Governments, airlines and employees: an evolving relationship from 1940 to 2010

Abstract

Although lateral hiring (LH) has increasingly come to characterize today's global labor market, past studies have largely overlooked how the practice unfolds as industry structure evolves. This article draws on the human capital theory to examine the evolution of LH and skills formations in the global airline industry from 1940 to 2010. This historical narrative identifies and distinguishes four distinct phases (i.e. golden, human-factor, embryonic and ‘war for talent’) that shed light on the changes in the industry facilitated by deregulation and liberalization. The phases also elucidate the processes and factors that precipitate the fundamental shift from government-funded to employer-funded and then to largely employee-funded training that has emerged to characterize the industry. The implications and contributions to management history are examined.

Keywords::

• global airline industry
• human capital
• skills
• globalization
• lateral hiring

Acknowledgements

The preliminary version of this article was presented at the 39th Annual Conference of the Academy of International Business (UK and Ireland Chapter). I am extremely grateful to the participants for their comments and suggestions.

Disclosure

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Amankwah-Amoah

Joseph Amankwah-Amoah is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) of Management at Bristol University. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Wales Swansea (2010). His research interests include organizational failure, global business strategy, lateral hiring and the airline and solar PV industries. He has published articles in journals such as International Journal of HRM, Business History, Group & Organization Management, Journal of Business Research, Thunderbird International Business Review and Journal of General Management.