Three essays on voice in non-traditional employment relationships

This thesis presents three essays on voice in non-traditional employment relationships with specific focus on triangular workers. The first essay provides a systematic literature review of previous empirical research exploring the voice of workers in nontraditional employment relationships. Findings from the systematic review revealed a research lacunae in the understanding of voice of workers in triangular employment relationships. These workers, in physically mediated (temporary agencies workers) and digitally mediated (platform workers) employment arrangements, are in a precarious working state and vulnerable. Hence, the second and third paper seeks to examine the voice experiences of these category of non-traditional workers, analyse the voice mechanisms available to these workers, the issues of concern to them, the motivators/inhibitors of their voice, and the outcomes of their voice. Specifically, the second essay presents a conceptual model to depict the determinants of triangular workers’ voice, and the third essay empirically investigates triangular workers’ voice, examining the voice experience of temporary agencies workers in the banking and health sectors, and e-hailing platform drivers in Nigeria. Findings from the empirical studies indicate that in the face of deliberate managerial silencing of triangular workers, they are in constant struggle to voice. The findings further demonstrates that beyond management-initiated voice mechanisms, workers also struggle to initiate voice means. Results from the study show convergence and divergence in the forces shaping voice among variants of triangular workers studied. While few similar forces influenced the voice of both triangular workers categories, a large differential was found in how individual and organisational structural forces influence temporary agency and online co-employment platform workers’ voice. Further findings from the empirical study expands previous research by identifying voice skill, self-identity conflict, agency-ownership governance, ...