Re-Industrialization and the Organizational Production of Occupational Risk in Taiwan

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 18: Policies and Organizations

Abstract

In recent years, several advanced economies have promoted re-industrialization strategies for national resilience, economic growth, and improved employment quality. However, the consequences of re-industrialization for workplace safety remain insufficiently examined. This paper attempts to ask: Does industrial upgrading improve occupational safety, or does it reorganize and intensify risk within the labor process? Drawing on firm-level panel data (2014–2023) from publicly listed Taiwanese companies, we examine how board governance, profitability, and R&D intensity relate to occupational injury incidence. Using two-way fixed effects models, the analysis reveals three key findings. First, independent directors are associated with lower injury rates, suggesting that governance reform can provide baseline protection. Second, this protective effect weakens significantly in highly profitable firms, indicating that governance mechanisms operate conditionally under growth pressure. Third, firms with higher R&D intensity exhibit higher occupational injury rates, particularly when combined with strong financial performance. These findings challenge the assumption that technological upgrading naturally improves labor conditions. Instead, innovation and profitability appear to intensify production pressures and organizational complexity, increasing worker vulnerability. Re-industrialization thus generates a paradox: governance reform and technological advancement coexist with heightened occupational risk. By situating workplace safety within organizational complexity, resource dependence, and growth imperatives, this study contributes to the sociology of work and organizations by reconceptualizing occupational injury as structurally embedded in contemporary industrial regimes.

Authors

• Chung-pei Pien, National Chengchi University

• Ya-chu Hsu, National Chengchi University