145191 20260410135823.0 doi 10.1177/0143831X241273044 sideral 139965 ART-2025-139965 eng Bretos, Ignacio Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-4941-2028 Crafting alternative work organisations: Paradoxes of workplace democracy and emancipation in worker-buyout cooperatives 2025 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Drawing on an interpretative study primarily based on two waves of interviews, the authors traced two cooperativisation experiences over 10 years from an actor-centred approach. The shift to worker ownership did not automatically lead to workplace democratisation and workers’ emancipation. Indeed, the early development of the cooperativisation experiences was marked by internal conflict and worker-owners’ dissatisfaction. Over time, a paradoxical alternative workplace was consolidated, in which worker-owners’ emancipation was ultimately sustained through the exploitation of non-member employees. The study makes a twofold contribution to the cooperativisation literature. First, it moves beyond utopian or sceptical perspectives to provide a more nuanced view of worker-buyout co-ops, emphasising the paradoxical nature of their emancipatory potential. Second, the study’s longitudinal analysis of co-ops formed out of financially sound firms, rather than bankrupted ones, advances knowledge of the diversity of cooperativisation experiences and the mechanisms that contribute to the longevity and sustainability of worker-buyout coops. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess All rights reserved http://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/ 2.3 2024 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR 19 / 52 = 0.365 2024 Q2 T2 1.106 2024 Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous) 2024 Q1 Strategy and Management 2024 Q1 Management of Technology and Innovation 2024 Q1 Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management 2024 Q2 5.0 2024 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion Ridley-Duff, Rory Wren, David 4012 650 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Direcc.Organiza.Empresas Área Organización de Empresas 46, 4 (2025), 1002–1030 Econ. ind. democr. ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY 0143-831X 426767 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/145191/files/texto_completo.pdf Postprint 1775595 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/145191/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Postprint oai:zaguan.unizar.es:145191 articulos driver 2026-04-10-13:53:50 ARTICLE