An institutional logics approach to the heterogeneous world of highly skilled work

Pages235-253
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2013-0023
Published date01 April 2014
Date01 April 2014
AuthorSusanne Pernicka,Astrid Reichel
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations
An institutional logics approach
to the heterogeneous world of
highly skilled work
Susanne Pernicka
Department of Economic and Organisational Sociology,
Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria, and
Astrid Reichel
Department of Management, WU Vienna, Wien, Austria
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship of highly skilled work and
(collective) power. It develops an institutional logics perspective and argues that highly skilled
workers’ propensity to join trade unions varies by institutional order.
Design/methodology/approach – Data from two occupational fields in Austria, university
professors and management consultants, representing two different institutional orders were collected
via questionnaires. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings – The results show that over and above organisational level variables, individual’s
background and employee power variables institutional logics significantly add to explaining trade
union membership of highly skilled workers. Prevalence of a professional logic in a field makes
collective action more likely than market logic.
Originality/value – Highly skilled workers are overall described as identifying themselves more
with the goals of their employer or client and with their professional peers than with other corporate
employees or organised labour. They are thus expected to develop consent rather than conflict
orientation vis-
a-vis their employers and clients. This paper supports a differentiated view and shows
that within highly skilled work there are groups engaging in collective action. By developing an
institutional logics perspective it provides a useful approach to explain heterogeneity within the world
of highly skilled work.
Keywords Trade unions, Industrial relations, Highly skilled work
Paper type Research p aper
Introduction
Consent ratherthan coercive mechanisms are assumedto effectivelygovern employment
and employees in contemporary workplaces, even more so in knowledge-based
occupations (Burawoy,1979; Godard and Delaney, 2000; Guest, 1987,2011; Lawler, 1992;
Pfeffer, 1994; Thompsonand Harley,2007). In many studies highly skilledemployees and
self-employed contractorswere found to identify themselvesmore with the goals of their
employeror client and with their professional peers thanwith other corporate employees
or organised labour (Barley and Kunda, 2004; Jensen and Westenholz, 2004; Schnabel,
2003; Voß and Pongratz, 1998). Also, so-called knowledge workers are reported to have
a significantly higher attitudinal commitment, i.e. identification with and involvement
in the organisation, and a lower intention to quit than routine-task workers (Benson
and Brown, 2007,p. 133). Highly skilled workers are widely expectedto develop consent
rather than conflict orientation vis-
a-vis their employers and clients. Their more
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
Received 15 February 2013
Revised 13 June 2013
18 September 2013
26 October 2013
Accepted 28 October 2013
Employee Relations
Vol.36 No. 3, 2014
pp. 235-253
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-02-2013-0023
Data collection was financially supported by the Austrian Ministry of Science (grant number
P19812-G14).
235
Highly skilled
work
individualistic attitudes and orientations tend to undercut traditional forms of union
solidarity (Beck, 2000; Valkenburg and Beukema, 1996; Zoll, 1996).
However, these assumptions about highly skilled workers’ lack of interest in
collective action appear to contradict a strand of literature that revealed a strong belief
of employees in knowledge-intensive occupations in the relevance of trade unions and
solidarity (Boes, 2006; D’Art and Turner, 2005, 2008). In evaluating the European
Social Survey (ESS), D’Art and Turner (2008, p. 184) found that irrespective of sectoral
location, occupation, autonomy or income satisfaction, most of those surveyed had
positive attitudes towards unions. While individual bargaining power is a key variable
that explains variations in trade union density between different occupational groups
(Crouch, 1982; Schnabel, 2003, p. 30), highly skilled workers also seem to differ in terms
of their normative orientations and belief systems and hence, their prope nsities to join
a trade union. Howe ver, it is still an op en question what social mechanisms shape
highly skilled individuals’ attitudes towards trade unions. In order to fill this research
gap, this paper aims at devising an ideal-typology (knowledge workers and
professionals) based on the institutional logics approach and existing empirical
accounts. Furthermore, we choose two occupations of highly skilled wo rkers
(university professors and management consultants) and tested whether or not they
differ in their propensity to join a union. The results of the empirical part of this paper
support the thesis that occupations have an impact on trade union membership.
As the selected occupational fields are governed by distinct institu tional logics that
approximate our ideal types knowledge and professional work, ou r quantitative study
contributes to a better understanding of the factors causing trade union membership
of the highly skilled workforce.
The paper adopts an “institutional logics persp ective” (Friedland and Alford, 1991;
Thornton and Ocasio, 1999, 2008; Thor nton et al., 2012) because of the intriguing
possibilities it offers to theorise and empirically study how institutions as broader
belief systems shape the cognition and behaviour of individuals. Rejecting both,
individualistic, rational choice theories and macro-structu ral perspectives, Friedland
and Alford (1991) posited that every institution in society (such as the market, the
state, professions, etc.) has a central logic. Institutional logics represent frames of
reference that condition actors’ choices for sense making, the vocabulary they use to
motivate action, and their sense of self and identity (Thornton et al., 2012, p. 2). In
regards to highly skilled work, we identify two distinct institutional orders, market and
professions. These two institutions correspond with two groups of highly skilled
occupations, professional and knowledge work and their assigned logics of control
over knowledge (Pernicka and Lu
¨cking, 2012).
We assume that institutional logics found in occupational fields shape individual
identities and influence the extent to which professionals and knowledge workers are
likely to adopt a collective orientation and join trade unions. In this respect, we intend
to fill a research gap in industrial relations literature on the determinants of trade
union membershipin knowledge-intensive occupational fields. A quantitative studythat
compares two fields of knowledge-based occupations, university professors and
managementconsultants, in Austria provide support for our assumptionthat knowledge
workers and professionals differ in terms of their propensity to join a union.
The paper is structured as follows. First, we present a literature review on the
determinants of trade union membership and develop ou r own analytical framework
based on an institutional logics perspective. Second, we set out our model and present
operationalisations of our main explanato ry variables. Third, we present the main
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