IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v43y2022i4p1747-1766.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The evolving perspectives on the Chinese labour regime in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • George Ofosu

    (Centre for International Development and Environmental Research – ZEU, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Germany)

  • David Sarpong

    (College of Business, Arts & Social Sciences, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London, UK)

Abstract

This article explores the logics, persistence and evolution of perspectives on the Chinese labour regime in Africa. Studies find that Chinese firms’ labour practices engender abuse via casualisation of labour, low remuneration, and a general lack of adherence to occupational safety. Contrarian studies however demonstrate variations among Chinese firms’ labour practices as mediated by the labour dynamics of host countries, labour specificities and industrial capitalism dynamics. The article concludes by questioning the ‘talent gap’ dynamic in Africa in relation to Chinese firms’ managerial hiring practices and calls for an engaged scholarship on how Chinese investment in Africa’s human resource base is altering the ‘talent gap’ phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • George Ofosu & David Sarpong, 2022. "The evolving perspectives on the Chinese labour regime in Africa," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1747-1766, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:43:y:2022:i:4:p:1747-1766
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X211029382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X211029382
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X211029382?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
    ---><---

    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:ecoind:v:43:y:2022:i:4:p:1747-1766. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    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.