The social construction of market relationships in the British temporary work industry

Inter-firm relationships between temporary work agencies and clients have recently been under academic scrutiny due to the problems associated with their construction and governance. The problems centre on imbalances of power within the supply chain. Clients are now imposing new forms of contracting on agencies that appear on the surface to advantage agencies but in reality advantage clients. Using a socio-constructionist lens, the article theorises that small to medium sized agencies can alter market forces using outcome, cultural and normative controls and competence trust. The aim of the control attempt is to improve agency performance. The article theorises that market forces are malleable to the actions of weak small to medium sized firms. These conceptual findings are encapsulated in a testable model for future researchers.

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