Temporary Employment, Permanent Stigma? Perceptions of Temporary Agency Workers Across Low- and High-Skilled Jobs

Pia Cardone; Markus Tümpel; Christian M. Huber

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.17.3.01

Authors

Pia Cardone Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3724-280X
Markus Tümpel Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7233-5502
Christian M. Huber Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1168-3495

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.17.3.01

Keywords:

employment status, intergroup relations, skill-level, stigma, temporary agency workers

Abstract

Research on temporary agency work emphasizes that temporary agency workers (TAWs), particularly those in low-skilled jobs associated with precariousness and low social prestige, are likely to be exposed to poor treatment, as well as stigmatization. On the contrary, stigmatization of TAWs in high-skilled jobs has not been treated in much detail in previous studies. Literature provides an incomplete picture of stigmatization within the broader field of temporary employment regarding the focus on low-skilled jobs. Hence, the present qualitative study is based on data from interviews of a heterogeneous sample of TAWs employed in low- and high-skilled jobs in Germany. By using and modifying Boyce and colleagues’ (2007) model of stigmatization, the study shows that stigmatizing treatment towards TAWs occurs across all skill levels, although the intensity and form of those experiences, as well as coping strategies, differ. Thereby, this study contributes to a more differentiated and skill level-specific understanding of how TAWs perceive and cope with stigmatization linked to their employment status. It also provides an important opportunity to advance Boyce and colleagues’ (2007) complex model of TAW stigmatization with empirical underpinnings.

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Author Biographies

Pia Cardone, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Pia Cardone is a research associate of Organization Studies at the Professorship of Organization and International Management at the Chemnitz University of Technology. Her main research areas include social inequality, effects of intraorganizational figurations, and processes of in- and exclusion in organizations. Her research follows an interdisciplinary approach, represented in publications and conference contributions in the fields of sport sociology, migration, and management research. She currently defended her doctoral thesis titled Social Inequality in Organizations—Empirical Studies on the Emergence and Reproduction of Social Inequality in Organizational Contexts.

Markus Tümpel, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Markus Tümpel is a research associate at the Chemnitz University of Technology at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration. He completed an MA in Sociocultural Studies and is currently working on his Ph.D. His fields of research are self-employment and precariousness, participation, deviance, and alternative forms of organization. He recently co-authored a study on participation practices in German cooperatives.

Christian M. Huber, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Christian M. Huber is a research associate and a Ph.D. Candidate at the Chair of Organization and International Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. He received his M.Sc. in Management and Organization Studies from Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. His research interests include environmental, as well as social sustainability in organizations.

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