Logics of Action, Globalization, and Changing Employment Relations in China, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines

Abstract

The authors develop a logic of action framework to conceptualize the impact of globalization on employment relations (ER) and to predict the trajectory of ER. They argue that the interplay among three different logics of action - the logic of competition, the logic of industrial peace, and the logic of employment-income protection - determines the ER patterns in any given nation. The strengths of the logics themselves are influenced by five often related factors: economic development strategy, globalization intensity, union strength, labor market features, and government responsiveness to workers. The authors' extensive field research on national policies and workplace practices in four Asian countries supports this framework. ER patterns apparently reflect different combinations of logic strengths, and globalization's impact on ER is both complex and contingent. Militating against long-term convergence in ER are national variations in the combinations of logic strengths, and changes in logic strengths over time.