A substantial body of literature links precarious employment with increased exposure to occupational hazards and adverse OHS outcomes. While a majority of these studies has found that precarious work has adverse effects on OHS outcomes, findings are more mixed with regard to temporary employment (the focus of this study), and there are still many gaps in the research that have yet to be addressed. Various models have been proposed in an attempt to explain the causal mechanisms behind the health effects of precarious employment. However, relatively few studies have empirically investigated these mechanisms. There is also a dearth of research on the effects of precarious work on OHS outcomes in parts of the service sector, such as hospitality, despite the fact that these industries make extensive use of precarious work arrangements. Further, few studies have been based on international comparative data (and even fewer where the focus has been on a particular industry). This thesis seeks to address these gaps by investigating OHS outcomes of hotel workers engaged under different employment arrangements in Ireland and Australia. There are two principle objectives to the study. The first is to examine OHS outcomes, while the second is to test and refine the Quinlan, Mayhew and Bohle (2001) Three Factor Model in an attempt to explain the links between health and precarious employment. It also aims to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms by which these factors interact to influence outcomes. This study defines and tests a health and injury structural model. The structural equation modelling techniques employed have not been used in previous studies in this area and provide a clearer portrayal of the complex relationships between the many variables affecting the OHS of precarious employees in the hotel industry. The OHS outcomes range from exposure to occupational violence and stress to a wide variety of debilitating physical ailments. This research also highlights several indirect or spillover effects of precarious employment. The inconsistencies between both locations are mainly regarding perceived job security, economic and reward pressures and lack of control over working hours. Despite these differences, there are basic similarities between the locations that are important.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/258626 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | McNamara, Maria, Organisation & Management, Australian School of Business, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Organisation & Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright McNamara Maria., http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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