Labour standards in the Ghanaian construction sector: an investigation of the governance landscape
International Journal of Manpower
ISSN: 0143-7720
Article publication date: 18 October 2022
Issue publication date: 1 May 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the governance of labour standards in the less-studied yet rapidly globalising Ghanaian construction sector. While incorporation into international production networks generates several opportunities for workers, the drivers of adverse incorporation originate at multiple levels of analysis. The study offers an investigation into such drivers and their interconnections.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilise a multi-scalar framework and mixed methods of analysis. Both the qualitative and multi-level quantitative analyses rely on a primary dataset collected among 30 firms and 304 respondents, through semi-structured interviews.
Findings
A composite yet unbalanced labour standards governance configuration emerges, where the absence of social governance combined with a weak role of the State leaves labour standards subject to the variegated landscape of firms' embeddedness in the sector.
Originality/value
The construction industry is acquiring ever-increasing relevance in the economic trajectory of Ghana as well as that of several other African economies, not least for its large employment generation potential. Research on the governance of labour standards in the sector is, however, largely missing. The authors argue that labour incorporation dynamics represent a complex under-investigated regulatory challenge as well as a policy-making priority. The analysis is one of the first to offer a reconstruction of the governance landscape determining the challenges workers face in the Ghanaian construction sector, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the comments received by Jun Hou; they would also like to acknowledge the help and support of Portia Adade Williams and Nana Yamoah Asafu-Adjaye without whom this project would have not been possible. Finally, the authors are grateful to the referees' comments that have much improved the work and to all the participants who gave up some of their time to participate in our study.
Citation
Masino, S., von Jacobi, N.L. and Akuffobea-Essilfie, M. (2023), "Labour standards in the Ghanaian construction sector: an investigation of the governance landscape", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 44 No. 3, pp. 543-557. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-01-2022-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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