IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v66y2013i3p696-722.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Union Status and Double-Breasting at Multinational Companies in Three Liberal Market Economies

Author

Listed:
  • J. Ryan Lamare
  • Patrick Gunnigle
  • Paul Marginson
  • Gregor Murray

Abstract

The relationships among employee representation, formal union status, and employer strategies within and across institutional regimes offer a variegated landscape in the context of globalization. Key questions remain as to the relative weight of macro- and micro-level influences on union status at subsidiaries of multinational companies (MNCs). This study analyzes data gathered through coordinated surveys of MNC subsidiaries in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom and tests the extent to which union status and double-breasting depend on home-country variation, host-country influences, and particular organizational characteristics. The authors find support for a combination of effects on both union status and double-breasting. Further analyses test explicit variations on union status within each host context and support arguments that effects depend on the particularities of national industrial relations regimes.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Ryan Lamare & Patrick Gunnigle & Paul Marginson & Gregor Murray, 2013. "Union Status and Double-Breasting at Multinational Companies in Three Liberal Market Economies," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(3), pages 696-722, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:66:y:2013:i:3:p:696-722
    DOI: 10.1177/001979391306600306
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979391306600306
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979391306600306?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. Richard Disney & Amanda Gosling & Stephen MacHin, 1995. "British Unions in Decline: Determinants of the 1980s Fall in Union Recognition," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 48(3), pages 403-419, April.
    2. Richard B. Freeman & Morris M. Kleiner, 1990. "Employer Behavior in the Face of Union Organizing Drives," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(4), pages 351-365, July.
    3. Anthony Ferner & Phil Almond & Trevor Colling & Tony Edwards, 2005. "Policies on Union Representation in US Multinationals in the UK: Between Micro‐Politics and Macro‐Institutions," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 703-728, December.
    4. Paul Marginson & Paul Edwards & Tony Edwards & Anthony Ferner & Olga Tregaskis, 2010. "Employee Representation and Consultative Voice in Multinational Companies Operating in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 151-180, March.
    5. Chris Riddell, 2004. "Union Certification Success under Voting versus Card-Check Procedures: Evidence from British Columbia, 1978–1998," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(4), pages 493-517, July.
    6. David B. Lipsky & Henry S. Farber, 1976. "The Composition of Strike Activity in the Construction Industry," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 29(3), pages 388-404, April.
    7. Richard Freeman & Jeffrey Pelletier, 1990. "The Impact of Industrial Relations Legislation on British Union Density," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 141-164, July.
    8. Heinz-Josef Tüselmann & Frank McDonald & Arne Heise & Matthew M. C. Allen & Svitlana Voronkova, 2007. "Employee Relations in Foreign-Owned Subsidiaries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-59200-1.
    9. Heinz-Josef Tüselmann & Frank McDonald & Arne Heise & Matthew M. C. Allen & Svitlana Voronkova, 2007. "Employee Relations in Multinational Companies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Employee Relations in Foreign-Owned Subsidiaries, chapter 3, pages 25-36, Palgrave Macmillan.
    10. Mike Geppert & Karen Williams & Dirk Matten, 2003. "The Social Construction of Contextual Rationalities in MNCs: An Anglo‐German Comparison of Subsidiary Choice," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 617-641, May.
    11. Tony Royle, 2006. "The Dominance Effect? Multinational Corporations in the Italian Quick‐Food Service Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(4), pages 757-779, December.
    12. Ferner, Anthony & Quintanilla, Javier & Varul, Matthias Z., 2001. "Country-of-origin effects, host-country effects, and the management of HR in multinationals: German companies in Britain and Spain," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 107-127, July.
    13. Chris Forde, 2005. "Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Work and Organization," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 19(4), pages 826-827, December.
    14. Anthony Ferner & Matthias Varul, 2000. "‘Vanguard’ Subsidiaries and the Diffusion of New Practices: A Case Study of German Multinationals," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 115-140, March.
    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. Tony Edwards & Rocío Sánchez-Mangas & Patrice Jalette & Jonathan Lavelle & Dana Minbaeva, 2016. "Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(8), pages 997-1021, October.

    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. Legree, Scott & Schirle, Tammy & Skuterud, Mikal, 2014. "The Effect of Labour Relations Laws on Union Density Rates: Evidence from Canadian Provinces," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-42, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Sep 2014.
    2. Getinet Astatike Haile, 2021. "Men, women and unions," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 201-217, May.
    3. Ayse Saka-Helmhout & Mike Geppert, 2011. "Different Forms of Agency and Institutional Influences within Multinational Enterprises," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 567-592, October.
    4. Ruth V. Aguilera & Valentina Marano & Ilir Haxhi, 2019. "International corporate governance: A review and opportunities for future research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 457-498, June.
    5. Robert Hickey & Sarosh Kuruvilla & Tashlin Lakhani, 2010. "No Panacea for Success: Member Activism, Organizing and Union Renewal," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 53-83, March.
    6. Poulis, Konstantinos & Poulis, Efthimios & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella, 2013. "The role of context in case study selection: An international business perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 304-314.
    7. Pisch, Frank & Berlingieri, Giuseppe, 2022. "Managing Export Complexity: The Role of Service Outsourcing," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 135680, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    8. Corneo, Giacomo, 1995. "Social custom, management opposition, and trade union membership," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 275-292, February.
    9. Dörrenbächer, Christoph & Müller, Hans-Erich & Tüselmann, Heinz-Josef, 2021. "Transatlantische Mergers of Equals: Perspektiven europäisch-amerikanischer Unternehmensfusionen," Study / edition der Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf, volume 127, number 465, June.
    10. Tüselmann, Heinz-Josef & McDonald, Frank & Thorpe, Richard, 2006. "The emerging approach to employee relations in German overseas affiliates: A role model for international operation?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 66-80, February.
    11. John Geary & Roberta Aguzzoli, 2016. "Miners, politics and institutional caryatids: Accounting for the transfer of HRM practices in the Brazilian multinational enterprise," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(8), pages 968-996, October.
    12. Richard Disney & Amanda Gosling & Stephen Machin, 1994. "British Unions in Decline: An Examination of the 1980s Fall in Trade Union Recognition," NBER Working Papers 4733, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Schröter, Oliver & Davoine, Eric, 2013. "Unterschiede in der institutionellen Einbettung der Arbeitsbeziehungen und Human Resource Management Praktiken zwischen Deutschland und der Schweiz: eine explorative Untersuchung in Schweizer Tochterg," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(4), pages 364-390.
    14. Manas Ranjan Tripathy & Tavleen Kaur, 2012. "Perceptions of Employees on Information Checks by Employers using Social Networking Sites in IT Sector," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 37(4), pages 345-358, November.
    15. Paul Marginson & Paul Edwards & Tony Edwards & Anthony Ferner & Olga Tregaskis, 2010. "Employee Representation and Consultative Voice in Multinational Companies Operating in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 151-180, March.
    16. Matten, Dirk & Geppert, Mike, 2004. "Work systems in heavy engineering: the role of national culture and national institutions in multinational corporations," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 177-198.
    17. Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "Determinants of trade union membership," Discussion Papers 15, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    18. Getinet Astatike Haile, 2017. "Union decline in Britain: does gender have anything to do with it?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(1), pages 25-49, February.
    19. Bader, Anna Katharina & Froese, Fabian Jintae & Cooke, Fang Lee & Schuster, Tassilo, 2022. "Gender diversity management in foreign subsidiaries: A comparative study in Germany and Japan," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    20. Rebitzer, James B., 1994. "Structural, Microeconomic and Institutional Explanations for Union Decline in the United States," Economic Review, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 45(1), pages 41-52, January.

    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:sae:ilrrev:v:66:y:2013:i:3:p:696-722. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    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.