiated and managed in the participants work. Empirically, full-scale exercises involving police, ambulance and rescue services and with repetition of practical scenarios and joint-reflection seminars are studied. Much of the work in the exercises was performed within distinct areas of expertise, in accordance with concrete routines, skills and responsibilities. Boundary work was often organized in the form of distribution of labour or creating chains of actions. The exercises shed light on challenges related to other aspects of emergency response,such as a lack of resources, diverging primary responsibilities, time-criticality and hazardous environments. The design allowed participants to explicate boundaries, test and discuss alternative solutions, and to visualize the effects of different solutions as the scenarios were repeated. The boundaries that were identified were often of institutional character, and were also related to the specific scenarios and to the actions taken in the activities. By integrating real-life experiences of collaborative work in the exercise, the exercise gained a certain meaning that was essential for the participants to develop boundary awareness.

Bakgrund: Sverige har en av EU:s mest restriktiva narkotikalagstiftning samtidigt som vi har bland de högsta narkotikarelaterade dödsfallen. Fler och fler länder har börjat föra en mer ”liberal” narkotikadiskurs inom sina politiska arenor, nu även länder närmare Sveriges gränser.

Syfte: Syftet med studien är att studera hur och vilka frames som framträder i den svenska riksdagens narkotikapolitiska debatter, med särskilt fokus på problembild/orsaker/lösningar, aktörer och attityder kopplat till den nuvarande lagstiftningen.

Metod: För analysen och systematiseringen av frames användes en deduktiv metod, genom en sammanslagning av tidigare forsknings identifierade ramverk. Analysen utfördes på anföranden i riksdagens debatter. Vid urvalsprocessen gjordes först en ordsökning på både ”narkotika” samt ”cannabis” på riksdagens hemsida under ”kammarens protokoll” för att identifiera aktuella protokoll, sedan användes ett kodningsschema för att sortera ut relevanta protokoll med primärt fokus på ämnesrubricering. Ytterligare ett kodningsschema användes sedan för att sortera ut relevanta anföranden där fokus låg på b.la. problembild/orsak/lösningar, aktörer och debattrubriceringar.

Resultat: Analysen visade på att framingen som användes inom riksdagen framför allt går att härleda till det hälso- och socialinriktade ramverket. Framingen relaterade narkotikan till höga dödstal och orsakande av ett socialt utanförskap. Den moraliska ramen användes framför allt vid beskrivningar av missbruket och missbrukarna medan säkerhetsramen framträdde för att dels syfta på risken individen befinner sig i kopplat till preparaten, dels för kriminaliteten och våldet som relaterades till konsumtionen/produktionen och kontrollerandet av marknaden. Allt bruk frameades som ett missbruk, samtidigt som det inte framträdde något perspektiv kring ett rekreationellt bruk. Ingen framing kunde heller härledas till det ekonomiska ramverket

Self-efficacy and Self-esteem of readiness are important factors for students to succeed in an internship. These factors affect how an individual handles new situations and possible threats. By testing their theoretical knowledge in a practical context, the internship can have a positive effect on the student's experience of being successful in working life.Work integrated learning is one approach that may support students progression towards increased readiness for working life. What characterizes work readiness and how can it be achieved?The study was conducted at the bachelor's degree programs ‘Digital Media’ and ‘3D-animation and visualisation’, at University West in Sweden. During the fifth semester students have the opportunity to carry out internships in a workplace. These internships are conducted as a course at the university which also gives higher education credits. The time spent on the course is split between the workplace (80%) and the university (20%). Every fortnight the students meet with faculty staff at a seminar to discuss a given topic. The purpose of the course is to give the student the opportunity to integrate theory from the university studies with practical experience in a workplace.The students spend the majority of the time in the workplace however every second week they meet in a seminar on campus, in which they discuss their experiences in the workplace. As a preparation for the seminar, the students are given different thematic questions to reflect on. Based on all students answers, in the seminar the students reflect on similarities and differences in each others’ texts. Additionally, a supplementary summarizing question is given to the students during the seminar.Prior to the start of the course, the students make their own estimation of how ready they feel they are for working life on a scale from 1-10. After the course, the estimation is revised along the same scale. In addition to this estimation, conversations are conducted between the students, regarding readiness for working life.The study is a mixed methods approach and consists of three sets of data: five group interviews á three hours with 7-15 participants in seminars, two online surveys and 50 written reports from all together 15 students.In the paper we report on how students gradually increase their feeling of being more sure of what type of work tasks they prefer to do in the future, which skills they already have or need to develop further, and what type of workplace they want to work at related to for instance: level of creative freedom, level of collegiality, type of governance etc. These insights, we argue, are vital characteristics of students’ experience of ‘readiness for working life’. We discuss how these characteristics are important aspects of self efficacy and how they are related to the design of the course and ultimately a work integrated learning approach to teaching and learning within higher education.

During the last year more programs went through the formal process of WIL-certification at University West. The programs included in this presentation are 3d-animation and visualization, Digital Media and Systems development – IT and society. An early step when preparing for the certification was to identify activities and pedagogical ideas, utilized by staff and considered to promote and achieve a WIL space. As the number of activities identified grew in number the need for a model or classification of work integrated education (WIE) became apparent. There are some possible classifications suggested but they were not covering all aspects and forms of the programs. At the end a modified or updated classification based on the work of Hedlund & Svensson (2005) became the solution

The aim for this presentation is to discuss identified forms of work integrated education (WIE) through examples from actual courses and a modified framework for classification.

In relation to different modifications on contemporary games of ethnicity, present among young people in Swedish multiethnic environments, a similarity with the phenomenon of passing is suggested. Passing usually refers to a movement from one side to another (the foundational example being from black to white). You pass over or through something and you may pass into a position from which you later retire. Judith Butler has given theoretical attention to the phenomenon of passing by stressing its relation to the act of queering. The connection between passing and queering comes about as a challenge of borders between what is presumed to be different races in addition to a challenge of the heteronormative order of gender and sexuality.

From an empirical material, consisting of interviews of young women in a multiethnic Swedish suburb, the phenomenon of passing will be discussed through examples on how young people can talk about the act of faking ethnicity. What ethnic positions are aspired as desirable may depend on intersecting categories as gender, sexuality and class identifications. In the reactions and comments on these kind of acts two counter positions seem to collide, one being based in the idea of authenticity and the other being a strive to oppose on absolutist definitions of ethnicity. If origin, roots and a firmly anchored cultural identity are seen as necessary or preferred values for the individuals’ or the ethnic groups’ self respect, passing must be interpreted as negative. But if certain acknowledgements become repressive rather than liberating passing may be a way of question and transgress normative ethnic and gendered status.

The centre of Child and Youth Studies at University West works strategically with other regional research environments and institutions that study children, youths and young adults. The goal of our research centre is to spread knowledge about the social conditions under which children and young people live, thereby strengthening their position in society. Collaboration with external research environments is one of the ways that our research domain works to reach that goal. Partnerships are formed through a model that strives to create good conditions for both our research and that of our partners. This model is grounded in a dialogue between research partners who work together to select areas of interest and formulate hypotheses. These research projects are financed equally by the university and our partners. The following report is the result of one of  these research partnerships.Advanced industrial society has been replaced by a society based upon knowledge and information where industrial work/manufacturing becomes less common. Västervik is one of the small towns in Sweden whose main industries have closed down or severely decreased their workforce during the last few decades of great structural change. The groups in the job market that have been most affected by these changes are young men and women, something which is evident in the high unemployment rates among the young population. The purpose of this study was to investigate young people’s own experiences and thoughts regarding their own situation as jobseekers in the municipality of Västervik. How do they see themselves and the situation they find themselves in? The narratives were collected in the form of 18 in-depth interviews with young men and women between the ages of 19-25, all them registered at the job center in Västervik. In the report different aspects of their situation are discussed, such as: the young people’s relation to their hometown, their thoughts on the meaning and value of work, the role of education, the economic, social and emotional consequences of unemployment, and their experiences of taking part in various programs for unemployed. The narratives we have encountered can be seen as having some general validity in the sense that many of their experiences are probably shared by other unemployed young people in other locations in Sweden, but Västervik is also a specific town with a specific history and specific conditions.The young men and women have an ambivalent relationship to their hometown. On the one hand they want to start a life in the same location, but on the other, the future there is seen as very uncertain. Many of those interviewed would like to have the kind of industrial jobs that their parents have and grandparents experienced, but which are nowadays less and less common. The norm of a fulltime job is strong among the young men and women – something which strengthens the image of the evident dissonance between their seemingly traditional dreams and intentions and the structures of possibilities the municipality and community suggest for them. Connected to this are the ways the young people must relate to the postindustrial demands of employability – which means the ability to enterprise and market oneself on a competitive market. These demands presuppose abilities that are more likely to be socialized and practiced in certain social environments rather than in others, and the majority of the young men and women interviewed have a background in aworking class environment where these values and approaches are far from selfevident.The socioeconomic marginalization that these young people experienceresults in much curtailed possibilities for a period of youthful experimentation aswell as for an expected adulthood. Being unemployed means one has difficulty ingaining the status of an adult, but due to economic shortages, there are also limits to how much they can take part in this experimental lifestyle that characterizes youth. The young men and women’s situation can thereby be seen as a grey zone; they are neither young nor adults in the normative sense. In some of the narratives the young people express critical thoughts with regard to the social conditions that their difficult situation can be related to. By extension, expressing these thoughts and stating their opinion can be strengthening and mobilizing for them, both as individuals and as a group. Insights may be gained about unemployment as a shared experience rather than as a personal failure

The aim of this study was to try to identify what young women see as typically female and how this affects them as individuals, focusing on the female body. How free or limited do they consider themselves to respond to prevailing ideals of beauty, to men and other women. Our questions are how young women construct femininity through the body and why? We do this by using a holistic gender perspective and with the help of key theoretical concepts; gender, normative femininity, heteronormativity, performance, freedom/power and the female body,. We have had a qualitative approach and we have done interviews with six girls in secondary school age. The material is processed and analyzed on the basis of the IPA model, which aims to build themes from the interviews. The themes we have stressed in the study are: Female with large F, To find balance, I want to be unique... (but in the right way), Get a good boyfriend and learn to socialize with girls, To be something for everyone and desire after impossibility and the road ahead. By letting our informant´s voices be made visible in our analysis, we have been able to answer the question of how they experience their own construction of femininity. What becomes visible in the analysis is the great knowledge and awareness which are among the girls on this subject. This shows the complexity that exists around young women today. More conclusions that can be drawn is that whichever way the woman construct her femininity gives different degrees of social status. Lack of freedom is not about the limited possibilities for action it is rather the impact the effectiveness of the choices made and the awareness of those who provide the experience of not being free. 

The growth of absenteeism has in recent years led to high costs for sick leave and early retirement in the public budgets. This study is based on quantitative data obtained through a designed questionnaire. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that correlate with the high short-term absence for sickness among temporary employees at a company. Previous studies have shown an association with short-term sick leave and leadership variables such as, perceived stress, motivation and tasks. The study's problem main question included these four disciplines. These were then analyzed in relation to age, sex and number of times the employee had been at home despite having been able to work. The study included temporary employees aged 18 to retirement-age. Of the 90 employees a total of 40 surveys were gathered. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskall-Wallis tests were used to calculate the differences between groups (age and sex). Spearman’s rank correlation was used to calculate the relationship between variables. Results of the study showed that women appeared to have stayed at home more frequently than men even though they would have been able to work. The study also revealed that there was a significant difference between the variable "to stay at home despite the fact that the individual was able to work

How Work-integrated learning (WIL) is understood and used in higher education varies. This variation is often context-dependent, and therefore the development of WIL is interesting to follow in different contexts. A recent opinion piece from Norway discusses the well-known (in Norway) importance of work-life relevance in higher education and how higher education institutions fail to provide students with work-life relevance, even though the educational institutions, the authorities and companies have set work-life relevance high on the agenda. The article brings forward WIL as a potential solution to truly ensuring work-life relevance for students in Norway.

WIL is not a widely used concept in Norway and the authors of the article look for opportunities of how WIL can be understood and used in the Norwegian context. The intention is to further explore opportunities in Norway, by exploring well-working WIL-settings, such as the one at University West. Among the authors of the opinion piece there are representatives from Kristiania University College, who has a research group in WIL, which collaborates with KAM AIL at University West on the up-coming conference WIL25.

Samproduktion inom barnskyddet inom socialtjänsten är komplext. I detta blogginlägg diskuteras ämnet ur ett norskt och svenskt perspektiv utifrån ett nytt bokkapitel.

AIL-forskningsprojekt kan komma från upplevda behov i praktiken, behov att testa forskningsresultat från andra verksamheter i annat sammanhang eller från behov att testa teori i praktisk verksamhet. Högskolan Västs syn på AIL bygger på att avancerad kunskap skapas på många håll i samhället och att teoretisk och praktisk kunskap är lika betydelsefulla. Enligt vår uppfattning har inte akademin ensamrätt på att skapa kunskap. Det är i mötet mellan akademi, arbetsliv och omgivande samhälle som det bäst skapas insikter, lösningar och ömsesidig utveckling som kan möta de utmaningar samhället står inför.

AIL-forskning sker på olika sätt och ett exempel är bokkapitlet Complexity of Co-production in the Process of Reunification in Child Protection Services (Areskoug Josefsson  et al., 2024) där återföringsprocesser i socialtjänsten har diskuterats och samskrivits baserat på praktisk erfarenhet från Norge och Sverige samt sociologisk teori. Forskningsprojektet grundar sig i den omöjlighet som finns i att samskapa kontinuerligt i återföringsprocesser om principerna för både samskapande och socialt arbete ska följas, och riktar sig till hur socialtjänstens medarbetare behöver navigera i sitt arbete. Genom att samskriva tillsammans tvärs över discipliner, länder, akademi och praktik har den gemensamma kunskapen utvecklats vidare. Bokkapitlet planeras att användas som kurslitteratur för relevanta utbildningsprogram i Norge och Sverige.

Samskapande kan ses som det översta steget i delaktighetstrappan, där trappstegen är: Information, Konsultation, Dialog, Inflytande och Medbeslutande (https://skr.se/skr/tjanster/rapporterochskrifter/publikationer/delaktighetstrappan.69895.html) och samskapande kan också ses som det översta trappsteget när det gäller att göra på (tvång, utbildning), göra för (information, samråd, engagemang) eller göra med någon (samdesign, samproduktion) (https://www.nappiuk.com/co-production/nappi-approach-co-production).

Kapitlets konklusion

Socialtjänstens personals anpassning inom systemet sker genom flera individuella interaktioner, vilket påverkar samskapande i återföreningsprocesser. Socialtjänstens personal har makt i återföreningsprocessen genom mandatet för sin roll, men de har också en samordnande roll som kan stödja samskapande och interprofessionellt samarbete. Deras dubbla roller bidrar till komplexiteten i samskapande i återföreningsprocessen, med konkurrerande intressen mellan parterna. Möjligheterna till framgångsrik återförening ökar med ett rigoröst informationsutbyte, högkvalitativ kommunikation och kontinuitet i en samarbetskontext, vilket också är viktiga aspekter av samskapande. Högkvalitativ socialtjänst kräver en gemensam professionell plattform för skydd av barn, enhetlig expertis och praxis för socialtjänstens personal, med det enskilda barnet i fokus. Socialtjänstens personal förväntas vara väl förberedda och kompetenta att hantera komplexiteten i sitt arbete. För att säkerställa jämställdhet i socialtjänsten behövs också ett väl fungerande samarbete mellan yrkesverksamma inom socialtjänsten och externa professionella aktörer som skolor, hälso- och sjukvård och juridiska tjänster. Det finns ett behov av ytterligare empiriska studier av samskapande i återföreningsprocesser och av hur individer (både tjänsteanvändare och praktiker) i dessa processer upplever samskapade. Faktorer i återföreningsprocessen utmanas när de jämförs med kriterierna för samskapande. Medvetenhet om samskapandets begränsningar i återföreningsprocesser kan möjliggöra bättre möjligheter för samskapande i socialtjänsten.

In 2002 University West received a specific mission from the Swedish government to develop Work-integrated learning (WIL), but already in 1990 the University Board of Directors branded the university “as the first and only WIL educational and research institution of higher education in Sweden” (Piperet al., 2023). Since 2020 University West also offers a PhD program in WIL with the aim to enhance learning in the workplace (University West, 2023). However, WIL was a track within previous PhD programs at University West. These actions are likely to impact the research outcomes of the university, but it is unknown to what extent this has happened especially in comparison to other universities in Sweden. Governmental funding can have a powerful impact on institutional behavior (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2020), which likely also influences individual researchers’ actions. In addition, organizational strategies of universities can also influence academic research collaboration (Kienast, 2023). Therefore, it is likely that the specific national mission and University West’s strategy concerning WIL has had traceable effects in research publications, however the bibliometric level of impact is unexplored.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the constituent parts of learning in the manufacturing work context and understand why these parts are key in the learning of the employees. Design/methodology/approach: The data was collected from two sources: a literature review of the Information Systems literature to establish an initial picture of what learning in relation to digital technologies entails and in-depth interviews with engineers in the automotive industry whose knowledge-intensive work is exposed to substantial digital transformation. Findings: The authors first identified three constituent parts for learning: change, reflection and deliberation. When the authors cross-checked the initial findings through in-depth interviews with the engineers, it was found that these three themes trigger learning through three different mechanisms, that is, balancing newness, finding point of reference and organizing actively. Thus, the findings of this paper extend beyond a categorical identification of what constitutes learning to also illustrate why learning entails these constituent parts. Research limitations/implications: This paper implies that progressive learning requires active organizing of learning stages. The data is limited to the review of the Information Systems field. The authors have also only focused on the automotive industry as the representative sector in the manufacturing industry. Practical implications: Applying the model of progressive learning can be a primary way to actively plan and organize learning opportunities for employees. This is key for supporting learning culture in organizations that are exposed to continuous and disruptive changes. Social implications: A significant part of social sustainability is based on sustainable employability and feelings of contentment at work. This paper is an attempt to highlight how sustainable employability can be achieved by providing effective learning opportunities at work. Originality/value: The originality of this paper emerges from two sources. First, the authors conducted the literature review and in-depth interviews by devising innovative methods because of the challenges of identifying when (informal) learning has occurred at work. Second, the authors owe the in-depth interviews to the first author’s extensive familiarity with the automotive industry and the knowledge and rapport acquired through her prior longitudinal research on the engineers’ work. It was this background that allowed the authors to find out when these engineers were about to leave the firm because of discontent about their competence development. 

BACKGROUND: Campus-based clinical learning centres are used for practice and learning in nursing students' education and can be arenas in which to enhance students' awareness and competence in social justice issues. Norm-critical approaches can be used as pedagogical tools in these centres to prepare students for hands-on caring situations in which social norms can bias the outcome.

OBJECTIVES: To describe nursing teachers' conceptions of learning norm-critical approaches and implementing them in a clinical training centre.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study is based on interviews with 10 teachers at a Swedish university college.

METHODS: The data was analysed using a phenomenographic approach.

RESULTS: Five categories of description emerged in the analysis that described conceptions related to norm-critical approaches. These categories were: personally developing and meaningful; easily integrated with established nursing concepts; highlighting surrounding power; something to lean on when letting students take the first steps in norm-critical initiatives; and helping implementation in teaching and education.

CONCLUSIONS: Teachers who are facing the task of providing norm-critical, practical education to nursing students in campus-based clinical learning environments are ambivalent towards the core principles of norm criticism, which they conceive as natural and provoking, at the same time. We therefore need to un-dramatise norm criticism and better prepare teachers in how to use it. Teachers would benefit from follow-up activities and formal collaborations regarding norm-critical teaching, so that they are given context to discuss, reflect, and learn from each other.

The academy, like any other workplace, is characterized by social, difference-creating processes that, seemly inevitably, results in unequal working conditions among employees. Subtile, informal structures of power, as opposed to the formal once, are both complex and difficult to detect, but research show that patterns of inequality based primarily on gender, ethnicity, religion and language create difficult obstacles to inclusion and equal treatment in academia. So, how about University West? How inclusive are we as an organization? What do the employees themselves have to say, if asked? The overall aim of our research project was, in accordance with the above-mentioned questions, to seek knowledge about employees’ thoughts on, and experiences of, inclusion in everyday working life at University West, with a particular focus on ethnicity.

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for collecting and processing of data. In order to gain an overview of employees’ perceptions of inclusion at University West, a questionnaire, primarily linked to the seven grounds of discrimination, was distributed to all employees. In total 101 responses were received. In parallel with the survey, thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with employees at the university’s various work units. A comprehensive interview guide with relatively open questions about work and career opportunities was used. The majority of the interviewees are teachers and researchers, and most of them have a migrant background.

The survey shows that experiences of differential treatment are mainly related to gender, age, academic position and social class. Respondents with a migrant background feel that they receive less respect from colleagues than those with a Swedish background, and the same applies to those who consider it difficult to communicate in Swedish. Disparaging comments in everyday work life are mainly linked to factors such as not being able to speak Swedish, nationality, age and ethnicity. The prevalence of derogatory speech about both women and men shows relatively high figures.

During the interviews, it emerged that most of the informants enjoy their work, but that some problematic patterns and behaviours make it difficult to feel welcomed and completely “at home” within the organization. “Us - and - them” categorizations, not least based on ethnic background, but also based on gender, age and religion, are highlighted. A lack of curiosity about experiences and competencies of “others”, alongside with a mono-lingual norm where a perceived demand for “correct” Swedish reinforces the presence of a non-inclusive mono-culture and a feeling of constantly being positioned as “the Other” in everyday working life. Language, not unexpectedly, emerges as a key factor in the demarcation between “us” and “them”, as do restrictive behaviour codes and other local norms. There are several perceived obstacles to work and career opportunities, but the one that most often is mentioned is a lack of personal connections and informal networks within which inquiries and recruitment are perceived to take place on a personal basis rather than on documented experience, merits and skills. Allying oneself with the “right” people, making friends with persons who has power and influence, is seen as a fundamental prerequisite for moving upwards within the organization. The interviewees also pointed to a culture of silence in which it is perceived as difficult, or futile, to raise problems relating to discrimination, racist jargon or sexual harassments. A lack of transparency when it comes to internal funding and recruitment, and a clear discrepancy between organisation’s articulated values and what it really looks like in reality, are further examples of problems raised.

In summary, the empirical data shows us that employees have various experiences of exclusionary behaviors, mechanisms and patterns in everyday working life at Högskolan Väst, and that a greater sensitivity among colleagues and management to unequal working conditions and issues concerning inclusion, is requested. Our hope is that this study will contribute to a more open discussion about these types of sensitive issues, issues that more often need to be addressed as a common problem for the entire organization, rather than a problem for just a few.

This paper draws on the experiences of work-integrated learning from a Swedish-Norwegian cross-sector research project where actors from university, industry, government and volunteer sector collaborate on city center development. The empirical setting of the present study consists of six smaller cities in rural municipalities with limited resources and experiences of collaboration with higher education institutions. The following research question is addressed: How can research and development projects serve as a vehicle for facilitating mutual knowledge exchange between academia and society in cross-sector and rural collaboration contexts? The aim is hence to suggest a tentative collaboration model that identify and integrate knowledge flows between actors involved in cross-sector collaborations in such setting. To gain deep insights in the complex dynamics of project collaboration we applied a mixed methods approach including surveys, structured, in-depth qualitative interviews, observations, workshops and student projects. The data collection was performed during 2016-2017. Findings indicate that trust, continuity, and relationship building are the basis vital for successful creation, development and maintenance of knowledge flows. Furthermore, there is a need to develop an integrative tool box with different methodological tools, work practices and strategies to plan, perform, compile to leverage the knowledge flows and coproduce sustainable results. Our tentative model aims to illustrate conceptualize lessons learned on work-integrated learning and collaboration with academia. We discuss how the model may support co-creative and mutual results over time. 

Background. Work engagement and informal learning are two subjects that both separately have a promoting impact on work-related productivity. Previous research has indicated a positive relationship between work engagement and informal learning, but Swedish research on the topic is limited. 

Purpose. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between work engagement and informal learning among professionals in Sweden. The study’s hypothesis is that there is a positive relationship between work engagement and informal learning.

Method. A quantitative method was used where data was obtained through an internet-based questionnaire. The questionnaire´s statements were taken from two validated instruments: UWES-9 to measure work engagement and LPW to measure informal learning. The questionnaire also included questions regarding the control variables gender, age, employment rate, education, personnel responsibility, years at current workplace, general health, physical exercise, sleep, and flourishing (well-being). To measure flourishing, the measuring instruments SFI and SWI were used. The study is based on a convenience sample where 172 people participated between the ages of 20-74 years, with a gender distribution of 67% women and 33% men. A multiple regression analysis was performed with 5000 bootstrap iterations to control if the relationship remained after taking the control variables into account. 

Results. A moderately strong positive significant relationship between work engagement and informal learning was found, where the relationship remained when controlling for employment rate, personnel responsibility, years at current workplace, and general health. 

Conclusion. It is essential that organizations promote informal learning in Swedish workplaces since an increase in informal learning indicates increased work engagement and work-related productivity.

Socio-economic development, in any society, includes many productive activities excluded in conventional economic analyses. This paper aims to critically uncover, explore and discuss how productive activities included in societal development are hidden by a monetary bias. By doing so, the paper strives to initiate a critical conceptual discussion related to what is generally indentified as weaknesses and relevant policies in regional development. The goal is to reach beyond convetional economic analyses to unlock and develop implications for conceptual models that can exted perceptions of societal development with its political, temporal and spatial meaning. The paper proceeds as follows: Firstly, through some illustrative empirical examples, uncover the meanings of ´economic´ activities from completely different contexts; Secondly, to explore the more general implications of a perspective/approach, inspired by Hägerstrand, which emphasizes political implications in time and space; Finally, to point out a conceptual discussion that enhances a broadened perspective for societal regional development that reaches beyond the conventional meanings of economic development.

Purpose. The aim of the study was to examine the role of job-related positive and negative emotions between acute fatigue at work and engagement. We tested two components of engagement: vigor (energetic aspect) and dedication (motivational aspect). We hypothesized that negative emotions mediate in energy depletion process and positive emotions mediate in broadening of energetic and motivational resources.

Design/Methodology. Fatigue was measured by an index in accordance with the Japan Society for Occupational Health. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale – short version (UWES) was used to evaluate vigor and dedication (Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2006). Job-related affective well-being (JAWS) was used to assess positive and negative emotions (Van Katwyk et al., 2000). The study group consisted of 174 police officers (the average tenure of 10 years, range 1–23).

Results. Baron and Kenny approach and the Sobel test supported our hypotheses. Fatigue was more negative related to vigor than dedication. We observed that positive and negative emotions fully mediated between fatigue and vigor (large effect size f2 = .36). Additionally, positive emotions fully mediated between fatigue and dedication (medium effect size f2 = .16). We confirmed these results by the Sobel test.

Limitations. The correlational design was applied.

Research/Practical Implications. Our results indicate that in police officers positive emotions may lead to broadening of energetic and motivational resources.

Sweden has long been described as a beacon of multiculturalism and generous access to citizenship, with integration policies that seek to offer free and equal access to the welfare state. In this article, we use the policy of Civic Orientation for Newly Arrived Migrants as a case with which to understand how migrants’ inclusion is discursively articulated and constructed by the different constituencies involved in interpreting the policy and organising and teaching the course. We do this by employing Foucault’s closely interrelated concepts of technology of self, political technology of individuals, and governmentality. With the help of critical discourse analysis, we illustrate how migrants’ inclusion is framed around an opposition between an idealised “good citizen” and a “target population” (Schneider & Ingram, 1993). In our analysis, we draw on individual interviews with 14 people involved in organising civic orientation and on classroom observations of six civic orientation courses. Firstly, we show how migrants are constructed as unknowing and in need of being fostered by the state. Secondly, we illustrate how social inclusion is presented as being dependent upon labour market participation, both in terms of finding work and in terms of behaving correctly in the workplace. Lastly, we show how migrant women are constructed as being problematically chained to the home and therefore needing to subject themselves to a specific political technology of self to be included.

This article contributes to ongoing discussions in the social sciences about how to interpret the incorporation of gender equality into integration policies–is it a form of state feminism or femonationalism? Drawing upon intersectionality, we analyse how gender equality is presented, discussed and negotiated in relation to ethnicity and nationality in Sweden. Methodologically, we employ a bifocal lens that combines (1) a quantitative investigation of representations of civic orientation programmes in Swedish policy documents and mainstream media, and (2) a qualitative analysis of ethnographic data collected in six civic orientation courses–three in English and three in Arabic–in three large municipalities. Such a two-pronged approach, which connects policy and media discourses with interactions in civic orientation classes, offers a granular picture of the complex and often ambivalent intersections of ethnicity and gender in relation to migration in Sweden. Ultimately, the co-optation of feminist values brings with it the risk of warping feminism into a trait of national/ethnic distinctiveness. Crucially, femonationalism is not the prerogative of far-right parties but is already becoming institutionalised, informing both mainstream media and educational practices in a feminist state like Sweden

Starting a new job can be experienced as a challenging since emotions such as joy and anticipation can occur, but also insecurity and stress. There are several factors that affect the experience for the newly hired employee because organizations work differently with introductory programs, which in turn has an impact on the new employee's opportunity for organizational socialization. Since all new employees go through a period of creating an understanding of the norms that prevail within the organization and its culture, which includes organizational socialization, the purpose of the study was to, through semi-structured interviews, examine how socialization is experienced for new employees within the private sector. Through semi-structured interviews, the material has been processed thematically and analyzed based on organizational socialization and The Uncertainty Reduction Theory. The results showed that new employees have a need for both a clear and structured introduction plan in the workplace but also access to an inclusive work community where social interactions with supervisors, colleagues and other employees are significant in new hires. The study shows that new employees in the private sector have different experiences about the organization's way of meeting the needs of new employees before the roles that would be taken and the tasks that would be handled. They felt that other factors such as social meetings, relationships, and community beneficial to get into the organization and be involved in the work. The respondents experienced that with a clear planning in combination with a supervisor in the organization who was available during the first period of the new employment, a security and safety was created which in turn reduced the degree of initial uncertainty. Finally, the results presented the value of the social community in the form of social integration in the workplace where role clarity was achieved through organizational socialization.

Aim: The education system in Sweden has not yet formed a sustainable way into higher education and lifelong learning for students with intellectual disabilities. Discussions on inclusive education nationally in society are ongoing but few concrete examples have yet been implemented. This presentation will present experiences from the first attempt to organize and provide courses for students with intellectual disabilities within higher music education in Sweden. Methods: Two courses were given at the Academy of Music in Malmö, Lund University in 2010 and 2011. The content of the first course focused on the history of music, rhythm and ensemble playing. The second one focused on Opera as an art form with both process and product as means of learning. Results & Conclusions: The experiences show the students' capability to develop and enhance musical expression. However, questions concerning (a) the quality of music education currently available to students with ID, (b) pedagogical approaches in the academy, (c) rules for admission to higher education and (d) different attitudes to widening participation within the academies has emerged and need to be processed.

This paper discusses the narratives of young working-class men, living in a small town in Sweden that is located outside the regions with economic growth. As in many other European countries, the rate of unemployment among Swedish youth is disproportionally high. Based upon material consisting of in-depth interviews with unemployed young men, the paper will analyze the changed meaning of masculinity in relation to work in a postindustrial society. Since working-class masculinity has traditionally been closely connected to wage labor and to the ability to provide for oneself as well as being the breadwinner of the family, the lack of resources that unemployment implies, means that masculinity and its relational implications must be re-imagined. The young men's narratives can thereby be seen to reflect social and cultural changes that have taken place on a structural level related to the labor market, the educational system, as well as the changed conditions for the formation of social identities. The intergenerational working-class culture on the one hand and neoliberal ideas permeating activities for the unemployed, such as training- and coaching-programs, on the other – serve as reference points for the young men's experience of subordination. In many ways the situation described was marked by deficiency and vulnerability, an effect of the social division of today, where the long-term unemployed are depicted as 'abject others' and even more so if placed in subordinated categories such as (non)working-class males, living in the back country. But what also can be traced in the young men's own narratives are some critical reflections and possible alternative ways of forming social identities and masculinities. This is furthermore related to different kinds of work ethics than the familiar one they have been socialized into when growing up and the other one that they have met as jobseekers.

Artikeln handlar om hur välfärdsorganisationer och deras tjänstemän kopplade till aktivitets- och sysselsättningsåtgärder agerar i mötet med den enskilde och vilka berättelser som skapas om individerna. Artikeln diskuterar hur projektdeltagaren omgärdas av en fortgående medikalisering och en social fragmentisering, där projektdeltagarens problematik reduceras och där individens egen röst tycks få ett begränsat utrymme.

The notion of Sweden as a secular nation-state, or rather the linkage between notions of secularism and gender equality, is strong in public discourse. Within this frame, religion is located in a traditional past and often understood as a hindrance to liberal and modern values.In this chapter we focus on our own situatedness as feminist researchers living in Sweden and thereby explore how, where and why ideologies of secularism entangled with notions of European values and superiority become dominant. Inspired by the feminist tradition of memory work, an aim is to explore the boundary between the secular and the religious through our own experiences and from our location in Sweden. The aim is also to search for counter-memories, both in the doing of secular (gendered) selves as well as the ongoing production of the "religious other".

With real world research as the theoretical framework, a study was conducted as an assignment by the HR-function at Parker Hannifin AB in Sweden. Bearing in mind that there have been ambiguities concerning the roles of managers and HR-staff in previous research and that the managers’ perceptions about the HR-function affects the role of the HR, this study was conducted. This study about perceptions and satisfaction concerning the working of an HR-function aimed to highlight possible differences in customer satisfaction amongst managers based on which unit they belonged to, level of managerial position, the time they have worked as managers in the organization, and the frequency of contact with the HR-department. Moreover, the study considered whether the opinions concerning areas of improvement have changed since the last conducted research. This research was conducted through an analysis of documents and a self-produced questionnaire which was sent to all managers within Parker in Sweden. The results indicated that the same areas of improvement-needs remains, that existing documents are inconsequent in relation to each other, and that several significant differences between managers’ perceptions emerged. The HR-departments along with the different documents should tentatively become more consistent so that their roles become clearer.

In an increasingly individualized working life, the employee controls himself, which can lead to boundaryless work. Through the Big Five theory, previous studies have investigated an individual's propensity to boundaryless work. This has been related mainly to the area where the effect of proactive personality on attitude towards boundaryless work has been studied. In this study, the quantitative method of survey collection via a web survey is used which consists of two parts; A personality test and questions about boundaryless work. The participants of the survey were aiming to be currently working people, between 18-67 years of age and that they possessed a job that could be performed regardless of time and place. The collected data was analyzed in a program called SPSS where the focus was on correlations between personality and the propensity to work boundaryless. The results of the study showed that personality and the propensity to boundaryless work correlated in two places. The results of the study showed that personality and the propensity to boundaryless work correlated positively between the question I find it easy to set limits and the personality trait neuroticism at .348 (p < .01). Furthermore, a strong negative correlation was found at -.312 (p < .01) between the personality trait conscientiousness and the question I find it easy to organize my work effectively. Table 6 shows that standardized betas for the personality trait neuroticism and I find it easy to set limits are highest (.366) in regression analysis. To establish a clear conclusion, the result gave too little significant correlations. However, the results suggest that there is a correlation between personality and the propensity to boundaryless work.