Meaningful careers: Employment decisions among Indigenous art centre workers in remote Australia
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Title
Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings
Publisher
Academy of Management
Place of Publication
Australia
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
22460
Abstract
This study investigates the reasons behind why Indigenous workers decide to work or leave their positions in Indigenous art centres in remote areas of Australia. This has significance for management, in helping motivate Indigenous workers in terms of economic participation in highly remote areas and thereby “closing the gap” in terms of socio-economic disadvantage. It contributes to theory by integrating social exchange theory and indigenous standpoint theory by examining the factors behind labour force participation among Indigenous Australians in these art centres through an Indigenous epistemological approach. This was a qualitative study primarily using structured in-depth interviews of 24 Indigenous art centre workers working in art centres in remote Australia. The study adds to the few field studies that have investigated issues related to recruitment and retention of Indigenous workers in the creative arts sector in remote areas by exploring the views of Indigenous arts practitioners at the grass roots level which has had limited research to date. It contributes to the literature by extending and interpreting social exchange theory from a more culturally specific Indigenous interpretive perspective that also incorporates the context of their remote communities in understanding career deliberations, an aspect that has not traditionally been studied.
DOI
10.5465/ambpp.2016.15929abstract
Access Rights
subscription content
Comments
Seet, P. S., Jones, J., & Acker, T. (2017). Meaningful careers: Employment decisions among Indigenous art centre workers in remote Australia. In Academy of Management Proceedings, 2016(1). Academy of Management. Available here.