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An Institutional Approach to Workplace Conflicts: Labor Disputes in Multinational Companies in China
Unformatted Document Text:  1 AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO WORKPLACE CONFLICTS: THE CASE OF LABOR DISPUTE IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN CHINA [ABSTRACT] Drawing on the new institutional theory of organizations, this paper advocates an institutional approach to the analysis of workplace conflicts. I argue that institutional processes exert significant influences on the workers’ perceptions of the employer and the employment relationship. More specifically, workers’ expectations of fair treatments and their perceived likelihood of success with open confrontation are shaped by salient organizational characteristics and also vary with broader institutional context. Consistent with this view, empirical analysis of panel data from a national sample of multinational companies in China during the mid-1990s finds that large and capital-intensive firms and firms located in more developed and industrialized cities were more likely to experience labor disputes. These findings underscore the social construction of grievances and political choices in labor relations. The enduring conflict between labor and capital has stimulated tremendous interests among sociologists. Often rooted in the Marxist notion of class struggle, existing literatures on worker resistance and collective actions tend to focus on grievances (e.g., Kornhauser 1959; Turner & Killian 1957), resource availability (McCarthy & Zald 1977; Jenkins 1983), and class consciousness and worker solidarity (e.g., Dixon, Roscigno, & Hodson 2004) as the chief determinants of strikes and other forms of mobilization. The present study seeks to complement these theoretical foci by advocating an institutional approach. It begins with the assumption that collective manifestations of workplace conflicts are determined in part by the workers/unions’ perceptions of the employer and employment (Dobbin 1992). Drawing on the new institutional theory of organizations (Powell & DiMaggio 1991), I argue that these perceptions are not uniform; instead, they are contingent on salient organizational characteristics and are also shaped by the broader institutional context. Consequently, even with the same grievances, resources, and worker solidarity, systematic variations in resistance activities may still exist due to differences in these perceptions.

Authors: Cao, Yang.
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1
AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO WORKPLACE CONFLICTS:
THE CASE OF LABOR DISPUTE IN MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES IN CHINA
[ABSTRACT]
Drawing on the new institutional theory of organizations, this paper advocates an
institutional approach to the analysis of workplace conflicts. I argue that institutional
processes exert significant influences on the workers’ perceptions of the employer and
the employment relationship. More specifically, workers’ expectations of fair
treatments and their perceived likelihood of success with open confrontation are
shaped by salient organizational characteristics and also vary with broader institutional
context. Consistent with this view, empirical analysis of panel data from a national
sample of multinational companies in China during the mid-1990s finds that large and
capital-intensive firms and firms located in more developed and industrialized cities
were more likely to experience labor disputes. These findings underscore the social
construction of grievances and political choices in labor relations.
The enduring conflict between labor and capital has stimulated tremendous interests among
sociologists. Often rooted in the Marxist notion of class struggle, existing literatures on worker
resistance and collective actions tend to focus on grievances (e.g., Kornhauser 1959; Turner &
Killian 1957), resource availability (McCarthy & Zald 1977; Jenkins 1983), and class consciousness
and worker solidarity (e.g., Dixon, Roscigno, & Hodson 2004) as the chief determinants of strikes
and other forms of mobilization. The present study seeks to complement these theoretical foci by
advocating an institutional approach. It begins with the assumption that collective manifestations of
workplace conflicts are determined in part by the workers/unions’ perceptions of the employer and
employment (Dobbin 1992). Drawing on the new institutional theory of organizations (Powell &
DiMaggio 1991), I argue that these perceptions are not uniform; instead, they are contingent on
salient organizational characteristics and are also shaped by the broader institutional context.
Consequently, even with the same grievances, resources, and worker solidarity, systematic variations
in resistance activities may still exist due to differences in these perceptions.


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