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Escaping (into) the night: Organizations and work at night

Müller, Monika LU (2020) In Organization Studies 41(8). p.1101-1122
Abstract
Despite the increasing normalization of nightwork, organizational researchers typically study organizations and work as daytime phenomena. A nocturnal lens, nevertheless, can provide a different picture of what is going on in organizations. In this paper, I introduce nightwork into organization studies with a qualitative case study of two research sites (a factory and a hospital laboratory), and analyse employee experiences at night and responses to differences between night- and dayshifts. This study contributes to literature on agency and escape, highlighting that night enables and encourages escape in ways that differ from those during the day. Moreover, the study shows that while employees can ‘escape into the night’ to avoid daytime... (More)
Despite the increasing normalization of nightwork, organizational researchers typically study organizations and work as daytime phenomena. A nocturnal lens, nevertheless, can provide a different picture of what is going on in organizations. In this paper, I introduce nightwork into organization studies with a qualitative case study of two research sites (a factory and a hospital laboratory), and analyse employee experiences at night and responses to differences between night- and dayshifts. This study contributes to literature on agency and escape, highlighting that night enables and encourages escape in ways that differ from those during the day. Moreover, the study shows that while employees can ‘escape into the night’ to avoid daytime rules and pressures, many also need to ‘escape from the night’ and the physical and mental exhaustion nightwork entails. The paper concludes by pointing to further research on night in organizations, nightwork and escape. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
agency, control, deviant behaviours, escape, night, nightwork, nocturnal mindsets
in
Organization Studies
volume
41
issue
8
pages
22 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85064594307
ISSN
1741-3044
DOI
10.1177/0170840619830138
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4aa2cf04-7c0a-4ade-b84e-3c94b9a83cc4
date added to LUP
2019-04-18 07:33:24
date last changed
2022-04-25 22:51:17
@article{4aa2cf04-7c0a-4ade-b84e-3c94b9a83cc4,
  abstract     = {{Despite the increasing normalization of nightwork, organizational researchers typically study organizations and work as daytime phenomena. A nocturnal lens, nevertheless, can provide a different picture of what is going on in organizations. In this paper, I introduce nightwork into organization studies with a qualitative case study of two research sites (a factory and a hospital laboratory), and analyse employee experiences at night and responses to differences between night- and dayshifts. This study contributes to literature on agency and escape, highlighting that night enables and encourages escape in ways that differ from those during the day. Moreover, the study shows that while employees can ‘escape into the night’ to avoid daytime rules and pressures, many also need to ‘escape from the night’ and the physical and mental exhaustion nightwork entails. The paper concludes by pointing to further research on night in organizations, nightwork and escape.}},
  author       = {{Müller, Monika}},
  issn         = {{1741-3044}},
  keywords     = {{agency; control; deviant behaviours; escape; night; nightwork; nocturnal mindsets}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1101--1122}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{Organization Studies}},
  title        = {{Escaping (into) the night: Organizations and work at night}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0170840619830138}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0170840619830138}},
  volume       = {{41}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}