Corporate Downsizing and Restructuring in the United States

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Abstract

SES-0961129 PI: Matissa Hollister Institution: Dartmouth College The proposed project will make innovative use of a unique dataset, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission EEO-1 reports from 1971 to the present, to examine the economic and social factors behind the rise and spread of downsizing and restructuring as well as the social consequences of these practices. The project will test six competing theories behind the spread of downsizing and restructuring. The project will also examine whether downsizing and restructuring has had a disproportionate impact by race and/or gender and whether these practices contributed to the stagnation of improvements in employment outcomes by race in the 1980s. The analysis will provide insights into organizational behavior and on how new practices emerge and diffuse, as well as the impact of these organizational behaviors on social stratification outcomes. Broader Impacts The results will have several implications for public policy. The study may identify new strategies for addressing the negative impacts of downsizing and restructuring. The analysis by race and gender may further point to the need for new employment policies.