Triangular Employment Relationship Research Articles

Differentiation in perceived organizational support and knowledge sharing of outsourced employees – a cross-hierarchy moderating model

PurposeOutsourcing has become a crucial avenue for companies to acquire external knowledge. To better understand how dual organizational supports influence the knowledge sharing behavior of outsourced employees within triangular employment relationships, grounded in social exchange theory, this study explores the effect and mechanism of differentiation in perceived organizational support (DPOS) on knowledge sharing of outsourced employees.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted to test the hypotheses, and data were collected from 271 outsourced employees and their leaders (from client organizations) in 52 interorganizational teams.FindingsResults show that DPOS positively affect the knowledge sharing of outsourced employees and has a stronger predictive value than that of client organizational support. Outsourced employees’ psychological ownership to the interorganizational team mediates this relationship. Task interdependence plays a positive cross-hierarchy moderating role in the relationship between DPOS and psychological ownership to the interorganizational team.Practical implicationsThis research provides practical advice for support strategies of client and supplier organizations.Originality/valueResults provide further understanding for outsourced employees’ psychological and behavioral mode in triangular employment contexts.

Perceived likelihood of standard employment by client organizations and the career mobility of outsourced employees: a self-driving human capital increment model

Externalized employment, aimed at reducing labor costs, is becoming increasingly prevalent. However, the effective implementation of management practices to improve the career mobility of outsourced employees remains unknown. Drawing from social cognitive theory, this study constructs a self-driven career mobility model for outsourced employees. What’s more, this study proposes the concept of differentiation in perceived organizational supports (DPOS), that is ‘the relative degree of outsourced employee’s perception of support from client organizational exceeds that from supplier organization in triangular employment relationships’, and regards it as a key boundary condition for outsourced employees to interpret the cognition of employment opportunities. Data were collected from a three-wave survey of 271 outsourced employees from 52 interorganizational teams. Results showed that the perceived likelihood of standard employment (PLSE) by client organizations positively predicts outsourced employees’ turnover intention from supplier organization. Job-related human capital development (JRHCD) and occupational self-efficacy play a chain mediating role between PLSE and turnover intention. DPOS moderates the relationship between PLSE and JRHCD, and also moderates the mediating and chain mediating effect of JRHCD and occupational self-efficacy. We discuss the implications of findings for outsourcing management research and practice.

Workers’ voice from the triangular employment relationship lens: towards a conceptual framework

PurposeThis paper examines the circumstantial state of mediated work to develop a conceptual framework exemplifying the determinants of voice of workers in triangular employment relationships. These workers are in work context involving two or more firms – agency/platform and clients/client firms.Design/methodology/approachParalleling employee voice research in the triangular employment relationship context, the authors theorised the influencing forces at four levels to propose 12 distinct antecedents of triangular workers' voice. External level (2) – legal employer ambiguity and legal regulation and protection; employment context level (3) – availability and presence, assignment duration and autonomy; firm level (3) – institutional complexity, cost and control and governance structure conflicts; individual level (4) – perceived relative equity, voice skill, self-identity and transition opportunity.FindingsThe triangular workers' voice determinants framework provides a comprehensive outlook on how the external, employment context, firm and individual forces influence voice of workers in triangular employment relationships.Research limitations/implicationsEmanating from the framework are propositions that can be empirically tested for validation. Hence, as with conceptual papers, this paper is limited by non-empirical testing.Practical implicationsManagers of workers in these employment relationships should be cognizant of the different levels of forces that can influence their voice.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the employee voice literature by presenting a four-level framework that demonstrate a holistic view of how triangular workers' voice is influenced.

Occupational safety and health and temporary agency work in multiemployer restaurants.

Current occupational safety and health (OSH) literature calls for sociotechnical, system-level approaches that increase understanding of the underlying reasons for insufficient OSH performance in nonstandard employment that is associated with lower labour and social security protection when compared with traditional forms of work. This study focused on temporary agency work (TAW) which is a central form of nonstandard employment. The objective was to explore OSH issues in temporary agency work (TAW) in small and medium-sized multiemployer restaurants in Finland and discuss the issues from the perspectives of the agency worker, user company and agency. A directed content analysis method was used to examine the data obtained from semi-structured interviews (n = 20) with agency workers, restaurant managers and experts representing the temporary work agencies, a pension insurer, and a labour union. The balanced work system theory was used as a framework for this qualitative analysis. A variety of OSH risks and hazards in TAW were identified. In addition, the complexity of OSH management was highlighted in this triangular employment relationship between the agency worker, the user company, and the agency. This study reveals problems related to OSH in TAW. Restaurants are entities separate from agencies, so establishing and adhering to a common process of OSH management is not simple.

Who would rescue the dilemma of Chinese elderly care? An evolutionary game analysis and simulation research on the formalization of the domestic service industry with subsidy policy.

Since China entered the aging society, the surging demand for elderly care and the industrial upgrading of "silver economy" has forced the domestic service industry to face endogenous challenges. Among them, the formalization of the domestic service industry can effectively reduce the transaction costs and risks of actors, innovate the endogenous vitality of the industry, and promote the improvement of elderly care quality through a triangular employment relationship. By constructing a tripartite asymmetric evolutionary game model of clients, domestic enterprises and governmental departments, this study uses the stability theorem of differential equations to explore the influencing factors and action paths of the system's evolutionary stable strategies (ESS), and uses the research data collected from China to assign values to models for simulation analysis. This study finds that the ratio of the initial ideal strategy, the difference between profits and costs, subsidies to clients, and subsidies or punishments for breach of contract to domestic enterprises are the key factors affecting the formalization of the domestic service industry. Subsidy policy programs can be divided into long-term and periodic programs, and there are differences in the influence paths and effects of the key factors in different situations. Increasing domestic enterprises' market share with employee management systems, formulating subsidy programs for clients, and setting up evaluation and supervision mechanisms are efficient ways through which to promote the formalization of the domestic service industry in China. Subsidy policy of governmental departments should focus on improving the professional skills and quality of elderly care domestic workers, and also encourage domestic enterprises with employee management systems at the same time, to expand the scope of service beneficiaries by running nutrition restaurants in communities, cooperating with elderly care institutions, etc.

Particularities of Temporary Work. Advantages and Vulnerabilities

Temporary work is an alternative to providing the activity and procuring external, current labor force, more and more common in the countries of the European Union, including Romania. The alternative of such work is beneficial to all parties involved in the triangular employment relationship: the temporary work agent, the temporary employee and the user of the temporary workforce. This article proposes a brief presentation of some theoretical aspects related to temporary work (the importance of temporary work in today's society, the Community and national legislative framework, the actors of the temporary work relationship and the relationship between them, such as listing the conditions and authorization of the employee temporary in Romania) followed by an analysis on the evolution of employment agents registered in Romania in the period 2007-2021.

UNRAVELLING THE TRIANGLE: CLARIFYING THE EMPLOYMENT STATUS WITHIN OUTSOURCING TRIANGULAR EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS IN KENYA

Purpose: This paper aimed at unravelling the triangle by assessing the employment status of outsourced workers within outsourcing triangular employment relationships (TERs) in Kenya. 
 Methodology: The study adopted desk research in which data was collected from relevant books, journal articles, government reports, legal commentaries, periodicals, relevant statutes, treaties and conventions on the current Kenyan legal framework and its underlying assumptions that pose challenges to outsourced workers. This paper is divided into three main sections. The first discussed the attribution of employment status under Kenya’s labour laws. Due regard was given to the statutory definitions and key judicial tests. The second part focused on the employment status of outsourced workers in outsourcing TERs. Though outsourced workers relate with two authority figures, namely the outsourcing company and the client enterprise, the law classifies the outsourcing company as the outsourced workers’ employer. The law does not define the relationship between the client enterprise and the outsourced workers which poses unique challenges to the workers. These are compounded when outsourcing TERs arise from the conversion of employees to outsourced workers. The third part identified measures to clarify employment status within outsourcing TERs. The paper underscores the importance of clarifying the employment status within outsourcing TERs.
 Findings: It was found that current law on employment status envisages standard employment relationships (SERs) but does not adequately cater for outsourcing TERs. It classifies the outsourcing company as the outsourced workers’ employer, and does not factor in that the client enterprise usually exercises day-to-day control over their outsourced workers’ activities. It was found that this poses unique challenges when there is transfer of employment from SERs to outsourcing, which may lead to employee misclassification.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Adopting joint employee status in Kenya’s legal framework would enable placing some employer obligations on the client enterprise, even though it does not formally attach employer status on it. In addition, the express prohibition of sham arrangements and the limitation of outsourcing arrangements to non-core business activities would curb the use of outsourcing TERs to evade employment responsibilities through employee misclassification.

Casualization of Labour: Implications of the Triangular Employment Relationship in Nigeria

Casualization is a global phenomenon. It is a form of nonstandard work arrangements practized in both developed and developing countries with varying degrees of regulation. Employers see it as a means of cutting costs and achieving flexibility, while workers see it as a work arrangement that denies them the right to employment benefits and to unionize and bargain collectively. This paper examines the concept of casualization and the implications of the triangular employment relationship in Nigeria in the context of international labour standards. It also examines the rights of casual workers to employment benefits and trade union rights in Ghana and China. It argues that the triangular or disguised employment relationship, which is the commonest form of casual employment in the banking and oil and gas sectors in Nigeria, fall outside the purview of the Labour Act. Amongst other things, the paper finds that the triangular or disguised employment relationship does not yield itself to the rights and benefits provided for workers in the traditional employment relationship and that it has segmented the labour market into core, non-core and peripheral zones. The paper calls for a comprehensive review of the Labour Act in line with international labour standards. It recommends the Ghana model with the necessary changes to suit local circumstances.

Perceived organisational support and performance: the case of expatriate development volunteers in complex multi-stakeholder employment relationships

This article examines how and to what extent perceived organisational support from key stakeholders is associated with the performance of expatriate development volunteers in highly complex multi-stakeholder employment relationships. We studied 214 volunteer-employer-agency relationships covering 21 countries. Two forms of support were positively associated with the volunteers’ performance: direct support from the host-country employer for the volunteer, and support for the host-country employer from the volunteer agency, with the latter partially mediating the former. No relationship existed between volunteers’ performance and support from the volunteer agency. In term of contextual and situational factors, emotional and informational support for volunteers were perceived as strongly enabling performance, while sub-standard instrumental support was the primary inhibitor. Our findings unearth the significance of a previously invisible ‘third arm’ of support in triangular employment relationships in the form of volunteer agency support for the host organisation, and identify the importance of discretionary, relational and proximal support to the success of expatriate volunteer placements.

Relational Expectations and Transactional Obligations: Incompatible Psychological Contracts and Triadic Employment Relationships

This research investigated the triangular employment relationship between organizations, temporary staffing agencies, and clerical temporary workers using the conceptual framework of the psychological contract. The rapid growth in triadic employment relationships is well documented; however, there is limited research into the interlocking psychological contracts between the three parties. This research advances our understanding of the mechanisms underlying triangular psychological contracts by drawing attention to the ways in which people’s beliefs concerning their own obligations toward others may be incommensurate with their expectations of other parties. Findings are based on semistructured interviews with 10 client organization representatives, 10 staffing agency consultants, and 20 female clerical temporaries working in Auckland, New Zealand. The interviews revealed that the three sets of participants held mutually incompatible expectations, which were shaped by their differing positions and power bases within the temporary labor market. Each group expected, or wanted, the other parties to behave toward them as if a relational psychological contract existed but perceived their obligations toward others in more transactional terms. In consequence, the expectations, goals, and actions of the three sets of participants often conflicted, creating a range of adverse outcomes, which were unintended by, and problematic for, each group within the triangular employment relationship.

Discourses of Professionalism in Front-Line Service Work: Insights from a Case Study in an Italian Bank

The article draws on the literature on the triangular employment relationship in the service industry, as well as on the debate on contemporary forms of professionalism, to explore the varied uses of the discourse of professionalism in a banking company. Methodologically, it is a single-case study based on 61 semi-structured interviews, company documents and observational data. The research results show how, in the company studied, the notion of professionalism was used both by individual employees and, at the collective level, by union organizations to advance front-line employees’ and customers’ interests vis-a-vis the management. Moreover, rather than a single discourse, several discourses of professionalism coexisted within the company, and they were subject to constant debate and contestation. The article thus advances extant research on both contemporary forms of service work and professionalism, while providing a bridge between these two streams of literature which, to date, have barely talked to each other.

Discourses of professionalism in front-line service work:insights from a case study in a bank

The article draws on the literature on the triangular employment relationship in the service industry, as well as on the debate on contemporary forms of professionalism, to explore the varied uses of the discourse of professionalism in a banking company. Methodologically, it is a single-case study based on 61 semi-structured interviews, company documents and observational data. The research results show how, in the company studied, the notion of professionalism was used both by individual employees and, at the collective level, by union organizations to advance front-line employees' and customers' interests vis-a-vis the management. Moreover, rather than a single discourse, several discourses of professionalism coexisted within the company, and they were subject to constant debate and contestation. The article thus advances extant research on both contemporary forms of service work and professionalism, while providing a bridge between these two streams of literature which, to date, have barely talked to each other.

Supporting temporary agency workers’ affective commitments: exploring the role of opportunities for competence development

ABSTRACTNowadays, many organizations employ parts of their workforce via employment agencies and, as such, temporary agency workers (TAWs) are important for our economies. Increasingly, research is conducted to explore the relationships among the three parties involved – the TAW, the client organization and employment agency – and how this relationship can be strengthened by HR instruments. This study adds to this stream of literature by studying to what extent TAWs’ affective commitment (AC) towards the client organization and employment agency relates to their expectations and their fulfilled expectations regarding offered opportunities for competence development (OfCD) by both organizations, and by exploring to what extent TAWs regard both employment organizations responsible for offering them OfCD. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among TAWs in the Netherlands (n = 449), including quantitative and qualitative analyses. All results of this study together revealed that TAWs tend to be focused on the client organization with regard to OfCD. This is the organization to which they feel most affectively committed, that they regard responsible for organizing their OfCD, and where they ask for OfCD. This study indicated that TAWs do not yet profit maximally from the triangular employment relationship, and have a rather traditional view on TAW constructions.

Empowering Domestic Workers: A Critical Analysis of the Belgian Service Voucher System

Domestic cleaners lack bargaining power, which can prevent them from being in control of their work quality. The ‘service voucher system’ is expected to change the power position of domestics. This is expected because the system is formalized by the Belgian government and organized through a triangular employment relationship between the domestic, the service voucher company (the employer), and the customers. This study draws on 42 interviews with immigrant and native service voucher cleaners. It probes into how the employment relationship with the company affects the domestics’ perceived power to bargain with customers about determinants of the work quality. Based on the results, policy recommendations are made to further empower domestic cleaners in the relationship with their customers and to help them safeguard their work quality.

The Gangmaster Licensing Authority: An Institution Able to Tackle Labour Exploitation?

LMIs and food production have enjoyed a long history. Today, labour market intermediaries (LMIs) in the United Kingdom that want to operate in the industries of agriculture, horticulture, shellfishing and food processing have to hold a license in order to do so lawfully. This legal requirement has been in existence since the establishment of the Gangmaster Licensing Authority (GLA) in 2005. However, despite the establishment of the GLA, and the subsequent requirement for gangmasters to hold licenses and to adhere to eight core standards (as set out by the GLA), incidents of (severe) labour exploitation in the same sectors continue to make headlines. This paper aims at understanding shortcomings associated with the GLA in tackling (severe) labour exploitation and potential problems in this respect with its succeeding body, the GLAA. To this end, this paper provides first a general review of the rise of LMIs, and of gangmasters in particular, before explaining why growers and farmers may decide to rely on labour supplied by gangmasters. This part also illustrates how (severe) labour exploitation as a result of gangmaster employment may occur, by paying special attention to the triangular employment relationship. The second part of the paper retraces the developments of both the GLA and GLAA. Furthermore, a brief overview of how LMIs may be regulated, either being licensed or registered, is given. The paper then turns to a consideration of the perceived effectiveness of the GLA and GLAA in tackling cases of labour exploitation, whereby I draw on material from both primary and secondary sources - the former comprising 16 qualitative interviews with key actors, conducted in the context of wider, doctoral research - to provide some insights into this matter. In this connection, the third part first introduces details of my deployed methodology, before the fourth part discusses my findings in relation to the literature and questions of institutional effectiveness.

Who takes care of non-standard career paths? The role of labour market intermediaries

As flexible career paths become more common in European labour markets, how to combine the flexibility required by non-standard work with new patterns of security is the focus of political debate. Some European Union (EU) countries have launched radical labour market reforms, while in others such reforms remain limited. This paves the way for bottom-up solutions developed by private and non-profit labour market intermediaries in order to support the job transitions of non-standard workers. We map these initiatives through a multidimensional grid and explore the extent to which they contribute to renewed regulation of modern labour markets. We outline two ideal-typical approaches. The first extends internal labour markets to triangular employment relationships by considering workers as ‘quasi-employees’. The second involves more disruptive solutions by treating non-standard workers as ‘quasi-self-employed’.

Fragmented Work in Post‐Bubble Japan: Negotiating Identity, Gender, Age, and Class in Triangular Employment Relationships

AbstractThe ascendance of neoliberalism, often subsumed under the rubric of globalization, has a profound impact on the nature of work. Based on yearlong ethnographic fieldwork, this article examines the rise of temporary agency work in post‐bubble Japan where an increasing number of workers are assembled and dispatched by staffing agencies to receiving firms on limited‐term contracts. Such a distinct triangular employment structure provides an exemplary field in which to explore recurring issues of labor flexibility and inequality that characterize contemporary globalization. By delving into minute details of how “dispatched workers” engaging in temporarily and spatially fragmented work make sense of themselves, the article aims to accentuate the role of power in the social construction of reality as well as the complexity of everyday practice.

Investments in the Subjective Well-Being of Temporary Workers: A Controversial Discussion

Based on the assumption, that low-skilled temporary agency workers show a lower level of subjective well-being compared to permanent workers, the need of well-being enhancing measures for them might be existent. On the basis of theoretical approaches and empirical results from the research fields of temporary work and subjective well-being, we discuss the meaningfulness of investments in the temporary worker’s subjective well-being by taking the temporary work’s specific triangular employment relationship into account. Positive effects of an increased subjective well-being level on individual productivity, organizational citizenship behavior, health and commitment as well as a negative relation to turnover intention and the risk of counterproductive work behavior are presented in an integrated cause and effect model. Limiting factors of well-being enhancing measures like genetic determination, adaptation processes, chosen reference persons as well as investment costs, misleading signals towards the workforce and the measures’ unknown effectiveness are also included in the model.

Who is an Employer in the Triangular Employment Relationship? Sorting Through the Definitional Confusion

Employers in the United States are increasingly utilizing staffing firms, employee leasing firms, temporary employment agencies and other third parties to help manage contingent labor in their organizations. The use of such triangular relationships creates complexities in the rights and responsibilities of each party, partially due to the variation in how U.S. employment law defines employers and employees across statutes. We analyze the various definitions of employee and employer across key U.S. employment statutes (e.g., Civil Rights Act of 1964, ADA, FMLA, FLSA), tests used by the courts in their decision making, and IRS regulations and evaluate the impact of these definitions on the use of contingent employees in triangular relationships. We review existing case law relevant to discrimination and non-discrimination statutes and identify key areas of risk and responsibility for both the individuals employed as contingent workers and firms that use contingent labor. Finally, we offer recommendations for strategically managing contingent labor in the current legal context.

How Precarious Employment Affects Health and Safety at Work: The Case of Temporary Agency Workers

Precarious employment has been associated with adverse occupational health and safety (OHS) outcomes across a range of studies. Temporary agency workers are particularly vulnerable, with studies showing they experience a higher incidence of workplace injury, and a greater likelihood of more severe injuries than all other employment types. Explanations for agency workers’ higher risk of injury have, to date, been impeded by data limitations associated with researching temporary employment. This article seeks to begin filling this gap through analyzing the experience of agency workers based upon two data sources. The first is a unique qualitative and quantitative data set developed from investigated temporary agency and directly hired workers’ compensation files; the second is focus groups of agency workers conducted in the State of Victoria, Australia. Quinlan and Bohle’s (2004) Pressures, Disorganization and Regulatory Failure (PDR) model, developed to explain the greater OHS vulnerability of precarious workers, provides the framework for analyzing the data. After explaining the key concepts in the PDR Model, the article analyses the data to test for evidence of economic pressures, disorganization at the workplace, and regulatory failure impacting upon temporary agency workers’ health and safety. The analysis supports the relevance of the PDR model, and provides an understanding of additional and unique risk factors which contribute to agency workers’ higher risk of injury. Temporary agency workers experience economic pressures in common with other types of precarious workers. However, these appear more acute amongst agency workers. They also confront disorganization risks, extending to mismatched placements; lack of familiarity with host workplaces; and more complex fractured communication. These contribute to workplace risks and create barriers to improving their experience. Many of these outcomes are a result of, or contribute to regulatory failure. The analysis finds strong support for the explanatory value of the PDR model as a tool for understanding how precariousness contributes to temporary agency workers’ adverse health and safety outcomes. It also suggests the complexities of the triangular employment relationship create additional economic insecurities and disorganization problems beyond those experienced by other types of workers, which the regulatory environment has yet to address.