IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ozl/journl/v18y2015i2p205-237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Isolating the Determinants of Temporary Agency Worker Use by Firms: An Analysis of Temporary Agency Workers in Australian Aged Care

Author

Listed:
  • Genevieve Knight

    (Flinders University)

  • Zhang Wei

    (Flinders University)

Abstract

Despite a reasonable amount of literature on firms’ reasons for using agency workers we contend that the firms which are users of agency workers are not well understood. Temporary agency work is interesting in the context of understanding the functioning of labour markets. Temporary agency work is of particular interest in Australia which already has a high level of casual employment offering employers considerable flexibility in managing their workforce by other means. We use a unique Australian employer survey in an industry with a higher than usual share of agency workers in the constrained worker supply context, to highlight and explore the differentiating features between those firms that do and do not use agency workers. The analysis enables better identification of the economic conditions under which firms use agency workers. We gain insight into aspects of the aged care sector that encourage temporary agency worker usage by firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Genevieve Knight & Zhang Wei, 2015. "Isolating the Determinants of Temporary Agency Worker Use by Firms: An Analysis of Temporary Agency Workers in Australian Aged Care," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 18(2), pages 205-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:18:y:2015:i:2:p:205-237
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ftprepec.drivehq.com/ozl/journl/downloads/AJLE182knight.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Drago & Mark Wooden & David Black, 2009. "Who Wants and Gets Flexibility? Changing Work Hours Preferences and Life Events," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(3), pages 394-414, April.
    2. Rodriguez, Eunice, 2002. "Marginal employment and health in Britain and Germany: does unstable employment predict health?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 963-979, September.
    3. ,, 2003. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 691-705, August.
    4. Susan N. Houseman, 2001. "Why Employers Use Flexible Staffing Arrangements: Evidence from an Establishment Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(1), pages 149-170, October.
    5. Francesconi, Marco & L. Booth, Alison & Frank, Jeff, 2000. "Temporary jobs: who gets them, what are they worth, and do they lead anywhere?," ISER Working Paper Series 2000-13, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. John Purcell & Kate Purcell & Stephanie Tailby, 2004. "Temporary Work Agencies: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 705-725, December.
    7. ,, 2003. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 225-228, February.
    8. Garth Mangum & Donald Mayall & Kristin Nelson, 1985. "The Temporary Help Industry: A Response to the Dual Internal Labor Market," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 38(4), pages 599-611, July.
    9. Chris Forde & Gary Slater, 2005. "Agency Working in Britain: Character, Consequences and Regulation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 249-271, June.
    10. Elke J. Jahn & Jan Bentzen, 2012. "What Drives the Demand for Temporary Agency Workers?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 26(3), pages 341-355, September.
    11. Yukako Ono & Daniel Sullivan, 2013. "Manufacturing Plants' Use of Temporary Workers: An Analysis Using Census Microdata," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 419-443, April.
    12. Edward P. Lazear, 1990. "Job Security Provisions and Employment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 699-726.
    13. Sebastian Nielen & Alexander Schiersch, 2014. "Temporary Agency Work and Firm Competitiveness: Evidence from German Manufacturing Firms," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 365-393, July.
    14. Beckmann, Michael & Kuhn, Dieter, 2009. "Temporary agency work and firm performance : evidence from German establishment-level panel data," Working papers 2009/01, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    15. Commission, Productivity, 2011. "Caring for older Australians," Inquiry Reports, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia, number 53, July.
    16. Alfred Kleinknecht & Remco Oostendorp & Menno Pradhan & C. W. M. Naastepad, 2006. "Flexible Labour, Firm Performance and the Dutch Job Creation Miracle," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(2), pages 171-187.
    17. Abraham, Katharine G & Taylor, Susan K, 1996. "Firms' Use of Outside Contractors: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 394-424, July.
    18. Connell, J & Burgess, J, 2002. "In search of flexibility: Implications for temporary agency workers and human resource management," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 28(4), pages 272-283.
    19. Alex Bryson, 2013. "Do temporary agency workers affect workplace performance?," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 131-138, April.
    20. Levine, David I, 1991. "Just-Cause Employment Policies in the Presence of Worker Adverse Selection," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(3), pages 294-305, July.
    21. ,, 2003. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(5), pages 879-883, October.
    22. ,, 2003. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(6), pages 1195-1198, December.
    23. René Böheim & Mark P. Taylor, 2003. "Option Or Obligation? The Determinants Of Labour Supply Preferences In Britain," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 71(2), pages 113-131, March.
    24. Brenda A. Lautsch, 2002. "Uncovering and Explaining Variance in the Features and Outcomes of Contingent Work," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(1), pages 23-43, October.
    25. Elizabeth George, 2003. "External Solutions and Internal Problems: The Effects of Employment Externalization on Internal Workers' Attitudes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 386-402, August.
    26. David H. Autor, 2003. "Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-42, January.
    27. Hajo Holst & Oliver Nachtwey & Klaus Doerre, 2010. "The Strategic Use of Temporary Agency Work – Functional Change of a Non-standard Form of Employment," International Journal of Action Research, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 6(1), pages 108-138.
    28. Hakansson, Kristina & Isidorsson, Tommy & Kantelius, Hannes, 2013. "Stable Flexibility – Long-term Strategic Use of Temporary Agency Workers in Sweden," International Journal of Action Research, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 9(3), pages 278-300.
    29. ,, 2003. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 411-413, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David A Brown & Nelson Ma & Jin Sug Yang & Nicole Sutton & Gillian McAllister & Deborah Parker & Olivia Rawlings-Way & Rachael L Lewis, 2023. "The impact of business model workforce configurations on value creation and value appropriation in the Australian aged care sector," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(3), pages 495-523, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Schiersch, 2015. "TFP, Labor Productivity and the (Un)observed Labor Input: Temporary Agency Work," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1532, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    2. Schiersch, Alexander, 2016. "Considering the (Un)observed: temporary agency work in productivity estimations," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145749, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Sebastian NIELEN & Alexander SCHIERSCH, 2016. "Productivity in German manufacturing firms: Does fixed-term employment matter?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 155(4), pages 535-561, December.
    4. George, Elizabeth. & Chattopadhyay, Prithviraj., 2015. "Non-standard work and workers : organizational implications," ILO Working Papers 994883083402676, International Labour Organization.
    5. Elizabeth George & Prithviraj Chattopadhyay & Carmen Kaman Ng, 2016. "The relationship between workgroup blending and perceived organizational inducements: The mediating roles of tasks and relationships," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 41(3), pages 538-562, August.
    6. Elizabeth George & Prithviraj Chattopadhyay & Lida L. Zhang, 2012. "Helping Hand or Competition? The Moderating Influence of Perceived Upward Mobility on the Relationship Between Blended Workgroups and Employee Attitudes and Behaviors," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 355-372, April.
    7. Alejandro Micco & Pablo Muñoz-Henríquez, 2018. "The Impact of Extended Employment Protection Laws on the Demand for Temporary Agency Workers," Working Papers wp463, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    8. Aleksynska, Mariya, 2018. "Temporary employment, work quality, and job satisfaction," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 722-735.
    9. Coyle-Shapiro, Jacqueline & Morrow, Paula & Kessler, Ian, 2006. "Serving two organizations : exploring the employment relationship of contracted employees," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 2665, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Simon Lloyd D. Restubog & Matthew J. Hornsey & Prashant Bordia & Sarah R. Esposo, 2008. "Effects of Psychological Contract Breach on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Insights from the Group Value Model," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 1377-1400, December.
    11. Stirpe, Luigi & Bonache, Jaime & Revilla, Antonio, 2014. "Differentiating the workforce: The performance effects of using contingent labor in a context of high-performance work systems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(7), pages 1334-1341.
    12. Ulrich Lichtenthaler & Holger Ernst & Martin Hoegl, 2010. "Not-Sold-Here: How Attitudes Influence External Knowledge Exploitation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(5), pages 1054-1071, October.
    13. Mehralian, Gholamhossein & Rasekh, Hamid Reza & Akhavan, Peyman & Ghatari, Ali Rajabzadeh, 2013. "Prioritization of intellectual capital indicators in knowledge-based industries: Evidence from pharmaceutical industry," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 209-216.
    14. Yakut, Oguz, 2021. "Implementation of hydraulically driven barrel shooting control by utilizing artificial neural networks," Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 1206-1223.
    15. X. Qin & G. Huang, 2009. "An Inexact Chance-constrained Quadratic Programming Model for Stream Water Quality Management," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(4), pages 661-695, March.
    16. Md. Yousuf Gazi & Khandakar Tahmida Tafhim, 2019. "Investigation of Heavy-mineral Deposits Using Multispectral Satellite Imagery in the Eastern Coastal Margin of Bangladesh," Earth Sciences Malaysia (ESMY), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 3(2), pages 16-22, October.
    17. Wang, Xiufang & Yu, Haiyan & Li, Gang & Gao, Jinmei, 2019. "Hybrid finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory schemes with linear central reconstructions," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 359(C), pages 132-147.
    18. Billionnet, Alain, 2011. "Solving the probabilistic reserve selection problem," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(3), pages 546-554.
    19. Dario Bauso & Quanyan Zhu & Tamer Başar, 2016. "Decomposition and Mean-Field Approach to Mixed Integer Optimal Compensation Problems," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 169(2), pages 606-630, May.
    20. Jiao, Zhenhua & Tian, Guoqiang & Chen, Songqing & Yang, Fei, 2016. "The blocking lemma and group incentive compatibility for matching with contracts," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 65-71.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Temporary agency workers; Labour demand; Forms of employment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ozl:journl:v:18:y:2015:i:2:p:205-237. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sandie Rawnsley (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/becurau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.