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Employee Voice and Private Sector Workplace Outcomes in Britain, 1980-2004

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Bryson
  • Rafael Gomez
  • Tobias Kretschmer
  • P Willman

Abstract

Non-union direct voice has replaced union representative voice as the primary avenue for employee voice in the British private sector. This paper provides a framework for examining the relationship between employee voice and workplace outcomes that explains this development. As exit-voice theory predicts, voice is associated with lower voluntary turnover, especially in the case of union voice. Union voice is also associated with greater workplace conflict and poorer productivity. Nonunion voice is associated with better workplace financial performance than other voice regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Tobias Kretschmer & P Willman, 2009. "Employee Voice and Private Sector Workplace Outcomes in Britain, 1980-2004," CEP Discussion Papers dp0924, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0924
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    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp0924.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sue Fernie & David Metcalf, 2005. "Trade Unions: Resurgence or Demise?," CentrePiece - The magazine for economic performance 178, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    2. Alex Bryson & P Willman, 2006. "Accounting for Collective Action: Resource Acquisition and Mobilization in British Unions," CEP Discussion Papers dp0768, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2010. "The Wage Impact of Trade Unions in the UK Public and Private Sectors," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 77(305), pages 92-109, January.
    4. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel (ed.), 2003. "International Handbook of Trade Unions," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2705.
    5. Sandra E. Black & Lisa M. Lynch, 2001. "How To Compete: The Impact Of Workplace Practices And Information Technology On Productivity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 434-445, August.
    6. James T. Bennett & Bruce E. Kaufman, 2004. "What Do Unions Do?: A Twenty-Year Perspective," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 339-350, July.
    7. Alex Bryson & Paul Willman & Rafael Gomez & Tobias Kretschmer, 2007. "Employee Voice and Human Resource Management: An Empirical Analysis using British Data," PSI Research Discussion Series 27, Policy Studies Institute, UK.
    8. Stephen Machin & Stephen Wood, 2005. "Human Resource Management as a Substitute for Trade Unions in British Workplaces," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(2), pages 201-218, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2015. "Trading Partners and Trading Volumes: Implementing the Helpman–Melitz–Rubinstein Model Empirically," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(1), pages 93-105, February.
    2. Santos Silva, Joao & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2009. "On the existence of the maximum likelihood estimates for Poisson regression," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 25504, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Santos Silva, J.M.C. & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2011. "Further simulation evidence on the performance of the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 220-222, August.
    4. Alex Bryson & John Forth, 2010. "Trade Union Membership and Influence 1999-2009," CEP Discussion Papers dp1003, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employee voice; trade unions; productivity; industrial action; quits; labor-management relations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs

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