Simon Denny

Effects of an employment enhancement programme on participant NEETs

The research examined the effects on participants of an employment enhancement programme (EEP), which was delivered by a work-integration social enterprise in an area of high unemployment in the South-East of England. The EEP was designed to increase the employability of young people aged 16–24 years who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). In order to measure the effects of the EEP on the participants, 24 NEET young people completed questionnaires designed to measure their general self-efficacy (GSE) before and after (Time 1 and Time 2) their engagement in the EEP. Fifteen of the original 24 NEETs also took part in semi-structured interviews with a researcher at Time 1 and Time 2. Results of the analysis of the questionnaire data revealed a statistically significant increase in the levels of GSE for the 24 participants after engagement in the EEP. Results of the analysis of the interview data with 15 participants revealed eight overall themes, four at Time 1 and four at Time 2. The triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative results of this research revealed the psychological benefits to this NEET group of young people after engagement in the EEP.

Social enterprise: evaluation of an enterprise skills programme

Purpose – Evaluation of employment skills programmes (ESP) delivered by work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for the benefit of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is often undertaken by the programme providers. This method of evaluation often lacks objectivity and academic rigour and tends to focus exclusively on output. The purpose of this paper is to reveal programme outcome benefits for NEET participants after completing a six‐week ESP, delivered by a WISE. The study highlights the participant perspective and adds an objective dimension to programme evaluation through an innovative, inductive evaluation process.Design/methodology/approach – The research adopted an intervention method, within a qualitative paradigm, employing semi‐structured interviews conducted pre‐ and post‐participant engagement in the ESP. NEET participants were also asked to complete questionnaires designed to measure general self‐efficacy and attitude to enterprise. The questionnaires were introduc...

Investigating the Outcome Performance of Work-Integration Social Enterprises (Wises): Do WISEs offer ‘added value’ to NEETs?

Abstract This study takes a comparative approach to study the ‘outcome’ performance of a work-integration social enterprise (WISE) and a ‘for-profit’ work-integration organization that both provided employment enhancement programmes to NEETs. Participants at both organizations completed general self-efficacy questionnaires before and after engagement on the programmes. Additionally, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were held with the owners and staff at both organizations. The results revealed no significant difference between the ‘outcome’ performance of the WISE and for-profit organization. However, an analysis of the organizational aims, values and structures suggests that the ‘added value’ offered by the WISE came from the different induction policy that it operated.

Programme recruitment and evaluation: the effect of an employability enhancement programme on the general self-efficacy levels of unemployed graduates

This paper reports research that engaged in the evaluation of an intervention programme designed to enhance the employability of a group of unemployed graduates. The evaluation adopted a quasi-experimental intervention research method employing a general self-efficacy scale, which had been validated in prior research. Results revealed that participants displayed higher levels of GSE after engagement in the programme. Results also revealed the effect of ‘behavioural plasticity’ on the intervention experiences of unemployed graduate participants. The findings of this study are discussed in relation to programme design, recruitment and evaluation.

Reintegrating socially excluded individuals through a social enterprise intervention

This research project reveals participant perceptions of an employment enhancement programme, run by a social enterprise and designed to reintegrate socially excluded individuals into society. The research participants were the social entrepreneur, staff at the social enterprise, the programme attendees and a representative from an external referral agency. Participants engaged in semi-structured interviews with a researcher designed to elicit participant perceptions of the programme. Results of the analysis of the interviews revealed six emergent themes that were interpreted by the researchers as: ‘social mission focus’, ‘heroic social entrepreneur’, ‘social impact’, ‘recidivism’, ‘the programme’ and ‘programme attendees’. Results of the analysis reveal that all research participants reported the programme helped to re-socialise the programme attendees and increased their self-confidence and self-esteem. Participants also believed programme attendees acquired important skills and qualifications in general warehouse activities and forklift truck driving, which would greatly increase their future employability. Programme attendees indicated the ‘real world’ working environment was important to their feelings of success on the programme. Social enterprise staff expressed concerns about potential ‘mission drift’ resulting from the demands of scaling up the logistics business to achieve the ‘double bottom line’.