Sustaining continuous improvement upon temporary workers’ shoulders: a tale of survival & tribalism (WITHDRAWN)

Abstract

Long-term committed workers are expected to play a key role in the continuous improvement of operating routines, a fundamental activity preceding the creation of competitive advantages at the operations level. However, global uncertainty and market instabilities are increasingly pushing firms to increase the use of temporary labor to bypass current operational challenges related to production costs and flexibility. Although this strategy could have benefits at first sight, conventional wisdom in operations suggests it might be also hindering the successful deployment of continuous improvement practices. We therefore explore whether firms can sustain continuous improvement processes while relying on temporary labor by using an Insider Econometric approach on daily panel data (1793 observations across 9 lines gathered over two years). The results are mixed. We find temporary workers can positively contribute to continuous improvement activities especially when they are trained. However, this positive contribution turns negative as the number of temporary workers increases. We resort to evolutionary psychology to argue how continuous improvement outcomes are shaped by differences in hierarchical groups and tribal-like behaviors that aim to protect individuals’ own interests. Overall, our findings questions established theory by offering a nuanced perspective of temporary workers in continuous improvement.