A symbolic framing of exploitative firms: evidence from Japan
Symbols can be used to mask or embellish firms' exploitative labor practices. The present study defines exploitative firms' abuse of symbolic management using legitimate symbolic terminologies to embellish their demanding working conditions as symbolic framing and examines it in the Japane...
| Published in: | Journal of business ethics |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer
2024
|
| In: |
Journal of business ethics
Year: 2024, Volume: 190, Issue: 3, Pages: 589-605 |
| Further subjects: | B
Topic modeling
B Aufsatz in Zeitschrift B Exploitative firms B Recruitments B Symbolic management B Symbolic framing |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Symbols can be used to mask or embellish firms' exploitative labor practices. The present study defines exploitative firms' abuse of symbolic management using legitimate symbolic terminologies to embellish their demanding working conditions as symbolic framing and examines it in the Japanese context. Because of strong social criticism for exploitative practices, firms are under pressure to avoid giving an exploitative impression to stakeholders, particularly job seekers in recruitment. This study argues that exploitative firms respond to these pressures by embellishing their descriptions of the hard-working conditions at the firm, using certain symbolic expressions. To test this argument, this study examined recruitment advertising of 1238 Japanese firms between 2006 and 2017 and analyzed their ideal candidate profile (ICP) statement - a description of personal attributes that align with the firms' working conditions - based on topic modeling. The results showed that exploitative firms tend to frame their working conditions in the ICP statement as "challenging work," which acknowledges the demanding work environment but frames it positively. This tendency was strengthened for firms with younger employees. The results provide the current literature with new insights regarding the dark side of symbolic management. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1573-0697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of business ethics
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05404-1 |