Fast‐food work: are McJobs satisfying?
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450610683627 |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Pages | 402-420 |
| Author | Cameron Allan,Greg J. Bamber,Nils Timo |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Fast-food work: are McJobs
satisfying?
Cameron Allan
Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Greg J. Bamber
Graduate School of Management, Griffith Business School, Griffith University,
Nathan, Australia, and
Nils Timo
Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – McJobs in the fast-food sector are a major area of youth employment. This paper explores
young people’s perceptions of work in this industry.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the results of a survey of students’
experiences of McJobs in Australia.
Findings – Fast-food workers were generally dissatisfied with the industrial relations and work
organisation aspects of their jobs. Nonetheless, they were generally much more satisfied with the
human resource management and social relations aspects of their jobs.
Research limitations/implications – Our research has implications for understanding the human
capital development practices adopted by employers in the fast-food industry and in other sectors,
especially those that employ young people. Much of the context for work and employment relations in
Australia is comparable with those in most English-speaking countries. Therefore, our findings have
implications for work in similar sectors in other countries, in particular, other English-speaking
countries.
Practical implications – This paper has implications for people who devise recruitment policies
and design of jobs. It is a useful reminder that it is no longer appropriate for people to talk in simple
terms of satisfaction at work per se; it is vital to differentiate between various aspects and contexts of
job satisfaction, or the of the lack of it.
Originality/value – Earlier studies of fast-food work have tended to be polemical and polarized:
either apologias or very critical. This paper adopts a more balanced approach and it puts the findings
into context.
Keywords Fast foods, Interpersonal relations, Industrial relations, Jobsatisfaction, Australia
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Until the 1970s, food consumption patterns in Australia were based on the food habits
of the predominantly Anglo/Celtic and to a lesser extent Greco/Italian immigrants.
Dining-out in restaurants, cafes and hotels was an unusual experience and usually
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors thank the Australian Research Council, Anthony Gould, Ken Lovell, George Strauss,
Kate Rainthorpe and Keith Townsend for their assistance and advice on this project and to all
those who participated in this research. The authors are grateful for the constructive comments
offered by this journal’s anonymous referees on an earlier version of this paper.
ER
28,5
402
Received August 2004
Revised October 2005
Accepted November 2005
Employee Relations
Vol. 28 No. 5, 2006
pp. 402-420
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450610683627
restricted to vacations, business travel, special occasions or celebrations. There was a
relatively low level of consumption of fast foods, such as fish and chips or Asian food
in metropolitan/urban areas (Cahn, 1977, pp. 57-60).
Since, the 1970s, food consumption patterns have changed dramatically. By the end
of the twentieth century, about a third of Australians’ expenditure on food, was on fast
food (Lyons, 1999). The Australian fast-food takeaway food market is valued at more
than GBP 2.7 billion. This is comprised of 1.4 billion fast-food meals serviced at
some 17,000 outlets, 3,000 of which are part of fast-food chains (BIS Schrapnel, 2000).
The fast-food market has experienced an average annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent,
representing the most rapidly growing sector of the food retailing market (Lyons,
1999). Fast food employs more than 166,000 people in Australia; equivalent to
employment in communication services (ABS, 2000, p. 40).
Fast-food outlets can be distinguished from other kinds of food-service
establishments. The former offer a limited menu, standardised offerings and little
service. Rather than being served at a table, customers choose from a short list of
offerings and order at the counter or window. The food is served quickly and can be
taken away or eaten on the premises. Customers are expected to finish quickly and
usually clear up after themselves. Fast food is associated with international brand
names, for example: McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) (Leidner, 2002,
pp. 11, 12). However, there is also a burgeoning Australian-owned fast-food sector,
which competes with these large international brands on quality, location and price.
Fast food is an important area of employment – particularly for young people.
McDonald’s, the largest restaurant chain, has more than 30,000 restaurants around the
world. A large proportion of its employees are young people. There is an interna tional
debate about the quality of jobs in fast food. For example, we can infer from
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (2003) that most fast-food workers are
employed in “McJobs”. Despite McDonald’s objections, the editors of the
Merriam-Webster dictionary say McJob is a word that is here to stay[1]. This
dictionary defines a McJob as “a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides
little opportunity for advancement”. McDonald’s then chief executive, Jim Cantalupo,
called the definition a “slap in the face” to the 12 million people who work in the
restaurant industry (in the USA), and demanded that Merriam-Webster use more
flattering terms. But the dictionary publisher said that it “stands by the accuracy and
appropriateness” of its definition. “For more than 17 years McJob has been used as we
are defining it in a broad range of publications” the publisher said, citing everything
from The New York Times and Rolling Stone to newspapers in South Africa and
Australia. The Oxford English Dictionary definition, which cites a 1986 story in
The Washington Post, is: “An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects,
especially one created by the expansion of the service sector”.
McJobs are associated with low-trust and cost-cutting work contexts. It has been
argued that contemporary enterprises can make a strategic choice to adopt either a
low-trust, cost-cutting “low road” or a higher-trust, productivity enhancement “high
road” approach to the management of their employees (Bacon and Blyton, 2000,
pp. 1425-58; Kochan and Dyer, 2001, pp. 272-87). In much popular media, fast-food
enterprises are portrayed as adopting a low road. Is it really the case that fast-food
enterprises adopt only a low road? To what extent do workers find their McJobs
satisfying?
Fast-food work:
are McJobs
satisfying?
403
To continue reading
Request your trial