IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v31y2017i2p284-301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chinese employer associations, institutional complementarity and countervailing power

Author

Listed:
  • Judith Shuqin Zhu

    (The University of Newcastle, Australia)

  • Chris Nyland

    (Monash University, Australia)

Abstract

Prior to 2011 the China Enterprise Confederation (CEC) was the only employer association recognized by China’s government. Drawing on interviews with staff from employer associations, employers and state officials, this study clarifies the role of Chinese employer associations, with the focus being on the CEC. The study finds that the Confederation is a quasi-state agency that undertakes many of the activities conducted by employer associations in developed economies. It also finds that the demise of the CEC’s monopolization of employer representation can be attributed to its inability to act as an agent of countervailing power and its inability to sustain a complementary relationship with the social partners that are suited to the newly emergent employment relationship being constructed in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Judith Shuqin Zhu & Chris Nyland, 2017. "Chinese employer associations, institutional complementarity and countervailing power," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(2), pages 284-301, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:31:y:2017:i:2:p:284-301
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017016643480
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950017016643480
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0950017016643480?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang Kai & William Brown, 2013. "The transition from individual to collective labour relations in C hina," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(2), pages 102-121, March.
    2. Peter Sheldon & Raoul Nacamulli & Francesco Paoletti & David E. Morgan, 2016. "Employer Association Responses to the Effects of Bargaining Decentralization in Australia and Italy: Seeking Explanations from Organizational Theory," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 160-191, March.
    3. Schmitter, Philippe C. & Streeck, Wolfgang, 1999. "The organization of business interests: Studying the associative action of business in advanced industrial societies," MPIfG Discussion Paper 99/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2004. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 04/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    5. Chang-Hee Lee & William Brown & Xiaoyi Wen, 2016. "What Sort of Collective Bargaining Is Emerging in China?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 214-236, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Thomas Breda, 2024. "Empirical challenges in the study of employer associations and their representativeness," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 483-510, June.
    2. Caleb Goods & Bradon Ellem, 2023. "Employer associations: Climate change, power and politics," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(2), pages 481-503, May.
    3. Horen Voskeritsian & Andreas Kornelakis & Panos Kapotas & Michail Veliziotis, 2022. "United we stand? Marketization, institutional change and employers’ associations in crisis," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 685-704, May.
    4. Leon Gooberman & Marco Hauptmeier & Edmund Heery, 2018. "Contemporary Employer Interest Representation in the United Kingdom," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(1), pages 114-132, February.
    5. Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Lisa Sezer & Virginia Doellgast, 2023. "Coordination versus organization: Diverging logics of firm cooperation in Denmark and Sweden," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 526-549, September.
    6. Kenworthy, Lane, 2000. "Quantitative indicators of corporatism: A survey and assessment," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01019642, HAL.
    8. Plehwe, Dieter & Schlögl, Matthias, 2014. "Europäische und zivilgesellschaftliche Hintergründe der euro(pa)skeptischen Partei Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)," Discussion Papers, Project Group Modes of Economic Governance SP III 2014-501, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    9. Tony Edwards & Paul Marginson & Anthony Ferner, 2013. "Multinational Companies in Cross-National Context: Integration, Differentiation, and the Interactions between MNCS and Nation States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(3), pages 547-587, May.
    10. Eloi Laurent & Jérôme Creel & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2005. "Delegation in Inconsistency : the 'Lisbon Strategy' Record an an Institutional Failure," Working Papers hal-00972772, HAL.
    11. In Jun & Peter Sheldon, 2006. "Looking beyond the West? The Korea Employers' Federation and the Challenges of Membership Adhesion and Cohesion," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(1), pages 203-225, September.
    12. Jasiecki Krzysztof, 2018. "The strength and weaknesses of the varieties of capitalism approach: the case of Central and Eastern Europe," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 54(4), pages 328-342, December.
    13. Ahlquist, John S. & Breunig, Christian, 2009. "Country clustering in comparative political economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 09/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    14. Buchen, Clemens, 2010. "Emerging economic systems in Central and Eastern Europe – a qualitative and quantitative assessment," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 37141, March.
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Stephen Frenkel & Karin Sanders & Tim Bednall, 2013. "Employee perceptions of management relations as influences on job satisfaction and quit intentions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 7-29, March.
    17. Johan Bo Davidsson, 2011. "An Analytical Overview of Labour Market Reforms Across the EU: Making Sense of the Variation," LABORatorio R. Revelli Working Papers Series 111, LABORatorio R. Revelli, Centre for Employment Studies.
    18. Ahrens, Joachim & Schweickert, Rainer & Zenker, Juliane, 2011. "Varieties of capitalism, governance and government spending: A cross-section analysis," PFH Forschungspapiere/Research Papers 2011/01, PFH Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen.
    19. Williams, Glynne & Davies, Steve & Lamptey, Julius & Tetteh, Jonathan, 2017. "Chinese multinationals: Threat to, or opportunity for, trade unions? The case of Sinohydro in Ghana," GLU Working Papers 46, Global Labour University (GLU).
    20. Bruno Amable, 2009. "Structural reforms in Europe and the (in)coherence of institutions," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(1), pages 17-39, Spring.
    21. Pengxin Xie & Lian Zhou, 2022. "Keeping dispute resolution internal: Exploring the role of the industrial relations climate, organizational embeddedness and organizational turbulence," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 898-917, May.

    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:sae:woemps:v:31:y:2017:i:2:p:284-301. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    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.