Swedish Market Research Articles

Sexual harassment leads to economic inequality

This study examines sexual and gender-based harassment by employees and managers in the Swedish labour market. Using data from the work Environment Survey, we show that women are subjected to this kind of harassment to a greater extent than men, but that both men and women are more vulnerable than the opposite sex when they are in the minority in their workplace. As wages are generally higher in male-dominated workplaces, this means that women are more vulnerable to harassment in workplaces with high wages, and men in workplaces with low wages. The study finds evidence that these patterns increase economic inequality in two ways. First, one survey experiment shows that harassment discourages women and men from seeking employment where their gender is in the minority. Secondly, an analysis of how people switch workplaces over time shows that harassment leads to women leaving relatively well-paid workplaces with a large proportion of men, in favour of lower-paid workplaces with fewer male colleagues.

Teachers navigating the diversified Swedish school market: lock-in and exclusion in the local labour market

ABSTRACT This study examines the consequences that a highly diversified school market has on the teacher labour market. By interviewing 43 teachers in two different local school markets, one large and highly segregated and one smaller and less segregated, the teacher´s views and attitudes towards competing schools, different working conditions and educational ideas have been analysed. The results indicate that teachers in the more segregated school market compare their current workplace to others in terms of pupil composition. In the less segregated school market, there are small differences in terms of pupil composition, and the comparisons tend to focus on differences in organisational or educational ideas. The study shows that teachers are locked into various types of schools, where the diversity of the schools themselves is a consequence of the emerging diversification of the school market. The nature of the locking-in effects can be connected to the characteristics of the diversification in the local school market.

A 4-Year Follow-Up of Levodopa-Entacapone-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel Treatment in Parkinson's Disease.

Levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel (LECIG) infusion was introduced to the Swedish market in 2019 for Parkinson's disease (PD) with motor fluctuations. Long-term data are lacking. To study long-term data on LECIG treatment. A retrospective analysis of the first 24 patients receiving LECIG in Sweden from 2019 to 2023. Five of 24 (21%) patients discontinued LECIG because of side effects, mostly diarrhea. Eight of the 24 (33%) patients died while receiving LECIG. Eleven of 24 (46%) patients were still on LECIG. Median (range) for disease and treatment duration was 19 (9-30) and 3.6 (3.1-4.0) years, respectively, whereas health-related quality of life scales showed median (interquartile range; n) Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire 8-item summary index scores of 38 (4; n = 7), EuroQol 5D scores of 0.59 (0.17; n = 7), and EQ-5D visual analogue scale scores of 65 (10; n = 7). LECIG infusion is a viable treatment option for PD patients with motor fluctuations, for up to 4 years in our cohort.

Samhall Work Experience and Employability: A Field Experiment on Disability Discrimination in the Swedish Labor Market

Samhall Work Experience and Employability: A Field Experiment on Disability Discrimination in the Swedish Labor Market

Translation and initial cross-cultural adaptation of the tool for support-gradual return-to-work for persons with chronic musculoskeletal pain to the Swedish setting.

A well-defined and clear procedure is a key factor supporting return-to-work and enhancing collaboration and understanding between employers and employees. The adaptation of the Tool for Support-Gradual Return to Work, TS-GRTW, addresses relevant cultural aspects valuable for wider adoption. develop a Swedish version, the GRTWswe, for implementation and integration into the Swedish labor market's RTW process. This involved translating, culturally adapting, and assessing the appropriateness and utility. In the initial step, a double back translation was performed to create an initial translated version. This version was then utilized in individual consultations, accompanied by an agreement questionnaire. For the subsequent step, group consultations were held to refine and customize the tool to suit the Swedish context. Ten occupational therapists completed the questionnaires, with mean agreement scores surpassing three on a four-point scale. Out of these, nine participated in group consultations. The findings suggest the requirement for specific modifications to the GRTWswe. These adaptations are essential because of cultural differences in organizational structures and reference frameworks. Moreover, participants unanimously agreed to broaden the scope of target groups, encompassing employees without regard for diagnosis and expanding the range of professions that can utilize this tool. This step aims to enhance the tool's applicability and usefulness. The study found strong alignment between questionnaire responses and group consultations outcomes, affirming the adapted tool's suitability for use in a Swedish context. The tool benefits employers and employees by enhancing communication, encouraging collaboration, and structuring processes, promising lasting improvements to work conditions.

Scrutinising Polarisation: Patterns and Consequences of Occupational Transformation in the Swedish Labour Market

Scrutinising Polarisation: Patterns and Consequences of Occupational Transformation in the Swedish Labour Market

Categorization, identification, and analysis of barriers to market growth in biogas solutions – The case of Sweden

Market growth for biogas solutions is important for climate change mitigation since it enables both effective waste management and a reduction of fossil fuel use. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, based on a discussion on previous research, a categorization of barriers to market growth in biogas solutions is developed. Second, the categorization is used to identify and analyze barriers within the Swedish market. The results show that market growth in Sweden has been reduced by the presence of multiple barriers such as regulatory uncertainties related to taxes and public policy instruments, lack of public funding, lengthy permit and planning processes, increased competition from electrification, lack of communication about biogas benefits, lobbying against biofuels, too high a price on biogas, and fierce competition from fossil fuels. The paper concludes with a discussion of contributions and the managerial and policy implications.

Exploring the impact of renovation subsidies on housing markets – evidence from the Swedish property market

PurposeThe primary aim of this research is to examine the effects of the Renovation, Conversion, and Extension (ROT) tax deduction for renovations on the scope and quality of renovations and its subsequent impact on house prices across various Swedish municipalities.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilises a two-way fixed effect instrument variable (IV) spatial Manski approach, analysing balanced panel data from 2004 to 2020 at the municipal level (290 municipalities) in Sweden. The methodology is designed to assess the impact of the ROT subsidy on the housing market.FindingsThe study reveals that the ROT subsidy has significantly influenced house prices, with noticeable variations between municipalities. These differences are attributed to the varying amounts of tax reductions for renovations and the extent to which property owners utilise these subsidies.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited to the context of Sweden and may not be generalisable to other countries with different housing and subsidy policies. The findings are crucial for understanding the specific impacts of government subsidies on the housing market within this context.Practical implicationsFor policymakers and stakeholders in the housing market, this study highlights the tangible effects of renovation subsidies on property values. It provides insights into how such financial incentives can shape the housing market dynamics.Social implicationsThe research underscores the role of government policies in potentially influencing equitable access to housing. It suggests that subsidies like ROT can have broader social implications, including the distribution of housing benefits among different income groups and regions.Originality/valueThis study contributes original insights into the field of applied real estate economics by quantitatively analysing the impact of a specific government subsidy on the housing market. It offers a unique perspective on how fiscal policies can affect property values and renovation activities at the municipal level in Sweden.

Profitability in Public Housing Companies: A Longitudinal and Regional Analysis Using Swedish Panel Data

Public Housing Companies (PHCs) play an important role in the Swedish housing market, with approximately 300 companies managing circa 802,000 dwellings. The public housing sector thereby represents almost 20 percent of the total housing stock in Sweden and half of the apartments that are available for rental. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the most important factors behind the profitability in Swedish PHCs between 2010 and 2019. The effects of internal growth, age, and capital structure in the PHCs are analyzed together with the effect of the growth of the local market, as well as local rent levels. Financial information for circa 300 PHCs in Sweden was gathered from annual reports published between 2010 to 2019. The financial information was analyzed using panel data analysis methods with several explanatory variables to explain the financial performance of the PHCs. The results from the analysis indicate a highly significant and positive relationship between the annual change in population, age, and profitability in the PHC. A highly significant and negative relationship was found between the PHC internal growth, capital structure, and profitability. The results showed no significant relationship between changes in income, rent levels, and profitability in Swedish PHC.

Antibiotic Prescribing by Digital Health Care Providers as Compared to Traditional Primary Health Care Providers: Cohort Study Using Register Data.

"Direct-to-consumer (DTC) telemedicine" is increasing worldwide and changing the map of primary health care (PHC). Virtual care has increased in the last decade and with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, patients' use of online care has increased even further. In Sweden, online consultations are a part of government-supported health care today, and there are several digital care providers on the Swedish market, which makes it possible to get in touch with a doctor within a few minutes. The fast expansion of this market has raised questions about the quality of primary care provided only in an online setting without any physical appointments. Antibiotic prescribing is a common treatment in PHC. This study aimed to compare antibiotic prescribing between digital PHC providers (internet-PHC) and traditional physical PHC providers (physical-PHC) and to determine whether prescriptions for specific diagnoses differed between internet-PHC and physical-PHC appointments, adjusted for the effects of attained age at the time of appointment, gender, and time relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. Antibiotic prescribing data based on Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes were obtained for Region Sörmland residents from January 2020 until March 2021 from the Regional Administrative Office. In total, 160,238 appointments for 68,332 Sörmland residents were included (124,398 physical-PHC and 35,840 internet-PHC appointments). Prescriptions issued by internet-PHC or physical-PHC physicians were considered. Information on the appointment date, staff category serving the patient, ICD-10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision) diagnosis codes, ATC codes of prescribed medicines, and patient-attained age and gender were used. A total of 160,238 health care appointments were registered, of which 18,433 led to an infection diagnosis. There were large differences in gender and attained age distributions among physical-PHC and internet-PHC appointments. Physical-PHC appointments peaked among patients aged 60-80 years while internet-PHC appointments peaked at 20-30 years of age for both genders. Antibiotics with the ATC codes J01A-J01X were prescribed in 9.3% (11,609/124,398) of physical-PHC appointments as compared with 6.1% (2201/35,840) of internet-PHC appointments. In addition, 61.3% (6412/10,454) of physical-PHC infection appointments resulted in antibiotic prescriptions, as compared with only 25.8% (2057/7979) of internet-PHC appointments. Analyses of the prescribed antibiotics showed that internet-PHC followed regional recommendations for all diagnoses. Physical-PHC also followed the recommendations but used a wider spectrum of antibiotics. The odds ratio of receiving an antibiotic prescription (after adjustments for attained age at the time of appointment, patient gender, and whether the prescription was issued before or during the COVID-19 pandemic) during an internet-PHC appointment was 0.23-0.39 as compared with a physical-PHC appointment. Internet-PHC appointments resulted in a significantly lower number of antibiotics prescriptions than physical-PHC appointments, adjusted for the large differences in the characteristics of patients who consult internet-PHC and physical-PHC. Internet-PHC prescribers showed appropriate prescribing according to guidelines.

Knowledge Claims on Municipalities in the Swedish Labor Market Policy

Knowledge Claims on Municipalities in the Swedish Labor Market Policy

License to Gamble: Discursive Perspectives on the 2019 Reregulation of the Swedish Gambling Market

During the last decades, several European gambling markets have been reregulated. In 2019, it was Sweden’s turn; the former oligopoly was replaced by a licensing system. In this article, the governmental inquiry in which the new system was proposed, outlined, and justified is studied using discourse analysis. Medical, public health, and free market discourses have been shown to dominate articulations of gambling in several national contexts, but the ways in which these discourses interact, overlap, and differ are crucial to understand better in order to appreciate the production and legitimation of meanings around gambling. Moreover, the 2019 reregulation has not yet been studied from discursive perspectives; thus, the article makes both theoretical and empirical contributions. The article demonstrates that market and medical discourses structure the inquiry. While they sometimes overlap and merge, their co-existence also causes tensions, for instance regarding whether an increase in gambling is acceptable or not. The article points to a strengthening of market and medical discourses and a weakening of public health discussion within Swedish gambling debates.

Financialization the Swedish way: How Vonovia became the largest owner of former public housing estates through transaction pathways and calculative practices

ABSTRACT The Swedish rental housing market has been in transition. The once dominating municipal public housing sector has been steadily decreasing. International firms have increasingly taken over rental housing in so-called socially deprived areas. This article analyzes the financialization of the former public housing stock. It traces activities in two housing estates and outlines the history and operations of venture capital-based real estate companies focusing on deprived areas in Sweden. These companies have upgraded multifamily homes and thus increased rents, which resulted in large profits and a decrease in the affordable housing stock. In this new reality, venture capital actors have taken advantage of contextual conditions and applied powerful calculative devices. Drawing on studies of financialization as a socio-technical process, the article contributes to knowledge by de-mystifying financialization through a detailed study of specific practices undertaken by international investors who acquire former public housing units in Sweden.

Legitimizing sustainable game meat consumption: a discursive-visual approach to legitimacy claims

ABSTRACT The marketing world has become increasingly visual in its legitimacy claims, yet much scholarship has drawn on discursive approaches to legitimation. This research extends institutional theory through a discursive-visual approach to legitimation. The aim of this article is to address the need to understand how companies engage discursive-visual strategies for legitimizing products and consumption practices with the aim of engaging society in more sustainable behavior. It is based on a case study of the Swedish game meat market and identifies three strategic discursive-visual interventions that market actors engage to unsettle existing norms and meanings: 1 aestheticization and exotic framing, 2 proximity claiming and localization, and 3 discrediting institutional norms. Although prior work drawing on institutional theory tends to focus on symbolic and discursive resources, this research also emphasizes the visual practices involved in the elaboration of legitimation claims that market actors mobilize.

Lättfärdiga måltexter

Light or easily made target texts. The methods of Swedish schlager translationSchlager was used as a term for songs on the Swedish popular music market from the 1920s and on. Coincidentally, song translation practices developed that varied rather seamlessly between liberty and fidelity. Nevertheless, based on an extensive corpus of Swedish target song lyrics, released 1916–2011, I identify and name six roughly distinguishable text methods: near-enough translation, perspective-shift translation, hook transposition, single-phrase spinoff, phonetic calque, and all-new target song lyrics. Examining the chronological distribution of the variation, most exploration of the experimental middle ground was found in the 1960s and 1970s. One decisive factor may be increased tailoring of lyrics for specific performers or venues. From the 1980s and on, changing circumstances seem to have made imported music released with Swedish lyrics less prevalent on the market, but widely variable song translation methods continue to be practiced in later decades too.

Clear effects on root system architecture of winter wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) from cultivation environment and practices

Roots play a pivotal role in the adaption of a plant to its environment, with different root traits adapting the plant to different stresses. The environment affects the Root System Architecture (RSA), but the genetic factors determine to what extent, and whether stress brought about by extreme environmental conditions is detrimental to a specific crop. This study aimed to identify differences in winter wheat RSA caused by cultivation region and practice, in the form of preceding crop (precrop), and to identify if modern cultivars used in Sweden differ in their reaction to these environments. This was undertaken using high-throughput phenotyping to assess the RSA. Clear differences in the RSA were observed between the Swedish cultivation regions, precrop treatments, and interaction of these conditions with each other and the genetics. Julius showed a large difference between cultivars, with 9.3–17.1% fewer and 12–20% narrower seminal roots. Standardized yield decreased when grown after wheat, 23% less compared to oilseed rape (OSR), and when grown in the Southern region, 14% less than the Central region. Additionally, correlations were shown between the root number, angle, and grain yield, with different root types being correlated depending on the precrop. Cultivars on the Swedish market show differences that can be adapted to the region-precrop combinations. The differences in precrop effect on RSA between regions show global implications and a need for further assessment. Correlations between RSA and yield, based on root-type × precrop, indicate different needs of the RSA depending on the management practices and show the potential for improving crop yield through targeting genotypic and environmental conditions in a holistic manner. Understanding this RSA variance, and the mechanisms of conditional response, will allow targeted cultivar breeding for specific environments, increasing plant health and food security.

Unlocking success: key elements of sustainable business models in the wooden multistory building sector

Few studies have investigated the processes and strategic interactions among the Wooden Multistory Construction (WMC) industry actors, its customers, and local policymakers. Further insights into this field are needed for a sustainability transition in the construction sector. This study aims to explain WMC’s corporate sustainability strategies for co-creation with customers and municipalities. This was based on interviews with key informants in the sector and WMC actors using three case studies in Sweden. Our interviews focused on business processes, interactions with users and municipalities, sustainability, and innovation in the WMC market. The findings reflect the notion of a slow transition in the Swedish WMC market toward using more wood as a bearing structure, which is supported by the competitive advantages and climate performance of wood. The three case studies indicated that the corporate focus is currently placed on incremental improvements in operations, price competitiveness, and successful project management. However, in contexts where wood construction is seen as a unique advantage, collaborations between the construction industry and end users have developed and served as novel platforms for WMC market development. The study concludes that WMCl growth hinges on the industry’s housing offerings prioritizing quality, affordability, and swift construction.

Monitoring the Dynamic Networks of Stock Returns with an Application to the Swedish Stock Market

AbstractIn this paper, two approaches for measuring the distance between stock returns and the network connectedness are presented that are based on the Pearson correlation coefficient dissimilarity and the generalized variance decomposition dissimilarity. Using these two procedures, the center of the network is determined. Also, hierarchical clustering methods are used to divide the dense networks into sparse trees, which provide us with information about how the companies of a financial market are related to each other. We implement the derived theoretical results to study the dynamic connectedness between the companies in the Swedish capital market by considering 28 companies included in the determination of the market index OMX30. The network structure of the market is constructed using different methods to determine the distance between the companies. We use hierarchical clustering methods to find the relation among the companies in each window. Next, we obtain a one-dimensional time series of the distances between the clustering trees that reflect the changes in the relationship between the companies in the market over time. The method from statistical process control, namely the Shewhart control chart, is applied to those time series to detect abnormal changes in the financial market.

A breakfast revolution for mothers?: introducing Kellogg’s Corn Flakes to the Swedish market, 1929-1939

ABSTRACT This paper explores the first decade of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes on the Swedish market (1929–1939), critically examining its national marketing campaign through van Leeuwen’s model of legitimation. It argues that scientific motherhood was a core aspect of Kellogg’s campaign, with advertisements emphasising three key themes: The Dutiful Mother and Wife; The Importance of Good Health; and The Embracing of Modernity. Through their advertisements, Kellogg’s urged mothers to break old breakfast habits and switch to Corn Flakes to ‘protect’ their children, emphasising the product’s health benefits. They also drew attention to the convenience and versatility of Corn Flakes, making it ideal for modern life. The campaign was highly effective, both shaping mothers’ understanding of cereal and turning it into a core part of Swedish breakfast habits. Central to this success was Kellogg’s careful balance between conveying expert knowledge and transmitting common sense grounded in established social practices. Treading this difficult tightrope served to give mothers a false sense of control over their lives as if they were the knowledge holders with agency to make their own decisions about their families, yet in reality they were being guided by the views of physicians, scientists, grocers and, ultimately, the food industry.

Constructing solidarity through social justice in education: from collaboration and conflict to amalgamation between Swedish teacher unions

ABSTRACT Trade union collaboration on issues of social justice connects workers to each other and to their wider communities and is therefore considered a strategy of union renewal. Prior to their amalgamation on 1 January 2023, Lärarförbundet (Swedish Teachers’ Union) and Lärarnas Riksförbund (National Union of Teachers in Sweden) collaborated intermittently to challenge educational injustices in the highly segregated Swedish school market. Through documentary research, with dialogue as method, this case study explores the policies and politics of this inter-union collaboration. Using ‘framing’ and ‘intermediation’ as conceptual lenses, we argue that the two unions collaborated predominantly, but to varying degrees, on bargaining, political, and professional issues. However, these joint actions were conducted in the context of declining union membership, competitive national recruitment agendas, and the rise of grassroots teacher-led ‘rebellion’ groups campaigning for public education. External solidarity in organising was therefore limited by inter-organisational and intra-professional differentiation and both unions’ orientation towards a service model of unionism. Future research might explore the complexity of intra-union collaboration in the newly amalgamated Sveriges Lärare and the extent to which regional branch activism and broader alliances with social movements could promote a more democratic organising agenda.