A firm's external environment and the hiring of a non-standard workforce: implications for organisations

摘要

This article empirically investigates organisations' strategic decision to hire non-standard employees. Using US firm-level data and a matched pair design, the study shows that firms operating in a more competitive environment and a less uncertain environment have a higher proportion of non-standard workers. Further, firms with a greater proportion of non-standard workers show higher financial growth. And finally, in a highly competitive environment, those firms that hire more non-standard workers achieve significantly higher financial growth. Similar growth is experienced by those firms in the low uncertainty environment hiring more non-standard workers. These results are all consistent with the research hypotheses.