The Labour Market Regimes of Denmark and Norway: - a parting of the Ways

Beskrivelse

The literature on the Danish and Norwegian labor market systems emphasizes the commonalities of the two systems. We challenge this perception by investigating how employers in MNCs in Denmark and Norway communicate with employees on staffing changes. We argue that the development of “flexicurity” in Denmark grants Danish employers considerably greater latitude in engaging in staffing changes than its Nordic counterpart, Norway. Institutional theory leads us to suppose that large firms located in the Danish setting will be less likely to engage in employer-employee communication on staffing plans than their Norwegian counterparts. In addition we argue that in the Danish context indigenous firms will have a better insight into the normative and cognitive aspects to flexicurity than foreign-owned firms, meaning that they are more likely to engage in institutional entrepreneurialism than their foreign-owned counterparts. We supplement institutional theory with an actor perspective in order to take into account the role of labor unions. Our analysis is based on a survey of 203 firms in Norway and Denmark which are either indigenous multinational companies (MNCs) or the subsidiaries of foreign MNCs. The differences we observe cause us to conclude that the notion of a common Nordic model is problematic.

Periode	22 jun. 2013
Begivenhedstitel	European ILERA Conference
Begivenhedstype	Konference
Konferencenummer	10
Placering	Amsterdam, HollandVis på kort