ABSTRACT
Temporary agency workers are commonly reported to face challenges in the social dimension of job quality as existing research reflects practices of social exclusion and stigmatization. This chapter addresses the social dimension of job quality by exploring how differences in the practice of temporary agency work in different national regulatory contexts affect perceived social support for agency workers and their direct-hired counterparts. Using comparative case study design sequentially integrating qualitative and quantitative evidence from interviews, observations and employee surveys, agency workers’ and their direct-hired colleagues’ perceived support from user firm supervisor and co-workers are compared within similar manufacturing facilities of one multinational company in the contrasting regulatory contexts of Sweden and Poland. Results indicate that temporary agency workers perceived higher support from their user firm supervisor and co-workers than user’s direct-hired employees in both cases. However, differences reflecting the two regulatory contexts emerged after controlling for job characteristics and social integration. The study sheds light on social support as an essential element of the multi-dimensional and context-specific understanding of job quality, drawing attention to how its need and availability are shaped by other job characteristics in the context of TAW.
