John Cabot University ScholarShip

In this paper we investigate the effect of working-from home (WFH) on job satisfaction. We use longitudinal data from Italy to estimate a difference-in-differences model, in which the treatment group includes individuals who transitioned to remote work in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued to work from home in 2021. We perform the analysis, which extends to various aspects of self-reported job satisfaction, by gender and personality traits as per the Big-Five framework, encompassing Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Our findings reveal that WFH exhibits a positive influence on job satisfaction, albeit exclusively among women, and with some heterogeneity, depending on personal characteristics. Specifically, this effect seems more noticeable in women characterized by elevated Openness to Experience, whereas those with heightened conscientiousness or neuroticism levels tend to experience less satisfaction when working remotely.

The information age of big data has increased the use of predictive data analytics for decision-making, leading to complex societal and legal debates with respect to statistical discrimination and the protection of civil liberties. This paper presents a simple pedagogic narrative in the context of asymmetric information. Students walk through a predictive-algorithmic decision-making process by a principal and agent. A simple predictive algorithm is constructed that leads to statistical discrimination and incentivizes principals to acquire more information confronting civil liberties of the right to privacy and protection from unnecessary surveillance. The lesson can be applied to labor, financial, and insurance markets.

Sexual minority (SM) individuals present lower levels of mental health compared to their heterosexual peers. This study aimed to explore the preliminary evidence of a manualized 13-week, face-to-face affirmative group intervention for SM individuals based on mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion-focused techniques (Free2Be). In a single-armed trial design, nine participants received the intervention and were assessed in three moments (baseline, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up). Sexual minority-related stress processes, psychopathological symptoms, and general adaptive and maladaptive psychological processes were assessed. Group comparisons and individual reliable change index analyses were performed. Overall, the results were significant/reliable in the expected direction: an increase in general adaptive psychological processes and a decrease in sexual-minority-related stress processes, psychopathological symptoms, and general maladaptive psychological processes. These changes remained stable over time. Stigma consciousness, shame related to sexual orientation, and fears of self-compassion did not present any relevant change. Self-compassion increased in the post-intervention and decreased in the follow-up, presenting an unstable trajectory. Results suggested that the Free2Be is an intervention with benefits for sexual minority people.

First World War video-games have grown in importance and popularity since the centenary of 2014-18. But what does it mean to both develop and play these games? What vision of history is being constructed or transmitted between developers and players? Drawing on interviews with both these groups, this article examines the game Isonzoset on the Italian Front –an unfamiliar setting to most in the anglosphere –to explore the constructions of memory and historical meaning which the game produces.