Is Digital Technology Reshaping Employment Systems in U.S. Telecommunications Network Services?

The four major telecommunications local networks and network services-fixed wire line, wireless, cable television, and the Internet-are undergoing transformations propelled by network digitalization, service competition, and corporate consolidations. Using data from surveys conducted in 1998 and 200...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industrial & labor relations review 2009-10, Vol.63 (1), p.42-59
Main Author: Keefe, Jeffrey H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business structures
Cable television
Cable TV
Communications networks
Digital technology
Employees
Employment
Employment statistics
Experts
Institutional change
Internet
Internet service providers
Labor management relations
Labor relations
Labour relations
Local area networks
Network access lines
Networks
Segmentation
Service industry
Site visits
Technology
Telecommunications
Telecommunications industries
Telecommunications industry
Television
U.S.A
United States of America
Wireless networks
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Summary:The four major telecommunications local networks and network services-fixed wire line, wireless, cable television, and the Internet-are undergoing transformations propelled by network digitalization, service competition, and corporate consolidations. Using data from surveys conducted in 1998 and 2003, together with field interviews, site visits at major telecommunications firms, and discussions with industry experts, regulators, and analysts, the author examines how these forces reshaped technician employment systems across these formerly specialized telecommunications networks and services. The principal finding is that despite rising inter-network competition and common digital technologies, most of these networks' fundamental employment systems continued with little change. Consistent with predictions from an evolutionary perspective on institutional change, the three facilities-based networks-wireless, cable television distribution, and wire line-maintained distinctive employment systems "imprinted" by their respective institutional histories, while the Internet Service Providers exhibited fragmentation reflecting their meteoric rise and the industry's current business difficulties and uncertain future.
ISSN:0019-7939
2162-271X
DOI:10.1177/001979390906300103