Koen Van Laer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4368502 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Koen Van Laer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Koen |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Laer |
| SIGNATURE | VAN LAER K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hasselt University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0945-3685 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 86 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Hegemonic stabilization through framing contests
The aim of this study is to examine how framing contests around prefigurative alternative organizations unfold over time and how they shape the terms through which such initiatives are evaluated in media discourse. We do so through a framing analysis of media coverage of NewB, an ethical and co-operative bank founded in Belgium in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, examining how journalists, regulators, financial experts, and incumbent…
Intersectionality and equality policies in Higher Education and Research organizations
The notion of intersectionality is increasingly used to theorize inequalities within Higher Education and Research (HE&R) organizations. However, its translation into effective equality policies remains underexplored. This critical scoping review of 76 scientific articles identifies three main approaches to intersectionality in the literature on HE&R equality policies. The first approach (N = 50) captures persisting underrepresentation of interse…
Toward a critical study of boundaries in and around organizations
This introduction to the Special Issue makes the political implications of boundaries in and around organizations the central locus of inquiry. It explores the experiences and interests of those who encounter marginalization and exclusion through processes of boundary drawing. Next to introducing the individual papers of the Special Issue and identifying overlapping themes across them, we highlight opportunities to inspire future research on the …
Facing the facts of the Gaza genocide
As a collective, Organization has a strong commitment to exposing and challenging domination and oppression, to amplifying scholarly activism, and to standing in solidarity with the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the Indigenous peoples of the world. Therefore, we cannot remain silent observers of the genocide in Gaza, of the oppression of the Palestinian people, and of the political, academic and organizational systems that are complicit in it.…
Exploring the politics of linguistic difference
While linguistic difference has been identified as an organizational source of disadvantage for migrants, the construction of language requirements in relation to which these differences emerge has rarely been examined. Yet, this is key to understand the politics of difference. Taking a social constructionist approach and relying on the concept of the ideal worker, this article analyzes a case study of an organization that hires migrants for jobs…
Fragmented Capital and (the Loss of) Control over Posted Workers
Based on the case of a Belgian meat processing company that relies on posted workers employed by two subcontractors, this study investigates how posting affects client capital's ability to control labour. Analysed through a Labour Process Theory lens, the findings reveal that posting fragments capital and substantially reduces the client firm's control over workers' effort and mobility power. This is due to the low-cost, temporary nature of posti…
Disabling organizational spaces
Adopting a Lefebvrian perspective that draws attention to the connection between space and power, this study aims to contribute to the organizational literature by offering an in-depth understanding of the processes through which organizational spaces can disable employees with impairments and contribute to the unequal power relations between disabled and non-disabled employees. Based on 65 interviews, it shows how organizational spaces can disab…
The role of co-workers in the production of (homo)sexuality at work
Adopting a Foucauldian perspective that focuses on the way power contributes to ensuring that sexuality leads a discursive existence, this study investigates the role of co-workers in the production of gay and lesbian employees’ sexuality. Drawing on interviews with 31 employees who self-identify as gay or lesbian, this article makes three contributions to the literature on sexual minorities’ identities at work. First, it shows how the production…
Agency of ethnic minority employees
Going beyond recent studies emphasizing the ‘successful’ nature of ethnic minorities’ agency, this qualitative study offers an in-depth analysis of the tensions and contradictions inherent to ethnic minority employees’ agency. To conceptualize agency, we draw on the resistance literature and adopt the notion of struggle, which stresses the dynamic and often contradictory interplay between power and resistance in everyday experiences and actions. …
Collecting Narratives and Writing Stories of Diversity
Drawing on the personal accounts of researchers of diversity, this chapter discusses the praxis of doing qualitative diversity research. First, it discusses how during a process of socialization, researchers are exposed to norms which promote certain research practices important to achieve the status of ‘good academic’. Second, it discusses the ambiguous and unstable power and identity dynamics characterizing qualitative research on diversity. Th…
Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace
This qualitative study aims to explore the processes underlying subtle discrimination in the workplace. Based on 26 in-depth interviews with minority professionals of Turkish or Maghrebi descent in Flanders, we argue that subtle discrimination in the workplace is characterized by three important elements. First, subtle discrimination is ambiguous, and often involves disempowerment through apparent empowering behavior. Second, subtle discriminatio…
Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace
This qualitative study aims to explore the processes underlying subtle discrimination in the workplace. Based on 26 in-depth interviews with minority professionals of Turkish or Maghrebi descent in Flanders, we argue that subtle discrimination in the workplace is characterized by three important elements. First, subtle discrimination is ambiguous, and often involves disempowerment through apparent empowering behavior. Second, subtle discriminatio…
The role of co-workers in the production of (homo)sexuality at work
Adopting a Foucauldian perspective that focuses on the way power contributes to ensuring that sexuality leads a discursive existence, this study investigates the role of co-workers in the production of gay and lesbian employees’ sexuality. Drawing on interviews with 31 employees who self-identify as gay or lesbian, this article makes three contributions to the literature on sexual minorities’ identities at work. First, it shows how the production…
Fragmented Capital and (the Loss of) Control over Posted Workers
Based on the case of a Belgian meat processing company that relies on posted workers employed by two subcontractors, this study investigates how posting affects client capital's ability to control labour. Analysed through a Labour Process Theory lens, the findings reveal that posting fragments capital and substantially reduces the client firm's control over workers' effort and mobility power. This is due to the low-cost, temporary nature of posti…
Exploring the politics of linguistic difference
While linguistic difference has been identified as an organizational source of disadvantage for migrants, the construction of language requirements in relation to which these differences emerge has rarely been examined. Yet, this is key to understand the politics of difference. Taking a social constructionist approach and relying on the concept of the ideal worker, this article analyzes a case study of an organization that hires migrants for jobs…
Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace
This qualitative study aims to explore the processes underlying subtle discrimination in the workplace. Based on 26 in-depth interviews with minority professionals of Turkish or Maghrebi descent in Flanders, we argue that subtle discrimination in the workplace is characterized by three important elements. First, subtle discrimination is ambiguous, and often involves disempowerment through apparent empowering behavior. Second, subtle discriminatio…
Collecting Narratives and Writing Stories of Diversity
Drawing on the personal accounts of researchers of diversity, this chapter discusses the praxis of doing qualitative diversity research. First, it discusses how during a process of socialization, researchers are exposed to norms which promote certain research practices important to achieve the status of ‘good academic’. Second, it discusses the ambiguous and unstable power and identity dynamics characterizing qualitative research on diversity. Th…
Agency of ethnic minority employees
Going beyond recent studies emphasizing the ‘successful’ nature of ethnic minorities’ agency, this qualitative study offers an in-depth analysis of the tensions and contradictions inherent to ethnic minority employees’ agency. To conceptualize agency, we draw on the resistance literature and adopt the notion of struggle, which stresses the dynamic and often contradictory interplay between power and resistance in everyday experiences and actions. …
The role of co-workers in the production of (homo)sexuality at work
Adopting a Foucauldian perspective that focuses on the way power contributes to ensuring that sexuality leads a discursive existence, this study investigates the role of co-workers in the production of gay and lesbian employees’ sexuality. Drawing on interviews with 31 employees who self-identify as gay or lesbian, this article makes three contributions to the literature on sexual minorities’ identities at work. First, it shows how the production…
Disabling organizational spaces
Adopting a Lefebvrian perspective that draws attention to the connection between space and power, this study aims to contribute to the organizational literature by offering an in-depth understanding of the processes through which organizational spaces can disable employees with impairments and contribute to the unequal power relations between disabled and non-disabled employees. Based on 65 interviews, it shows how organizational spaces can disab…
Exploring the politics of linguistic difference
While linguistic difference has been identified as an organizational source of disadvantage for migrants, the construction of language requirements in relation to which these differences emerge has rarely been examined. Yet, this is key to understand the politics of difference. Taking a social constructionist approach and relying on the concept of the ideal worker, this article analyzes a case study of an organization that hires migrants for jobs…
Fragmented Capital and (the Loss of) Control over Posted Workers
Based on the case of a Belgian meat processing company that relies on posted workers employed by two subcontractors, this study investigates how posting affects client capital's ability to control labour. Analysed through a Labour Process Theory lens, the findings reveal that posting fragments capital and substantially reduces the client firm's control over workers' effort and mobility power. This is due to the low-cost, temporary nature of posti…
Facing the facts of the Gaza genocide
As a collective, Organization has a strong commitment to exposing and challenging domination and oppression, to amplifying scholarly activism, and to standing in solidarity with the oppressed, the dispossessed, and the Indigenous peoples of the world. Therefore, we cannot remain silent observers of the genocide in Gaza, of the oppression of the Palestinian people, and of the political, academic and organizational systems that are complicit in it.…
Hegemonic stabilization through framing contests
The aim of this study is to examine how framing contests around prefigurative alternative organizations unfold over time and how they shape the terms through which such initiatives are evaluated in media discourse. We do so through a framing analysis of media coverage of NewB, an ethical and co-operative bank founded in Belgium in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, examining how journalists, regulators, financial experts, and incumbent…
Intersectionality and equality policies in Higher Education and Research organizations
The notion of intersectionality is increasingly used to theorize inequalities within Higher Education and Research (HE&R) organizations. However, its translation into effective equality policies remains underexplored. This critical scoping review of 76 scientific articles identifies three main approaches to intersectionality in the literature on HE&R equality policies. The first approach (N = 50) captures persisting underrepresentation of interse…
Toward a critical study of boundaries in and around organizations
This introduction to the Special Issue makes the political implications of boundaries in and around organizations the central locus of inquiry. It explores the experiences and interests of those who encounter marginalization and exclusion through processes of boundary drawing. Next to introducing the individual papers of the Special Issue and identifying overlapping themes across them, we highlight opportunities to inspire future research on the …
Sociology (6 works) · Gender Diversity and Inequality (5 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (4 works) · Epistemology (3 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Social Psychology (3 works)