Resistance exercise: competition, coopetition and collective action among self-employed personal trainers in the UK
| Date | 24 October 2023 |
| Pages | 1511-1526 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-04-2023-0207 |
| Published date | 24 October 2023 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Geraint Harvey,Jia Li,Daniel Wintersberger |
Resistance exercise: competition,
coopetition and collective action
among self-employed personal
trainers in the UK
Geraint Harvey
DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies, Western University,
London, Canada
Jia Li
Department of Business, School of Management, Swansea University,
Swansea, UK, and
Daniel Wintersberger
Department of Management, Birmingham Business School,
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The article explores the potential for self-employed personal trainers (SEPTs) to resist exploitation
by gyms, with a focus on the attitudes of SEPTs towards trade unions and collective action.
Design/methodology/approach –This article is based on a multiple-method study with qualitative data
drawn from participant observation and interviews and quantitative data from a questionnaire survey. The
data were collected in 2018.
Findings –The potential for individual resistance to exploitation among SEPTs is limited. However, attitudes
towards a collective response were largely positive, albeit there is certainly no consensus agreement on the
value of trade unions. The logic of coopetition is applied to explain the issues on which trade unions might
organize SEPTs.
Research limitations/implications –The study suggests coopetition as an organizing logic for highly
individualized self-employed workers in intense proximal competition with one another. However, the research
presented in this article was undertaken with a unique group of solo self-employed workers. Further study is
required to demonstrate the applicability of these findings.
Practical implications –The commercialization of work poses a threat to traditional employmentand trade
unions. It is crucial that trade unions represent the interests of all workers by focusing on workers who do not
traditionally form the vanguard of its membership (e.g. dependent workers and thefalsely self-employed). The
study illustrates the way in which trade unions can organize micro-entrepreneurs.
Social implications –Coopetitive representation whereby micro-entrepreneurs collaborate to resist
exploitation while remaining independent has the potential to change the perspectives and values of
entrepreneurs.
Originality/value –The article assesses the potential of organizing a highly individualized and competitive
self-employed worker. Coopetitive representation is presented as distinct from other approaches to
representation and as a means of trade union revitalization.
Keywords Coopetition, Trade unions, Collectivism, Solo self-employment, Neo-villeiny
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In 2021, the Yoga Teacher’s Union formed as a branch of the Independent Workers’Union of
Great Britain [1]. Many of those working as yoga instructors in the UK were earning less than
the living wage despite the UK yoga industry being worth £900million in 2021. Worker
exploitation has been reported elsewhere in the UK fitness industry –estimated to be worth
more than £3billion in 2022 [2] despite the impact of the pandemic –with research pointing to
Resistance
exercise
1511
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 19 April 2023
Revised 6 July 2023
12 September 2023
Accepted 13 September 2023
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 45 No. 6, 2023
pp. 1511-1526
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-04-2023-0207
a deskilling of group activity instructors (Felstead et al., 2007;Parviainen, 2011; cf.,
Andreasson and Johansson, 2016) and low wages for fitness instructors as a consequence of
loose labour market conditions (Lloyd, 2008;Lloyd and Payne, 2018). The work of self-
employed personal trainers (SEPTs) in particular is unique and has been labelled as neo-
villeiny (Harvey et al., 2017) because the exploitation inherent in the relationship between the
SEPT and the gym that reflects the relationship between the medieval serf or villein and
landlord. The article explores the potential for resistance among SEPTs in the UK fitness
industry. As we discuss in this article, the potential for individual resistance to exploitation is
complicated first by the reliance of the SEPT on the gym for access to expensive equipment
and gym members (who represent prospective clients) and second by the ease with which the
gym can exclude any SEPT. Moreover, their work has a direct impact on the health of
members such that individual expressions of discontent through sabotage are unlikely
because of the normative pressure not to cause harm to members. We focus instead on the
potential for collective resistance by assessing attitudes towards trade union organizing and
collective action.
There are three parts to the literature review that follow. In the next section, we first
elaborate on the work of the SEPT as an occupational group subject to a distinctive form of
exploitation (The SEPT: Neo-Villein and Exploitation). We then consider the potential
for SEPTs to resist collectiv ely (Collective Resistan ce and the Problems of
Organizing SEPTs), considering the reasons why SEPTs might be reluctant to act
collectively (and to unionize) before highlighting the characteristics of the work that promote
collective action. The focus of the third part of the literature review is coopetition (Ritala,
2012)–the collaboration between competing firms for mutual benefit, especially between
smaller firms in defence against larger firms –as an organizing logic especially for those who
subscribe to the micro-entrepreneur identity (Coopetition for self-employed workers).
A discussion of the Data collection methods follows the literature review. Thereafter, the
findings of the multiple method study are structured according to a discussion of
Constraints on individual resistance that make such a response unlikely and of the
Obstacles to collective resistance. We end the findings section with an assessment of
the Catalyst for collective resistance.
The key objective of this article is to explore attitudes among SEPTs in the UK fitness
industry towards trade unions and collective action. While the data reveal some scepticism
about collective action among SEPTs, they also paint a broadly positive response to trade
unions and identify factors such as the efforts by gyms to assimilate SEPTs (substantively
and symbolically) that promote a collective identity. We conclude by contextualizing the
findings and considering the broader implications of the study. Although this is an unique
group in terms of the work of around 61,000 workers (according to Office for National
Statistics data on Fitness and Wellbeing Instructors for 2022), the findings offer an insight
into the attitudes towards trade union organization of the solo self-employed that is a much
larger group of 4 million, and especially those among the ranks of the solo self-employed who
consider themselves to be micro-entrepreneurs (see Kuhn and Maleki, 2017).
Literature review
The SEPT: neo-villeiny and exploitation
The SEPT represents a unique occupational group that has been labelled as neo-villeins
(Harvey et al., 2017) because of the distinctiveness of their relationship with the organization
that reflects key characteristics of the relationship between the medieval villein and the Lord
of the land (see Burawoy, 1979;Edwards, 1986). It is useful to highlight three characteristics
of the neo-villeiny of the SEPT that illustrate the exploitation by the gym. First, the SEPT has
no guarantee of income. Second, the SEPT undertakes unpaid labour that benefits the gym in
ER
45,6
1512
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