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Converging or diverging? A comparative analysis of trends in contingent employment practice in Europe over a decade

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Abstract

This paper makes a unique contribution to the HRM convergence/divergence debate by examining whether organisations operating in Europe, over the 10-year time period preceding 2000, are converging in their adoption of contingent employment practice. The susceptibility of contingent employment practice to both convergent and divergent pressures acts as a useful analytical lens. Data are drawn from organisations operating in Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK in 1991 (2918 organisations), 1995 (2048 organisations) and 2000 (1555 organisations). The results suggest that convergence is limited by the institutional embeddedness of organisations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their positive and helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

    Olga Tregaskis

  2. Henley Management College, Henley-on-Thames, UK

    Chris Brewster

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  1. Olga Tregaskis
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Correspondence to Olga Tregaskis.

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Accepted by Mary Ann Von Glinow, Departmental Editor, 2 June 2005. This paper has been with the author for two revisions.

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Tregaskis, O., Brewster, C. Converging or diverging? A comparative analysis of trends in contingent employment practice in Europe over a decade. J Int Bus Stud 37, 111–126 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400174

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