Employment Relations as Networks: Methods and Theory

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.

Bernd Brandl is Professor at Durham University Business School. In his research he is dealing with methodological, empirical and theoretical research questions in the fields of employment relations and international HRM. In particular, much of his thematic and theoretical research focused on comparative cross-country analyses of different employment relations and labour market systems, institutions and policies. Professor Brandl is also engaging in policy making debates and worked as an advisor/expert for international organizations such as the European Commission and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Bengt Larsson is a professor of sociology at Linnaeus University and University of Gothenburg in Sweden. His research focuses on industrial relations and transnational trade union cooperation. Larsson has published several papers in journals such as European Journal of Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial relations, Economic and Industrial Democracy, and Industrial Relations Journal. Together with Professor Bengt Furåker, Larsson recently published a book entitled Trade Union Cooperation in Europe: Patterns, Conditions, Issues (Palgrave Pivot, 2020).

Alex Lehr is an assistant professor in empirical political science at Radboud University. His research is at the intersection of sociology, economics and political science, and focuses on economic inequality, employment relations and labour market representation. He specializes in the development and synthesis of micro-level theories, and the collection and statistical analyses of novel micro-level data, e.g., via surveys and experiments. Lehr has published papers in journals such as Work, Employment and Society, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Employee Relations, Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, and Rationality and Society.

Oscar Molina is associate professor at the Department of Sociology and researcher at Centre d’Estudis Sociològics QUIT - Institute for Labour Studies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He holds a degree in Economics (Pompeu Fabra University) and a PhD in Social and Political Science at the European University Institute (EUI-Florence). He has been post-doctoral researcher at the Industrial Relations and Human Resources Group, University College Dublin (2005-2007) and ICREA Researcher at QUIT, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and currently coordinator of Eurofound’s national correspondent team in Spain. His main research interests include comparative industrial relations, labour market policies, neo-corporatism.