IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v62y2024i2p483-510.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empirical challenges in the study of employer associations and their representativeness

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Breda

Abstract

The article examines the quality and appropriateness of the data available to measure firms' affiliation to employer associations (EAs). We find large discrepancies in affiliation rates obtained from the five different data sources available for France, leading us in particular to discard tax data. Focusing on survey data, we show that asking managers about affiliation to EAs in general or affiliation to a list of specific EAs can lead to large differences in affiliation rates, highlighting the importance of the framing of survey questions. We then provide methods to estimate an aggregate firm‐level affiliation rate from surveys covering workplaces with 11 or more employees. Exploiting (i) conflicting survey responses regarding EA affiliation between distinct establishments in the same firm and (ii) survey responses for firms that report paying contributions to EAs in their financial statements, we finally estimate the shares of employers that wrongly declare being or not being affiliated to EAs, and provide a rate of affiliation corrected for such errors. The implications for econometric analysis of the high observed error rates are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Breda, 2024. "Empirical challenges in the study of employer associations and their representativeness," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 483-510, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:62:y:2024:i:2:p:483-510
    DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12790
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12790
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/bjir.12790?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martins, Pedro S., 2020. "What Do Employers' Associations Do?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 496, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Peter Sheldon & Raoul Nacamulli & Francesco Paoletti & David E. Morgan, 2016. "Employer Association Responses to the Effects of Bargaining Decentralization in Australia and Italy: Seeking Explanations from Organizational Theory," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 160-191, March.
    3. Thomas Amossé & Gaëtan Flocco & Josette Lefèvre & Jean-Marie Pernot & Héloïse Petit & Frédéric Rey & Michèle Tallard & Carole Tuchszirer & Catherine Vincent, 2012. "Les organisations patronales. Continuités et mutations des formes de représentation du patronat," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-00684075, HAL.
    4. Schmitter, Philippe C. & Streeck, Wolfgang, 1999. "The organization of business interests: Studying the associative action of business in advanced industrial societies," MPIfG Discussion Paper 99/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernardo Fanfani & Claudio Lucifora & Daria Vigani, 2024. "Employer associations in Italy: Trends and economic outcomes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 62(2), pages 206-232, June.
    2. Caleb Goods & Bradon Ellem, 2023. "Employer associations: Climate change, power and politics," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 44(2), pages 481-503, May.
    3. Horen Voskeritsian & Andreas Kornelakis & Panos Kapotas & Michail Veliziotis, 2022. "United we stand? Marketization, institutional change and employers’ associations in crisis," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(2), pages 685-704, May.
    4. Judith Shuqin Zhu & Chris Nyland, 2017. "Chinese employer associations, institutional complementarity and countervailing power," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(2), pages 284-301, April.
    5. Leon Gooberman & Marco Hauptmeier & Edmund Heery, 2018. "Contemporary Employer Interest Representation in the United Kingdom," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 32(1), pages 114-132, February.
    6. Christian Lyhne Ibsen & Lisa Sezer & Virginia Doellgast, 2023. "Coordination versus organization: Diverging logics of firm cooperation in Denmark and Sweden," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 526-549, September.
    7. Kevin Pineda‐Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2022. "How collective bargaining shapes poverty: New evidence for developed countries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(4), pages 895-928, December.
    8. Kenworthy, Lane, 2000. "Quantitative indicators of corporatism: A survey and assessment," MPIfG Discussion Paper 00/4, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    9. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01019642, HAL.
    10. Plehwe, Dieter & Schlögl, Matthias, 2014. "Europäische und zivilgesellschaftliche Hintergründe der euro(pa)skeptischen Partei Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)," Discussion Papers, Project Group Modes of Economic Governance SP III 2014-501, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    11. In Jun & Peter Sheldon, 2006. "Looking beyond the West? The Korea Employers' Federation and the Challenges of Membership Adhesion and Cohesion," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 17(1), pages 203-225, September.
    12. Martins, Pedro S. & Melo, António, 2024. "Making their own weather? Estimating employer labour-market power and its wage effects," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    13. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Adriana Bunea, 2015. "Sharing ties and preferences: Stakeholders’ position alignments in the European Commission’s open consultations," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(2), pages 281-299, June.
    15. Sophie Jacquot & Cornelia Woll, 2003. "Usage of European Integration - Europeanisation from a Sociological Perspective," Post-Print hal-01019642, HAL.
    16. Joost Berkhout & Jan Beyers & Marcel Hanegraaff, 2023. "The Representative Potential of Interest Groups: Internal Voice in Post-Communist and Western European Countries," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(1), pages 50-64.
    17. Marta Martínez Matute & Pedro S. Martins, 2022. "How representative are social partners in Europe? The role of dissimilarity," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(4), pages 424-444, December.
    18. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8523 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Seeliger, Martin, 2017. "Die soziale Konstruktion organisierter Interessen: Gewerkschaftliche Positionsbildung auf europäischer Ebene," Schriften aus dem Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Köln, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, volume 89, number 89.
    20. Plehwe, Dieter, 2022. "Reluctant transformers or reconsidering opposition to climate change mitigation? German think tanks between environmentalism and neoliberalism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Latest Ar, pages 1-1.
    21. Peter Sheldon & Louise Thornthwaite, 2004. "Business or Association? The Strategic Responses of Employer Associations to the Decentralisation of Bargaining in Australia," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 128-158, June.
    22. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/8528 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/8391 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Alexis Drach, 2023. "An Early Form of European Champions? Banking Clubs between European Integration and Global Banking (1960s-1990s)," Post-Print hal-04112324, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:62:y:2024:i:2:p:483-510. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.