IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/eurjou/v29y2023i3p243-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The social policy preferences of EU employers’ organizations: An exploratory analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Igor Guardiancich
  • Andrea Terlizzi
  • David Natali

Abstract

Despite decades of European social dialogue, little is known about the social policy preferences of EU employers’ organizations (EEOs). Building on the literature on industrial relations and the role of business in welfare state development, this article explores the preferences of key EEOs (BusinessEurope, SGI Europe and SMEunited) in vocational education and training (VET), active and passive labour market policies, pensions and work–family reconciliation. Software-based qualitative content analysis of 75 position papers and 19 joint declarations, triangulated with four elite semi-structured interviews, is employed to assess employers’ preferences along four national and two European dimensions. Largely in line with the power resources theory, EEOs favour cost containment and social investment, by strengthening labour market flexicurity and reducing skills mismatches through VET. Conflicting logics of membership and influence guide the actions of EEOs: members are wary of legislation impinging on national social policy traditions; yet, greater European assertiveness makes lobbying efforts unavoidable.

Suggested Citation

  • Igor Guardiancich & Andrea Terlizzi & David Natali, 2023. "The social policy preferences of EU employers’ organizations: An exploratory analysis," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(3), pages 243-269, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:3:p:243-269
    DOI: 10.1177/09596801231153928
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09596801231153928
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09596801231153928?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. Elizabeth Cotton & Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick, 2012. "Global Unions as imperfect multilateral organizations: An international relations perspective," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 33(4), pages 707-728, November.
    2. Susanne Pernicka & Vera Glassner & Nele Dittmar & Klaus Neundlinger, 2021. "Forces of reproduction and change in collective bargaining: A social field perspective," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(3), pages 345-363, September.
    3. Ferrera, Maurizio, 2005. "The Boundaries of Welfare: European Integration and the New Spatial Politics of Social Protection," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199284672.
    4. Marius R Busemeyer & Martin B Carstensen & Patrick Emmenegger, 2022. "Orchestrators of coordination: Towards a new role of the state in coordinated capitalism?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(2), pages 231-250, June.
    5. Stephanie Meinhard & Niklas Potrafke, 2012. "The Globalization–Welfare State Nexus Reconsidered," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 271-287, May.
    6. Paster, Thomas, 2015. "Bringing power back in: A review of the literature on the role of business in welfare state politics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 15/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Franz Traxler, 1996. "European trade union policy and collective bargaining- mechanisms and levels of labour market regulation in comparison," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 2(2), pages 287-297, June.
    8. Chiara Saraceno & Wolfgang Keck, 2011. "Towards an integrated approach for the analysis of gender equity in policies supporting paid work and care responsibilities," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 25(11), pages 371-406.
    9. Barbara Bechter & Sabrina Weber & Manuela Galetto & Bengt Larsson & Thomas Prosser, 2021. "Opening the black box: Actors and interactions shaping European sectoral social dialogue," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(3), pages 269-288, September.
    10. 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.
    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. Scharpf, Fritz W., 2007. "Reflections on multilevel legitimacy," MPIfG Working Paper 07/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Kenworthy, Lane, 2000. "Quantitative indicators of corporatism: A survey and assessment," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Potrafke, Niklas, 2013. "Globalization and labor market institutions: International empirical evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 829-842.
    4. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01019642, HAL.
    5. 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.
    6. Dorte Sindbjerg Martinsen & Gabriel Pons Rotger, 2017. "The fiscal impact of EU immigration on the tax-financed welfare state: Testing the ‘welfare burden’ thesis," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(4), pages 620-639, December.
    7. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:44:y:2006:i::p:845-864 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00639906, HAL.
    9. Diesenreiter, Carina & Österle, August, 2021. "Patients as EU citizens? The implementation and corporatist stakeholders’ perceptions of the EU cross-border health care directive in Austria," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(11), pages 1498-1505.
    10. Loukas Tsoukalis, 2006. "The JCMS Lecture: Managing Diversity and Change in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Francesca Modena & Fabio Sabatini, 2012. "I would if I could: precarious employment and childbearing intentions in Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 77-97, March.
    12. Thibault Darcillon, 2013. "What Causes Labor-Market Volatility? The Role of Finance and Welfare State Institutions," Post-Print halshs-00881198, HAL.
    13. Isaac K. Ofori & Mark K. Armah & Emmanuel E. Asmah, 2021. "Towards the Reversal of Poverty and Income Inequality Setbacks Due to COVID-19: The Role of Globalisation and Resource Allocation," Working Papers 21/043, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    14. Krzywdzinski, Martin & Gerst, Detlef & Butollo, Florian, 2022. "Promoting human-centred AI in the workplace. Trade unions and their strategies for regulating the use of AI in Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-1.
    15. Gaston, Noel & Rajaguru, Gulasekaran, 2013. "International migration and the welfare state revisited," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 90-101.
    16. Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2012. "Globalization and gender equality in the course of development," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 399-413.
    17. Hemerijck, Anton & Eichhorst, Werner, 2009. "Whatever Happened to the Bismarckian Welfare State? From Labor Shedding to Employment-Friendly Reforms," IZA Discussion Papers 4085, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Andreas Bergh & Anders Kärnä, 2022. "Correction to: Globalization and populism in Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 193-199, July.
    19. Tomasz Serwach, 2022. "The European Union and within-country income inequalities. The case of the New Member States," Working Papers hal-03548416, HAL.
    20. repec:ocp:ppaper:pb1819 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 11065, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    22. Ana Filipa Pinto & Hermínia Gonçalves, 2023. "European Tendencies of Territorialization of Income Conditional Policies to Insertion: Systematic and Narrative Review," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eurjou:v:29:y:2023:i:3:p:243-269. 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: .

    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.