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Institutions Are What Actors Make of Them — The Changing Construction of Firm‐Level Employment Relations in Spain
Author(s) -
Hauptmeier Marco
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2012.00891.x
Subject(s) - ideology , industrial relations , variation (astronomy) , identity (music) , labor relations , distribution (mathematics) , democracy , political science , transition (genetics) , political economy , economic geography , sociology , demographic economics , economic system , economics , labour economics , politics , law , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , mathematics , astrophysics , acoustics , gene
This article analyses the variation and change in firm‐level employment relations in Spain between the transition to democracy and the global financial crisis. Using three auto companies as case studies, I address a crucial puzzle in the institutional literature on comparative employment relations: How do employment relations change and vary, even when national employment relations institutions do not? This article argues that differences in actor ideologies shape the construction of national institutions at the firm level, which explains change and variation of employment relations over time and across cases. The study identifies four drivers of ideological change — generational change, leadership change, identity work and diffusion — that impact the variation and change in employment relations at the firm level.