IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rnd/arjebs/v10y2018i1p207-216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Biographical and Human Resource Management Predictors of Union Membership Engagement of Low- and Middle-Income Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Molefe Jonathan Maleka

Abstract

In this study, the researcher investigated the biographical and human resource management (HRM) predictors of union membership. The literature reviewed revealed that there is little research on this topic in the South African context. The literature reviewed also showed that males, permanent employees, employees who are less committed, who have a level of quality of work-life (QWL) and engagement, and those who are satisfied are more likely to be unionized. A cross-sectional survey design was used to address the research questions. One thousand questionnaires were distributed and 874 were completed by the respondents at Marabastad Mall in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM) in South Africa. The study results showed that employment status was the highest predictor ( -1.782, p<0.05) of union membership, and gender and job satisfaction were not predictors of union members. This study had managerial implications, in the sense that when hiring employees on a part-time basis, having employees who are committed and offering employees QWL (i.e. excellent fringe benefits) will impact negatively on union membership. In terms of policymakers, the study revealed that developing remuneration policies that are pro-employee (i.e. offering excellent working conditions and fringe benefits) would make them satisfied, possibly be productive, and they would engage less in counterproductive industrial actions like strikes, which in South Africa are the amongst highest in the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Molefe Jonathan Maleka, 2018. "The Biographical and Human Resource Management Predictors of Union Membership Engagement of Low- and Middle-Income Workers," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 207-216.
  • Handle: RePEc:rnd:arjebs:v:10:y:2018:i:1:p:207-216
    DOI: 10.22610/jebs.v10i1(J).2103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/jebs/article/view/2103/1595
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/jebs/article/view/2103
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22610/jebs.v10i1(J).2103?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. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2013. "Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(1), pages 169-197, January.
    2. Freeman, Richard B, 1978. "Job Satisfaction as an Economic Variable," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 135-141, May.
    3. Patrice Laroche, 2016. "A Meta-Analysis of the Union–Job Satisfaction Relationship," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 709-741, December.
    4. Wilmar Schaufeli & Marisa Salanova & Vicente González-romá & Arnold Bakker, 2002. "The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 71-92, March.
    5. Olivier Compte & Philippe Jehiel, 2010. "Bargaining and Majority Rules: A Collective Search Perspective," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(2), pages 189-221, April.
    6. C. Jeffrey Waddoups, 2014. "Union Membership and Job-Related Training: Incidence, Transferability, and Efficacy," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(4), pages 753-778, December.
    7. Michael E. Gordon & Angelo S. Denisi, 1995. "A Re-Examination of the Relationship between Union Membership and Job Satisfaction," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(2), pages 222-236, January.
    8. Crawford Charman & Ann L. Owen, 2014. "Collective happiness: labour union membership and life satisfaction," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(13), pages 924-927, September.
    9. Miracle Ntuli & Prudence Kwenda, 2014. "Labour unions and wage inequality among African men in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 322-346, March.
    10. George J. Borjas, 1979. "Job Satisfaction, Wages, and Unions," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 14(1), pages 21-40.
    11. Umakrishnan Kollamparambil, 2017. "Impact of internal in-migration on income inequality in receiving areas: A district level study of South Africa," Working Papers 113, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    12. Tove Helland Hammer & Ariel Avgar, 2005. "The Impact of Unions on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Turnover," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 26(2), pages 241-266, January.
    13. David G. Blanchflower, 2007. "International Patterns of Union Membership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 1-28, March.
    14. Bob Mason & Peter Bain, 1993. "The Determinants of Trade Union Membership in Britain: A Survey of the Literature," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(2), pages 332-351, January.
    15. Sarkar, Santanu, 2012. "Determinants of employees’ attitudes toward union membership in India," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 240-250.
    16. Molefe Jonathan Maleka & Cecile Schultz & Lize van Hoek & Leigh-Anne Paul Dachapalli & Suzette Ragadu, 2017. "Measuring employee engagement of low-income workers either working at or visiting Marabastad Mall in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 9(5), pages 74-82.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Molefe Jonathan Maleka & Ilze Swarts & Magdeline Mmako, 2018. "Happiness Index for Human Resource Management Practitioners Associated with the Professional Body," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(5), pages 297-305.
    2. M. J. Maleka & C. M. Schultz & L. Hoek & L. Paul-Dachapalli & S. C. Ragadu, 2021. "Union Membership as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Living Wage, Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 621-640, September.
    3. Michael David Maffie, 2022. "The global ‘hot shop’: COVID‐19 as a union organising catalyst," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 207-219, May.

    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. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson & Colin Green, 2022. "Trade unions and the well‐being of workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 255-277, June.
    2. M. J. Maleka & C. M. Schultz & L. Hoek & L. Paul-Dachapalli & S. C. Ragadu, 2021. "Union Membership as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Living Wage, Job Satisfaction and Employee Engagement," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(3), pages 621-640, September.
    3. Patrice Laroche, 2016. "A Meta-Analysis of the Union–Job Satisfaction Relationship," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(4), pages 709-741, December.
    4. Goerke, Laszlo, 2020. "Unions and Workers' Well-being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 726, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Ioulia Bessa & Andy Charlwood & Danat Valizade, 2021. "Do Unions Cause Job Dissatisfaction? Evidence from a Quasi‐Experiment in the United Kingdom," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 251-278, June.
    6. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    7. C Green & J S Heywood, 2010. "Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting," Working Papers 615292, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    8. Crawford Charman & Ann L. Owen, 2014. "Collective happiness: labour union membership and life satisfaction," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(13), pages 924-927, September.
    9. White, Michael & Bryson, Alex, 2018. "HPWS in the Public Sector: Are There Mutual Gains?," IZA Discussion Papers 11965, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Colin P. Green & John S. Heywood, 2015. "Dissatisfied Union Workers: Sorting Revisited," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 580-600, September.
    11. David G. Blanchflower & Alex Bryson, 2020. "Now Unions Increase Job Satisfaction and Well-being," NBER Working Papers 27720, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Barry, Michael & Bryson, Alex & Gomez, Rafael & Kaufman, Bruce E. & Lomas, Guenther & Wilkinson, Adrian, 2018. "The," IZA Discussion Papers 11860, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Christian Grund & Andreas Schmitt, 2013. "Works councils, wages and job satisfaction," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 299-310, January.
    14. Goerke, Laszlo & Huang, Yue, 2022. "Job satisfaction and trade union membership in Germany," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Artz, Benjamin & Heywood, John S., 2020. "Unions, Worker Participation and Worker Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 705, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    16. Alex Bryson & Lorenzo Cappellari & Claudio Lucifora, 2010. "Why So Unhappy? The Effects of Unionization on Job Satisfaction," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 72(3), pages 357-380, June.
    17. Michael Barry & Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Bruce Kaufman & Guenther Lomas & Adrian Wilkinson, 2018. "The ''Good Workplace'': The Role of Joint Consultative Committees, Unions and HR policies in Employee Ratings of Workplaces in Britain," DoQSS Working Papers 18-08, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    18. Benjamin Artz, 2012. "Does the Impact of Union Experience on Job Satisfaction Differ by Gender?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(2), pages 225-243, April.
    19. Andrew E. Clark, 2018. "Four Decades of the Economics of Happiness: Where Next?," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(2), pages 245-269, June.
    20. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.

    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:rnd:arjebs:v:10:y:2018:i:1:p:207-216. 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: Muhammad Tayyab (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ojs.amhinternational.com/index.php/jebs .

    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.