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METHODS AND THEORY
Edited by Bernd Brandl, Bengt Larsson,
Alex Lehr, and Oscar Molina
Employment Relations
as Networks
Traditional approaches in the wide field of employment relations are
focused on a small and clearly delineated set of actors, such as trade
unions and employers’ organizations, operating within the constraints
given by formal, nationally confined institutions. It is becoming increas-
ingly clear that traditional approaches are insufficiently able to account
for employment relations processes and outcomes in a world wherein
formal institutions are being rapidly transformed and partially dis-
solved, national boundaries become porous, and the sheer number of
actors involved is increasing substantially. A shift in perspective is neces-
sary, past the nationally bounded actor-institution dichotomy, towards
an understanding of employment relations as fundamentally mediated
by complex and emergent networks that connect a multitude of actors
within and between countries.
This volume provides a seminal starting point for such a paradigm
shift by applying theories and methodologies from social network analy-
sis to the study of employment relations. It develops a theoretical toolkit
of mechanisms that operate within networks and shape employment
relations processes and outcomes, such as wages, labour market policies,
and labour conflicts. It brings together insights from various projects
that investigate the structure, functioning, and impact of networks in
employment relations through quantitative and qualitative methods. It
will be of particular interest to students and scholars of employment
relations across business and management, economics, political science,
and sociology disciplines, as well as those interested in social networks.
Managers, trade unions, employers’ organizations, and state authorities
at national and international levels will find it helpful in understanding
how networks shape their world.
Bernd Brandl is a Professor at Durham University Business School. In
his research he is dealing with methodological, empirical, and theoretical
research questions in the fields of employment relations and international
HRM. In particular, much of his thematic and theoretical research is
focused on comparative cross-country analyses of different employment
relations and labour market systems, institutions, and policies. Professor
Brandl is also engaging in policy-making debates and worked as an advi-
sor/expert for international organizations such as the European Commis-
sion and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Bengt Larsson is a Professor of Sociology at Linnaeus University and
University of Gothenburg in Sweden. His research focuses on industrial
relations and transnational trade union cooperation. Larsson has pub-
lished several papers in journals such as European Journal of Industrial
Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Economic and Indus-
trial Democracy, and Industrial Relations Journal. Together with Pro-
fessor Bengt Furåker, Larsson recently published a book entitled Trade
Union Cooperation in Europe: Patterns, Conditions, Issues (Palgrave
Pivot, 2020).
Alex Lehr is an Assistant Professor in empirical political science at Rad-
boud University. His research is at the intersection of sociology, econom-
ics, and political science, and focuses on economic inequality, employment
relations, and labour market representation. He specializes in the devel-
opment and synthesis of micro-level theories, and the collection and
statistical analyses of novel micro-level data, e.g., via surveys and experi-
ments. Lehr has published papers in journals such as Work, Employment
and Society, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Employee Relations,
Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, and Rationality
and Society.
Oscar Molina is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociol-
ogy and researcher at Centre d’Estudis Sociològics QUIT – Institute for
Labour Studies, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He holds a degree
in Economics (Pompeu Fabra University) and a PhD in Social and Polit-
ical Science at the European University Institute (EUI-Florence). He has
been post-doctoral researcher at the Industrial Relations and Human
Resources Group, University College Dublin (2005–2007) and ICREA
researcher at QUIT, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and currently
coordinator of Eurofound’s national correspondent team in Spain. His
main research interests include comparative industrial relations, labour
market policies, and neo-corporatism.
Routledge Research in Employment Relations
Series editors: Rick Delbridge and Edmund Heery
Cardiff Business School, UK.
Aspects of the employment relationship are central to numerous courses
at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Drawing from insights from industrial relations, human resource
management and industrial sociology, this series provides an alternative
source of research-based materials and texts, reviewing key develop-
ments in employment research.
Books published in this series are works of high academic merit,
drawn from a wide range of academic studies in the social sciences.
47. The Professionalization of Human Resource Management
Personnel, Development, and the Royal Charter
Ruth Elizabeth Slater
48. Contemporary Work and the Future of Employment in Developed
Countries
Edited by Peter Holland and Chris Brewster
49. Work and Labor Relations in the Construction Industry
Edited by Dale Belman, Janet Druker and Geoffrey White
50. Employment, Trade Unionism and Class
The Labour Market in Southern Europe since the Crisis
Gregoris Ioannou
51. Contemporary Employers’ Organizations
Adaptation and Resilience
Edited by Leon Gooberman and Marco Hauptmeier
52. Employment Relations as Networks
Methods and Theory
Edited by Bernd Brandl, Bengt Larsson, Alex Lehr, and Oscar Molina
Employment Relations
as Networks
Methods and Theory
Edited by Bernd Brandl,
Bengt Larsson, Alex Lehr,
and Oscar Molina
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Bernd Brandl, Bengt
Larsson, Alex Lehr, Oscar Molina; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Bernd Brandl, Bengt Larsson, Alex Lehr, and Oscar
Molina to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 9780367646547 (hbk)
ISBN: 9780367646677 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003125730 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003125730
Typeset in Sabon
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
List of Contributors xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
1 Introduction 1
BERND BRANDL, BENGT LARSSON, ALEX LEHR, AND OSCAR MOLINA
PART 1
Methodological and conceptual issues 11
2 Social Network Employment Research: Tracing New
Horizons in the Field of Work and Labour 13
VALERIA PULIGNANO
3 Concepts and Methodologies in SNA: Implications
for Employment Relations Research 27
JOEL MARTÍ, MATTIA VACCHIANO, AND OSCAR MOLINA
4 Multilevelness and Multiplexity in Trade Union
Cooperation Networks in Europe 41
BENGT LARSSON
5 From Structures to Outcomes: Network Mechanisms
and Network Effects in Collective Bargaining 62
ALEX LEHR
6 From Factors to Actors: Networks and Network
Theory in Comparative Industrial Relations 80
BERND BRANDL
viii Contents
PART 2
Case studies and applications 95
7 The Impact of Network Ties on Worker Voice 97
RODERICK SLUITER, KATERINA MANEVSKA, AND AGNES AKKERMAN
8 Losing What You Never Had: How a Strike Changed
Management’s (Perception of Their) Network Position 123
AGNES AKKERMAN, KATERINA MANEVSKA, KIRSTEN THOMMES,
AND RODERICK SLUITER
9 Articulation of Interests: A Network Perspective on Employee
Representation in Multinational Companies 136
THOMAS HAIPETER, MARKUS HERTWIG, AND SOPHIE ROSENBOHM
10 Forms of Network Governance for the European
Trade Union Federations 156
PATRIK NORDIN
11 International Networks and the Activities of Peak Employers’
Associations: Do As I Do? 177
BERND BRANDL AND ALEX LEHR
12 How to Expand the Role of Employers in Firm
Networks?: Lessons from Collective Bargaining
with the Property of Outlet Malls in Italy 195
STEFANO GASPARRI
13 Collective Bargaining Networks and Relational
Coordination: A Comparative Analysis 217
OSCAR MOLINA, JOEL MARTÍ, AND ALEJANDRO GODINO
14 Conclusions and Outlook: Structures, Actors
and Mechanisms in Employment Relations 244
BERND BRANDL, BENGT LARSSON, ALEX LEHR, AND OSCAR MOLINA
Index 256
Figures
3.1 Different types of nodes 31
3.2 Different types of ties 31
3.3 Different types of networks 32
3.4 Actor centralities 34
3.5 Network centralisation 35
4.1 Generalised map of levels of trade union cooperation 45
4.2 Trade union network in metal sector 48
4.3 Interconnectedness between interorganisational
and interpersonal networks 49
5.1 Union and firm player proposals over time, loess
regression lines (N = 5365) 73
5.2 Mean questionnaire responses of negotiators on
importance of information about other collective
agreement negotiations, standard deviations in brackets
(N = 97 [lowest] – 116 [highest]) 75
5.3 Predicted probabilities for the range of observed scores
on the proximate conflict spillover scale 76
8.1 The workplaces and the cleaners working in them 125
8.2 Private communication network before the strike 128
8.3 Private communication after the strike 129
8.4 Work related communication before the strike 129
8.5 Work related communication after the strike 130
9.1 Typology of articulation patterns and case study companies 142
13.1 Contact networks in the pharma industry 229
13.2 Communities (subgroups) in the contact networks
of pharma 231
13.3 Co-attendance networks from affiliation data
(complete view, weighted data) 232
13.4 Co-attendance networks from affiliation data
(reduced view, simplified & binary data) 233
13.5 Contact networks in the retail sector 236
13.6 Communities (subgroups) in the contact network 238
