Animal roles in organizations: A framework for exploring organizational human–animal relations

Abstract

Despite the growing body of research on human–animal studies in various disciplines, attempts to systematically include animals in organization studies have been limited. In this article, we build on organizational role theory and propose a typology of five roles of animals in human organizations (i.e., animals as commodities, clients, co-workers, companions, and acquaintances) as a framework for analyzing organizational human–animal relations. The identified roles emerge as distinct categories that illuminate the varying degrees of agency afforded to animals in certain organizational settings and the extent to which human work is focused on animals. Lastly, we outline how advancing scholarly perspectives on animals in organizations requires going beyond anthropocentric and anthropomorphic perspectives and suggest various avenues for future research.