Abstract
This study examines how Brexit reshaped the institutional foundations of European Works Councils (EWCs). Using historical institutionalism, the analysis conceptualises Brexit as a critical juncture that revealed and accelerated existing institutional dynamics. Drawing on 64 company cases, including 16 in-depth studies, it identifies five developmental outcomes – stability, limitation, exclusion, extinction and innovation/expansion. Most EWCs maintained stability through negotiated adaptation, while others experienced limitations, exclusion or innovation. Outcomes were mainly influenced by management strategies and orientations, national employment relations systems and transnational employee coordination. The findings show how macro-level institutional disruptions translate into negotiated meso-level institutional recomposition.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
