IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v47y2012i2p240-250.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of employees’ attitudes toward union membership in India

Author

Listed:
  • Sarkar, Santanu

Abstract

Drawing on data from a survey of 252 unionized full-time employees from large Indian organizations, this study examined whether individual level job related variables and individual cultural value dimensions of individualism–collectivism (I–C) were predictive of employees’ attitudes toward union membership. Using regression analysis, the author found that over and above the effects of demographic and job-related variables, work situation dissatisfaction and perceived work stress were able to predict union attitudes significantly and positively for the sample. The relationship of union attitude was highly significant and negative with a consultative managerial style. Collectivism was able to predict the union attitudes positively, whereas individualism was negatively related to the union attitudes. The interaction between employees’ perceived work stress and work situation dissatisfaction are found to have a positive influence on their union attitudes. The results and implications of findings are discussed in the paper with reference to the literature on role of cultural dimensions (I–C) and job related factors in relation to organizational outcomes like union membership.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarkar, Santanu, 2012. "Determinants of employees’ attitudes toward union membership in India," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 240-250.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:47:y:2012:i:2:p:240-250
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2011.04.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S109095161100037X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jwb.2011.04.011?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farber, Henry S & Saks, Daniel H, 1980. "Why Workers Want Unions: The Role of Relative Wages and Job Characteristics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 349-369, April.
    2. Stephen Deery & Janet Walsh, 1999. "The Decline of Collectivism? A Comparative Study of White-Collar Employees in Britain and Australia," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 37(2), pages 245-269, June.
    3. Richard B. Freeman & James L. Medoff, 1979. "The Two Faces of Unionism," NBER Working Papers 0364, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Duncan, Greg J & Stafford, Frank P, 1980. "Do Union Members Receive Compensating Wage Differentials?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 355-371, June.
    5. Farber, Henry S, 1990. "The Decline of Unionization in the United States: What Can Be Learned from Recent Experience," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 75-105, January.
    6. Nancy Chen & Dean Tjosvold, 2007. "Guanxi and leader member relationships between American managers and Chinese employees: open-minded dialogue as mediator," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 171-189, June.
    7. Stephen J. Deery & Roderick D. Iverson & Peter J. Erwin, 1994. "Predicting Organizational and Union Commitment: The Effect of Industrial Relations Climate," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 581-597, December.
    8. Alfred Wong & Dean Tjosvold, 2006. "Collectivist values for learning in organizational relationships in China: the role of trust and vertical coordination," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 299-317, September.
    9. Joni Hersch & Joe A. Stone, 1990. "Is Union Job Dissatisfaction Real?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(4).
    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, 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.
    2. Che Supian Mohamad Nor & Ramesh Kumar Moona Haji Mohamed & Charles Ramendran SPR & Prem Kumar Nadarajan & Vimala Kadiresan, 2018. "Trade Unions: Relevant Out of Irrelevant? A Study on Generation’s Perception in Malaysia," International Journal of Human Resource Studies, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 3852-3852, December.

    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. Santanu Sarkar, 2009. "Individualism–collectivism as predictors of BPO employee attitudes toward union membership in India," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 93-118, March.
    2. repec:eee:labchp:v:2:y:1986:i:c:p:1039-1089 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Henry S. Farber, 1984. "The Analysis of Union Behavior," NBER Working Papers 1502, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Panos, Georgios & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2009. "Union Mediation and Adaptation to Reciprocal Loyalty Arrangements," MPRA Paper 15471, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Kochan, Thomas A. & Helfman, David E., 1981. "The effects of collective bargaining on economic and behavioral job outcomes," Working papers 1181-81., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    6. C Green & J S Heywood, 2010. "Unions, Dissatisfied Workers and Sorting," Working Papers 615292, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    7. repec:lan:wpaper:3161 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Marco Francesconi & Carlos García Serrano, 2004. "Unions, Temporary Employment and Hours of Work: A Tale of Two Countries," Revista de Economía Laboral - Spanish Journal of Labour Economics, Asociación Española de Economía Laboral - AEET, vol. 1, pages 38-75.
    9. Richard B. Freeman & James L. Medoff, 1982. "The Impact of Collective Bargaining: Can the New Facts Be Explained by Monopoly Unionism?," NBER Working Papers 0837, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. John S. Heywood & W. S. Siebert & Xiangdong Wei, 2002. "Worker Sorting and Job Satisfaction: The Case of Union and Government Jobs," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(4), pages 595-609, July.
    11. Henry S. Farber, 2001. "Notes on the Economics of Labor Unions," Working Papers 2001-5, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    12. John T. Addison & Clive R. Belfield, 2004. "Union Voice," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(4), pages 563-596, October.
    13. repec:lan:wpaper:2912 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bell, David N.F. & Hart, Robert A., 2010. "Retire Later or Work Harder?," IZA Discussion Papers 4720, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Santanu Sarkar & Andy Charlwood, 2014. "Do cultural differences explain differences in attitudes towards unions? Culture and attitudes towards unions among call centre workers in Britain and India," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 56-76, January.
    16. repec:lan:wpaper:2914 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Georgios A. Panos & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2013. "Reciprocal Loyalty and Union Mediation," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 645-676, July.
    18. Schnabel, Claus, 2002. "Determinants of trade union membership," Discussion Papers 15, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    19. Henry S. Farber, 2001. "Notes on the Economics of Labor Unions," Working Papers 831, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    20. Ruiz-Verdú, Pablo, 2002. "Employer behavior when workers can unionize," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb020803, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    21. Henry S. Farber, 2001. "Notes on the Economics of Labor Unions," Working Papers 831, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    22. David Peetz, 1998. "Why Join? Why Stay? Instrumentality, Beliefs, Satisfaction and Individual Decisions on Union Membership," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 9(1), pages 123-148, June.
    23. Ruiz-Verdu, Pablo, 2007. "The economics of union organization: Efficiency, information and profitability," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 848-868, October.
    24. Panos, Georgios A. & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "Unionism and Peer-Referencing," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-122, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).

    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:eee:worbus:v:47:y:2012:i:2:p:240-250. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    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.