I conduct research in the general area of organization theory, which is a multidisciplinary social science domain focused on understanding organizational structures and activities. Within that general area, my work falls into two broad, inter-related streams. One stream examines how changes spread across organizations, and a second stream documents the impacts of changing organizational practices on individual workers. Below are summaries of my major publications in each stream of research.

Changes in organizational fields. In this stream of research, I investigate the processes through which companies and other types of organizations adopt new practices, particularly when those practices are associated with contention or controversy in society. My work in this area contributes to theories of inter-organizational diffusion, institutional change, and social movements. Projects examine changes in social responsibility practices, including workforce diversity policies and supplier conduct codes. My first paper in this area, Briscoe and Safford (2008 ASQ), considered how contention around a new practice affects its adoption and diffusion through inter-organizational networks. Analyzing the diffusion of domestic partner benefits among U.S. Fortune 500 firms, that paper introduced the “Nixon in China effect,” stating that while contention creates a barrier for mainstream adoption, that barrier is overcome when those that are viewed as conservative or activism-resistant switch sides to adopt the practice.

Building on that work, Briscoe and Murphy (2012 ASQ) examined how transparency versus opacity in the implementation of controversial practices affects their diffusion. Further exploring the connection between contention and diffusion, Briscoe, Gupta and Anner (2015 ASQ) developed and tested theory about how different social activist tactics affect inter-organizational learning and practice diffusion. A running theme throughout this work is the importance of distinguishing between the effects of activism on local organizational targets versus the effects on wider organizational fields; for example, the same contentious activism may produce local change while also creating a barrier to wider acceptance and diffusion. In a recent review paper (Briscoe and Gupta 2016 Annals), we continued this theme while taking stock of the expanding body of research on social activism in and around organizations, paying particular attention to the effects of activism on practice adoption and diffusion. I have also developed a statistical software module (for STATA) that has been used in my research and by other scholars in this area to implement heterogeneous diffusion models.

Recently, with collaborators, I have also moved this stream of research in a new direction by considering the role of political beliefs (on the liberalism versus conservatism spectrum) in understanding how managers and organizations respond to contentious practices. Briscoe, Chin and Hambrick (2014 AMJ) explored how a CEO’s political beliefs affect the dynamics between his or her company and social activists seeking to influence organizational practices. A related paper, Gupta, Briscoe and Hambrick (2016 SMJ) explored how political beliefs among an organization’s employees affect the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

Effects of changing organizational practices on workers. My second stream of research broadly considers the consequences of changing organizational practices for employees and workers, including their earnings, promotions, work-life flexibility, and other labor market outcomes. Reflecting the shift toward more professional and service work in the global economy, my research in this area focuses on professional workers, including physicians, lawyers, engineers and I.T. workers. My initial papers in this area, Briscoe (2006 ILRR) and Briscoe (2007 Org Sci), examined how new organizational arrangements affected the employment and work-life flexibility of professional workers. Those papers explored the consequences of increasing bureaucratic formalization for physicians, documenting surprising positive links to work-life flexibility and employment outcomes. Subsequent studies attended to the consequences of other changing organizational practices, including the use of independent contracting arrangements (instead of regular employment) (Bidwell and Briscoe 2009 AMJ; Briscoe, Sawyer and Wardell 2011 ILRR), and greater inter-organizational worker mobility (instead of longer-term attachment to a single employer) (Bidwell and Briscoe 2010 Org Sci). I also coauthored a review article (Bidwell, Briscoe, Fernandez-Mateo and Sterling 2013 Annals) taking stock of what we know about how employment practices have changed recently, and the effects of those changes on inequality among workers.

In recent years, I expanded this second stream of research to incorporate a focus on workplace relationships, including both supervisory relationships as well as collaborative peer relationships. Professional work often involves complex project-based collaborations. Hence these studies examine how the effects of organizational practices on employees depend on the employee’s workplace relationships. Briscoe and Kellogg (2011 ASR) examined how the effects of employees using reduced-hours work benefits depend on their relationships with powerful supervisors. Interestingly, those relationships stemming from earlier in the employee’s career mattered more than relationships present at the time of benefit use. Further exploring the effects of workplace collaborative relationships and changing organizational practices, Briscoe and Tsai (2011 ASQ) investigated the consequences of collaboration patterns that surface during organizational merger and acquisition events. Briscoe and von Nordenflycht (2014 JPO) explored the determinants of resource sharing within workplace peer collaborations, and Briscoe and Rogan (2016 Mgmt Sci) considered the performance of larger peer collaboration networks. Across these studies, I have developed techniques for using project co-billing data from professional service organizations to capture and analyze workplace relationships.