The triangular supply chain relationship: labour dispatch agencies, hospitality sector, and flexible workers: the Taiwan experience

Abstract

Much has been written on the nature of labour flexibility in the Western context and the extent to which it benefits employers in terms securing them cost-effective operations and flexible workers by offering them contingent work arrangements. Absent in this debate has been any examination of the nature and extent of labour flexibility in the non-Western context. This article aims to broaden the debate and examines the current application of labour flexibility practices and its resultant implications in the novel context of Taiwan – with a particular focus on the hospitality industry. The choice of hospitality industry is in line with the recent CEPD's1 call for labour dispatch agencies to be considered as a promotional service industry among 12 categories of services. Data derived from focus group studies and individual in-depth interviews at four hotels and their partner labour dispatch agencies elicited the triangular relationship among labour dispatch agencies, client hotels, and agency workers. In contrast to previous similar research of the Western context where labour flexibility was primarily seen to secure lower labour costs, it was found that tight managerial control over the flexible workforce plays a crucial role in adopting contingent work arrangements. Moreover, the results indicate that flexible workers are regarded as a cost rather than being considered as the rhetoric of human capital.