Table Of ContentDependent Self-Employment
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Dependent Self-Employment
Workers on the Border Between Employment
and Self-Employment
Ulrike Muehlberger
Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration
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© Ulrike Muehlberger 2007
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007978-0-230-51549-9
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Contents
List of Tables and Figure ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 The Blurring Boundaries Between Employment and
Self-Employment 1
1.1 Introduction and motivation 1
1.2 What is dependent self-employment? 4
1.3 The theoretical and methodological approach 8
1.3.1 Research design and methods 8
1.3.2 The countries: varieties of capitalism? 9
1.3.3 The industries 12
1.4 Overview of the book 14
2 Work on the Border Between Employment and
Self-Employment 18
2.1 Recent trends of self-employment 18
2.2 Dependent forms of outsourcing and the
development of self-employment 20
2.3 The special case of franchising 22
2.4 Evidence of independent contractors in the US 23
2.5 Evidence of dependent self-employment and
dependent forms of outsourcing 26
2.6 Conclusions 32
3 The Institutional Factor: Labour Law and Regulations
Across Europe 34
3.1 The legal uncertainty of dependent self-employment 34
3.2 The scope of labour law in comparative perspective 37
3.3 Conclusions 44
4 The Supply Side: Identifying Workers on the
Border Between Employment and Self-Employment 46
4.1 The determinants of self-employment 46
4.2 The motives to supply-dependent self-employed
work: qualitative findings 50
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4.3 Dependent self-employment in Austria 54
4.4 Dependent self-employment in the UK 58
4.5 Dependent self-employment in Italy 66
4.6 Conclusions 77
5 The Organisational Governance of Dependent Forms of
Self-Employment 80
5.1 The importance of informal structures 80
5.2 Markets, hierarchies and relational contracts 81
5.2.1 The market-versus-hierarchy approach 81
5.2.2 Relational contracts, repeated games and
reciprocity 86
5.3 Governing dependent forms of outsourcing 91
5.3.1 Relational contracts and dependent forms of
outsourcing 91
5.3.2 The key features of dependent business
relationships 94
5.3.3 Explaining dependent outsourcing from an
organisational sociology perspective 97
5.4 Conclusions 105
6 The Creation of Dependent Self-Employment in
Comparative Perspective 107
6.1 The research design 107
6.2 Dependent self-employment in the British and
Austrian insurance industry 110
6.2.1 Employment in the British and Austrian
insurance industry 110
6.2.2 The creation of dependent self-employment
in the insurance industry 115
6.2.3 The organisational logic of tied agency 132
6.2.3.1 The effects of labour law and the cost
structure 132
6.2.3.2 Managerial control, risk exposure
and industrial regulation 134
6.2.3.3 The effect of company culture 139
6.2.3.4 Motivation and productivity 140
6.3 Dependent self-employment in the Austrian
service sector 142
6.3.1 Employment trends in the Austrian service
sector 142
6.3.2 The dependent self-employed workers in the
Austrian service industry 145
Contents vii
6.3.3 Effects and consequences of dependent
self-employment 151
6.4 Dependent self-employment in the Austrian freight
industry ISS
6.4.1 Recent developments in the Austrian freight
industry ISS
6.4.2 The contractual organisation of dependent
self-employment in the Austrian freight
industry 157
6.4.3 Motives for outsourcing the fleet of trucks 158
6.4.4 Effects, risks and consequences of outsourcing 161
6.5 The creation of dependency 165
6.5.1 Dependency as a result of support 165
6.5.2 Dependency as a result of managerial control 167
6.5.3 Relational risk and mutual dependency 169
6.6 Dependency, relational contracts and the creation of
hybrid forms of organisational governance 170
6.7 Power and trust in dependent business relations 173
6.8 Conclusions 176
7 Conclusions 178
7.1 Explaining dependent self-employment: an
evaluation of the research questions 178
7.1.1 The key features of dependent business
relationships 178
7.1.1.1 The normative basis of dependent
self-employment 178
7.1.1.2 The control mechanism 179
7.1.1.3 Methods of conflict resolution 181
7.1.1.4 Tone or climate 182
7.1.1.5 Commitment 182
7.1.1.6 Degree of flexibility 183
7.1.2 The factors determining the creation of
dependent business relationships 183
7.1.2.1 Managing resource dependency 183
7.1.2.2 The influence of environmental
changes 184
7.1.2.3 The influence of institutional changes 184
7.1.2.4 The role of imitative behaviour 185
7.1.2.5 The role of organisational routines
and norms 186
7.1.2.6 The influence of the state 186
viii Contents
7.2 The borders of dependent self-employment and legal
regulation 187
7.3 Within-system diversity and mixed governance
structures 191
Notes 195
References 202
Index 213
List of Tables and Figure
Tables
2.1 Annual average growth rates of self-employment and
total civilian employment 19
2.2 Self-employment in some EU countries, 1995-2005 20
4.1 Dependent self-employment in Austria (2001) 55
4.2 Further characteristics of dependent self-employed
workers in Austria (2001) 58
4.3 Summary statistics by employment status (British
Labour Force Survey) 59
4.4 Employment status, t -1 and t (row percentages) 62
4.5 Estimated risk of self-employment and dependent
self-employment (multinomiallogit) 63
4.6 Descriptive statistics of the sample (Italian Labour Force
Survey) 68
4.7 Estimated risk of being self-employed or being an
employee in comparison to being a collaborator 71
4.8 Estimated risk of being employed or self-employed in
comparison to being a collaborator 72
4.9 Transitions between three different labour market statuses 75
4.10 Probit estimation of the likelihood to work at time t
(work = I, unemployed = 0) 76
4.11 Estimated risk of being self-employed or being an
employee in comparison to being a collaborator 77
5.1 Efficient governance of transactions 84
5.2 Combinations of ownership and governance regimes
that define four organisational forms 90
5.3 Key features of various governance structures 95
6.1 Number of employees in the Austrian insurance sector 111
6.2 Number of employees in the UK insurance sector (Two
digit SIC 1992: 66) 114
6.3 Number of employees in the UK insurance sector
(Microcensus, two digit SIC 1992: 66) 114
6.4 Sources of new regular premiums in the British
long-term insurance business (total individual regular
premiums) 126
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