Hannon, Enda (2008) Towards an agenda for employee-centred HR research: product market trends & employment outcomes. In: British Academy of Management Human Resource Management Special Interest Group Conference: Challenges in Researching HRM; 28-29 Apr 2008, Kingston Upon Thames, UK. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Recent writing in the HR field calls for employee interests to be placed at the forefront of research agendas, yet an employee centred research programme has thus far not been developed. This paper argues that research efforts in this regard could usefully focus on the manner and extent to which sectoral characteristics and product market trends enable or constrain the achievement of ‘employment upgrading’ within a particular sector or industry. The paper builds on recent studies of the HR implications of market segmentation by presenting case study research undertaken in the English and Irish dairy processing industries. The findings show that although dairy continues to a large extent to be dominated by low wage, low skill employment, the emergence of a number of differentiation-focused market segments is leading to better job quality for a significant proportion of the industry’s workforce. It is suggested that similar research on the HR and employment consequences of product market trends should be undertaken in other industries.

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