Os "sentidos do trabalho" em duas visões: São Paulo e Paris

Este relatório é o resultado de uma pesquisa exploratória sobre os sentidos do trabalho .O objetivo da pesquisa foi o de fazer uma sondagem de opinião, isto é, investigar, globalmente, os sentidos do trabalho para duas amostras de população oriundas de duas empresas distintas, de mesmo ramo de atividades. A sondagem foi feita através de um questionário composto de 36 questões com temas relativos à percepção do trabalho, seus significados e impactos sobre a saúde e a qualidade de vida, além de dados sócio-demográficos das pessoas que fizeram parte do estudo. O que é o Trabalho? e O que você pensa sobre do seu trabalho atual? foram as questões centrais de pesquisa, analisadas neste relatório. Elas foram propostas para uma amostra de funcionários de uma empresa pública de serviços localizada na Região Parisiense e para uma amostra de funcionários de uma empresa pública de serviços, localizada na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo e de atividades semelhantes. Uma abordagem comparativa São Paulo / Paris foi feita sobre a importância do trabalho e semelhanças e diferenças foram apontadas para as amostras analisadas, tanto globalmente, quanto divididas por sexo. Os dados foram tratados através do programa estatístico SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) e as duas questões principais, através de Análises Fatoriais. As análises fatoriais das duas principais questões permitiram condensar e resumir dados dos diversos itens das questões, possibilitando a obtenção de dimensões latentes agrupadas em fatores. A análise fatorial foi utilizada em uma perspectiva exploratória.

The influence of materialism on consumption indebtedness in the context of low income consumers from the city of São Paulo

This research is in the domains of materialism, consumer vulnerability and consumption indebtedness, concepts frequently approached in the literature on consumer behavior, macro-marketing and economic psychology. The influence of materialism on consumer indebtedness is investigated within a context that is characterized by poverty and by factors that cause vulnerability, such as high interest rates, limited access to credit and to quality affordable goods. The objectives of this research are: to produce a materialism scale that is well adapted to its environment, characterizing materialism adequately for the population studied; to compare results obtained with results of other studies; and to measure the relationship between materialism, socio-demographic variables, attitude to debt and consumption indebtedness. The primary data used in the analyses were collected from field research carried out in August, 2005 that relied on a probabilistic household sample of 450 low income individuals who live in poor regions of the city of Sao Paulo. The materialism scale, adapted and translated into Portuguese from Richins (2004), proved to be very successful and encourages new work in the area. It was noted that younger adults tend to be more materialistic than older ones; that illiterate adults tend to be less materialistic than those who did literacy courses when they were already adults; and that gender, income and race are not associated with the materialism construct. Among the other results, a logistic regression model was developed in order to distinguish those individuals who have an installment plan payment booklet from those who do not, based on materialism, socio-demographic variables and purchasing and consumer habits. The proposed model confirms materialism as a behavioral variable useful for forecasting the probability of an individual getting into debt in order to consume, in some cases almost doubling the chance of occurrence of this event. Findings confirm the thesis that it is not only adverse economic factors that lead people to get into debt; and that the study of demand for credit for consumption purposes must, of necessity, include variables of a psychological nature. It is suggested that the low income materialistic consumer experiences feelings of powerlessness and exclusion because of the gap that exists between their possessions and their desires. Lines of conduct to combat this marginalization from the consumer society are drawn targeting marketing professionals, public policy makers and vulnerability researchers. Finally, the possibility of new studies involving the materialism construct, which is central to literature on consumer behavior, albeit little used in empirical studies in Brazil, are discussed.

The influence of lifestyle and gender on sickness absence in brazilian workers

Background: Despite an increasing body of knowledge concerning gender and lifestyle factors as determinants of sickness absence in well-developed countries, the relationship between these variables has not been elucidated in emerging economic power countries, where the burden of non-communicable diseases is particularly high. This study aimed to analyze the relationships among lifestyle-related factors and sick leave and to examine whether gender differences in sickness absence can be explained by differences in socio-demographic, work and lifestyle-related factors among Brazilian workers. Methods: In this longitudinal study with a one year follow-up among 2.150 employees of a Brazilian airline company, sick leave was the primary outcome of interest. Independent variables collected by interview at enrolment in the study were gender, age, educational level, type of work, stress, and lifestyle-related factors (body mass index, physical activity and smoking). In addition, the risk for coronary heart disease was determined based on measurement of blood pressure, total cholesterol and glucose levels. The total number of days on sick leave during 12 months follow-up was available from the company register. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the influence of socio-demographic, type of work and lifestyle-related factors on sick leave. Results: Younger employees, those with lower educational level, those who worked as air crew members and those with higher levels of stress were more likely to have sick leave. Body mass index and level of physical activity were not associated with sick leave. After adjustment by socio-demographic variables, increased odds for 10 or more days of sick leave were found in smokers (OR = 1.51, CI = 1.05-2.17), and ex-smokers (OR = 1.45, CI = 1.01-2.10). Women were more likely to have 10 or more days of sick leave. Gender differences were reduced mainly when adjusted for type of work (15%) and educational level (7%). Conclusions: The higher occurrence of sick leave among women than among men was partly explained by type of work and educational level. Our results suggest that type of work, a stressful life, and smoking are important targets for health promotion in this study population