(Routledge Research in Employment Relations)
by Bernd Brandl (Editor), Bengt Larsson (Editor), Alex Lehr (Editor), Oscar Molina (Editor)
Traditional
approaches in the wide field of employment relations focused on a small
and clearly delineated set of actors, such as trade unions and
employers’ organizations, operating within the constraints given by
formal, nationally confined institutions. It is becoming increasingly
clear that traditional approaches are insufficiently able to account for
employment relations processes and outcomes in a world wherein formal
institutions are being rapidly transformed and partially dissolved,
national boundaries become porous, and the sheer number of actors
involved is increasing substantially. A shift in perspective is
necessary, past the nationally bounded actor-institution dichotomy,
towards an understanding of employment relations as fundamentally
mediated by complex and emergent networks that connect a multitude of
actors within and between countries.
This volume
provides a seminal starting point for such a paradigm shift by applying
theories and methodologies from social network analysis to the study of
employment relations. It develops a theoretical toolkit of mechanisms
that operate within networks and shape employment relations processes
and outcomes, such as wages, labour market policies and labour
conflicts. It brings together insights from various projects that
investigate the structure, functioning and impact of networks in
employment relations through quantitative and qualitative methods. It
will be of particular interest to students and scholars of employment
relations across business and management, economics, political science,
and sociology disciplines, as well as those interested in social
networks. Managers, trade unions, employers’ organizations and state
authorities at national and international levels will find it helpful in
understanding how networks shape their world.
