Location-specific labour control strategies in online retail

Fuchs Martina (), Dannenberg Peter (), López Tatiana (), Wiedemann Cathrin () and Riedler Tim ()
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Fuchs Martina: University of Cologne Faculty of Management Economics and Social Sciences Department of Economic and Social Geography Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 http://www.wigeo.uni-koeln.de/ Cologne Germany
Dannenberg Peter: University of Cologne Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Institute of Geography Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 https://geographie.uni-koeln.de/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/anthropogeographie-stadt-und-regionalentwicklung/team/dannenberg-peter Cologne Germany
López Tatiana: WZB Berlin Social Science Center WZB Berlin Social Science Center Reichpietschufer 50 10785 https://www.wzb.eu/en/persons/tatiana-lopez-ayala Berlin Germany
Wiedemann Cathrin: University of Cologne Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Institute of Geography Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 https://geographie.uni-koeln.de/forschung/arbeitsgruppen/anthropogeographie-stadt-und-regionalentwicklung/team/wiedemann-cathrin-1 Cologne Germany
Riedler Tim: University of Cologne Faculty of Management Economics and Social Sciences Department of Economic and Social Geography Albertus-Magnus-Platz 50923 http://www.wigeo.uni-koeln.de/ Cologne Germany

ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, 2023, vol. 67, issue 4, 189-201

Abstract: Online retail is currently profoundly restructuring the working conditions in the retail sector. Existing studies generally describe the working conditions in the large warehouses of online retail as ‘digital Taylorism’. This article broadens this perspective and draws on the theoretical concept of the local labour control regime. It explores how managements’ technological and social labour control strategies vary spatially between online retail warehouses located in inner and outer metropolitan areas of the four largest German cities. The study uses qualitative methods and is mainly based on expert interviews with executives, representatives of trade unions and works councils, representatives of associations, and further experts. This study gains insights on the spatial variety of labour control and thus is relevant for international research on labour control and for practitioners’ ability to create decent and humane work.

Keywords: Online retail; e-commerce; metropolitan area; labour union; economic geography; labour geography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:zfwige:v:67:y:2023:i:4:p:189-201:n:7

DOI: 10.1515/zfw-2021-0028

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