Abstract
The spread of flexible work in Europe promoted substantial research on how the risk of precariousness is growing for a larger share of the workforce. As the literature on precariousness addresses mostly how welfare institutions protect from social risks, insufficient attention is paid to the perspective of workers and the extent to which their needs are fulfilled.
Here, a comprehensive approach is used to compare the job quality perceived by various types of workers. The main research question is: how does the institutional context affects job quality across different forms of work in Europe?
Job quality is defined as the fulfilment of work-related basic needs. Drawing from the research on psychological contract, the fulfilment of those needs is estimated on six dimensions: job content, employability, social atmosphere, organisational policies, rewards, and work-life balance (Freese et al., 2008). Forms of work that are distinguished are: self-employment, permanent, fixed-term, temporary agency, and on-call employment. The research is conducted using the sixth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS, 2015), including 43850 workers from 35 countries.
First, the fulfilment of work-related basic needs of workers is estimated. This is done by comparingpermanent employees with the four groups of flexible workers. Second, the role of institutional context is investigated comparing the fulfilment of workers’ needs in different countries, i.e. in different institutional contexts.
As institutions are intertwined in regulating the organization of work, institutional contexts are framed integrating the Varieties of Capitalism approach with the Welfare typology (among others, see Schröder, 2013). The production and protection systems show affinities, which are in turn expected to affect the fulfilment of work-related basic needs of workers. The first hypothesis is that the gap between the needs’ fulfilment for permanent and flexible employees is high in liberal market economies, moderate in conservatively coordinated economies and relatively lowest in social democratically coordinated economies. The second hypothesis is that the fulfilment of workers’ needs across countries and institutional contexts varies less for self-employed than for the other flexible workers. This is because self-employment across institutional contexts is more poorly regulated than other forms of flexible employment. The discussion addresses implications for, among else, HRM policies of organisations.
Here, a comprehensive approach is used to compare the job quality perceived by various types of workers. The main research question is: how does the institutional context affects job quality across different forms of work in Europe?
Job quality is defined as the fulfilment of work-related basic needs. Drawing from the research on psychological contract, the fulfilment of those needs is estimated on six dimensions: job content, employability, social atmosphere, organisational policies, rewards, and work-life balance (Freese et al., 2008). Forms of work that are distinguished are: self-employment, permanent, fixed-term, temporary agency, and on-call employment. The research is conducted using the sixth wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS, 2015), including 43850 workers from 35 countries.
First, the fulfilment of work-related basic needs of workers is estimated. This is done by comparingpermanent employees with the four groups of flexible workers. Second, the role of institutional context is investigated comparing the fulfilment of workers’ needs in different countries, i.e. in different institutional contexts.
As institutions are intertwined in regulating the organization of work, institutional contexts are framed integrating the Varieties of Capitalism approach with the Welfare typology (among others, see Schröder, 2013). The production and protection systems show affinities, which are in turn expected to affect the fulfilment of work-related basic needs of workers. The first hypothesis is that the gap between the needs’ fulfilment for permanent and flexible employees is high in liberal market economies, moderate in conservatively coordinated economies and relatively lowest in social democratically coordinated economies. The second hypothesis is that the fulfilment of workers’ needs across countries and institutional contexts varies less for self-employed than for the other flexible workers. This is because self-employment across institutional contexts is more poorly regulated than other forms of flexible employment. The discussion addresses implications for, among else, HRM policies of organisations.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2017 |
Event | Dutch HRM Network Conference - Nijmegen Duration: 9 Nov 2017 → 10 Nov 2017 |
Conference
Conference | Dutch HRM Network Conference |
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Period | 9/11/17 → 10/11/17 |
Keywords
- Workers' needs
- Diverse work arrangements
- European working conditions survey
- institutional context