An Analytical framework for employment regulation: investigating the regulatory space

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to advance a conceptual analytical framework to help explain employment regulation as a dynamic process shaped by institutions and actors. The article builds on and advances regulatory space theory.
Design/methodology/approach: The article analyses the literature on regulatory theory and engages with its theoretical development.
Findings: The paper advances the case for a broader and more inclusive regulatory approach to better capture the reality of employment regulation. Further, the paper engages in debates about the complexity of employment regulation by adopting a multilevel perspective.
Research limitations/implications: The research proposes an analytical framework and invites future empirical investigation.
Originality/value: The paper contends that existing literature affords too much attention to a (false) regulation versus deregulation dichotomy, with insufficient analysis of other ‘spaces’ in which labour policy and regulation are formed and re-formed. In particular, the proposed framework analyses four different regulatory dimensions, combining the legal aspects of regulation with self-regulatory dimensions of employment regulation.
Article type: Conceptual paper.
Key words: regulation, regulatory space, employment relations, labour law, regulatory theory, industrial relations.