Occupational Networking as Normative Control

Collegial Exchange Among Contract Professionals

Bibliographic Data

ID2361972
AuthorsDebra Osnowitz (Brandeis University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume33
Issue1
Pages12-41
Publication date2006-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWork and Occupations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0730-8884 • E-ISSN: 1552-8464
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0730888405280160
OpenAlexW2024866362
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited56

With workforce flexibility and nonstandard, 'contingent,' work have come new mechanisms for labor market mediation and workforce control. This study examines occupational connection and control in two groups of contract professionals. For these occupational practitioners, networking is a mechanism for labor market regulation as well as for finding work. Networking perpetuates occupational norms that demand commitment towork, accountability to clients, and reciprocity among colleagues. Adhering to occupational norms, contractors develop reputations that can enhance the likelihood of referrals from colleagues for contract assignments. Collegial exchange in an occupational labor market, therefore, exposes contractors to the informal sanctions of normative control

Accountability · Business · Economic growth · Economics · Labour economics · Management · Negotiation · Normative · Political science · Public relations · Sanctions · Workforce · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology