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Employee Satisfaction in Labor-Owned and Managed Workplaces: Helping Climate and Participation Spillover to Non-Owners

Author

Listed:
  • Renée De Reuver

    (Human Resource Studies, School of Social and Behavioral Science, Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

  • Brigitte Kroon

    (Human Resource Studies, School of Social and Behavioral Science, Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

  • Damian Madinabeitia Olabarria

    (Faculty of Engineering, Mondragon University, 20500 Arrasate, Spain)

  • Unai Elorza Iñurritegui

    (Faculty of Engineering, Mondragon University, 20500 Arrasate, Spain)

Abstract

In contrast to shareholder-owned organizations, worker-owned cooperative organizations foster employee wellbeing such as employee satisfaction as an important outcome by itself. Due to expansions and economic fluctuations, larger worker-owned cooperations nowadays use mixtures of employment contracts resulting in varying shares of co-owners, contracted and temporary employees in workplaces. In the current paper, we research if this situation challenges the moral commitment of worker cooperatives to their employees, which derive from the cooperative philosophy on corporate responsibility. Where previous research contrasted employee wellbeing in worker cooperatives with share- holder owner organizations, this paper describes how various shares of co-owners in workplaces change mediating processes of helping climate and workplace participation and ultimately result in different levels of employee satisfaction. Archival data combined with survey data of 5907 employees in 99 hypermarkets were tested with multivariate analyses, and indicated that the helping climate and workplace participation positively mediated the association between the share of co-owners in hypermarkets and employee satisfaction. The findings imply that traditional worker-owned cooperatives, where a majority of all workers are owners, had more success in fostering cooperative values as a strategic outcome.

Suggested Citation

  • Renée De Reuver & Brigitte Kroon & Damian Madinabeitia Olabarria & Unai Elorza Iñurritegui, 2021. "Employee Satisfaction in Labor-Owned and Managed Workplaces: Helping Climate and Participation Spillover to Non-Owners," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-14, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3278-:d:517992
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Burdín, Gabriel & Dean, Andrés, 2012. "Revisiting the objectives of worker-managed firms: An empirical assessment," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 158-171.
    2. Andrew Pendleton & Nicholas Wilson & Mike Wright, 1998. "The Perception and Effects of Share Ownership: Empirical Evidence from Employee Buy-Outs," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 99-123, March.
    3. Burdín, Gabriel & Dean, Andrés, 2009. "New evidence on wages and employment in worker cooperatives compared with capitalist firms," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 517-533, December.
    4. Aaron A. Buchko, 1993. "The Effects Of Employee Ownership On Employee Attitudes: An Integrated Causal Model And Path Analysis," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 633-657, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Boczkowska & Konrad Nizio³ek & El¿bieta Roszko-Wójtowicz, 2022. "A multivariate approach towards the measurement of active employee participation in the area of occupational health and safety in different sectors of the economy," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(4), pages 1051-1085, December.

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