IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v51y1998i3p363-383.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Union Power, Cost of Job Loss, and Workers' Effort

Author

Listed:
  • Francis Green
  • Steven McIntosh

Abstract

The authors hypothesize that the effectiveness of external threats in raising workers' effort is mediated by, among other labor market conditions, the presence or absence of a powerful union. In particular, they argue that because powerful unions reduce the potency of the external threat of job loss (by making it more difficult for employers to dismiss workers), the pace of work is less responsive to such a threat in strongly unionized plants than in weakly unionized plants. The results of an analysis of data from the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey in Britain support this hypothesis. The analysis also yields evidence that effort is increased where workers are rewarded individually according to results, and where there are various communication channels between workers and management.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis Green & Steven McIntosh, 1998. "Union Power, Cost of Job Loss, and Workers' Effort," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 51(3), pages 363-383, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:51:y:1998:i:3:p:363-383
    DOI: 10.1177/001979399805100301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/001979399805100301
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/001979399805100301?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. Layard, Richard & Nickell, Stephen & Jackman, Richard, 2005. "Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199279173.
    2. F Green, 1996. "Skill, Training, Organisational Commitment and Unemployment: The Economics of a Labour Strategy Management," CEP Discussion Papers dp0313, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. repec:bla:econom:v:62:y:1995:i:247:p:313-34 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Campbell, Carl III, 1994. "The determinants of dismissals tests of the shirking model with individual data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 89-95, September.
    5. Bulkley, George & Myles, Gareth D, 1996. "Trade Unions, Efficiency Wages, and Shirking," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 75-88, January.
    6. Gordon, David M, 1990. "Who Bosses Whom? The Intensity of Supervision and the Discipline of Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 28-32, May.
    7. A. Bennett & S. Smith-Gavine, 1987. "The Percentage Utilisation of Labour Index (PUL)," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Derek Bosworth & David F. Heathfield (ed.), Working Below Capacity, chapter 12, pages 326-363, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. David E. Guest, 1990. "Have British Workers Been Working Harder in Thatcher's Britain? A Re-Consideration of the Concept of Effort," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 28(3), pages 293-312, November.
    9. Oster, Gerry, 1980. "Labour Relations and Demand Relations: A Case Study of the 'Unemployment Effect.'," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 4(4), pages 337-348, December.
    10. P. K. Edwards & Colin Whitston, 1991. "Workers Are Working Harder: Effort and Shop-floor Relations in the 1980s," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 29(4), pages 593-601, December.
    11. Sue Fernie & David Metcalf, 1995. "Participation, Contingent Pay, Representation and Workplace Performance: Evidence from Great Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 379-415, September.
    12. Peter Nolan & Paul Marginson, 1990. "Skating on Thin Ice? David Metcalf on Trade Unions and Productivity," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 227-247, July.
    13. Drago, Robert & Heywood, John S, 1992. "Is Worker Behaviour Consistent with Efficiency Wages?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 39(2), pages 141-153, May.
    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. Green, Francis & McIntosh, Steven, 2001. "The intensification of work in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 291-308, May.
    2. Michael Bittman & Judith E. Brown & Judy Wajcman, 2009. "The mobile phone, perpetual contact and time pressure," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 23(4), pages 673-691, December.
    3. Frederick Guy & Peter Skott, 2008. "Power, Productivity, and Profits," Springer Books, in: Matthew Braham & Frank Steffen (ed.), Power, Freedom, and Voting, chapter 20, pages 385-403, Springer.
    4. Gary Slater & David A. Spencer, 2014. "Workplace relations, unemployment and finance-dominated capitalism," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 2(2), pages 134-146, April.
    5. Peter Skott & Frederick Guy, 2005. "Power-Biased Technological Change and the Rise in Earnings Inequality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2005-17, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    6. Frederick Guy & Peter Skott, 2008. "Information and Communications Technologies, Coordination and Control, and the Distribution of Income," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 17(3-4), pages 71-92, September.
    7. K Clark & M Tomlinson, 2001. "The Determinants of Work Effort: Evidence from the Employment in Britain Survey," Economics Discussion Paper Series 0113, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    8. Nancy Bertaux & Hervé Queneau, 2002. "The social economics of job security," Forum for Social Economics, Springer;The Association for Social Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 1-19, September.
    9. Eisenbarth, Anthony & Chen, Zhou Fu, 2022. "The evolution of wage inequality within local U.S. labor markets," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 56, pages 1-2.
    10. Gospel, Howard., 2003. "Quality of working life : a review on changes in work organization, conditions of employment and work-life arrangements," ILO Working Papers 993623463402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Fumio Ohtake, 2003. "Unions, the Costs of Job Loss, and Vacation," NBER Chapters, in: Labor Markets and Firm Benefit Policies in Japan and the United States, pages 371-390, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Senney, Garrett T. & Dunn, Lucia F., 2019. "The role of work schedules and the macroeconomy on labor effort," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 23-34.
    13. César Rodríguez Gutiérrez & Juan Francisco Canal Domínguez, 2012. "Is Workers' Effort Sensitive to Contract Type and Firm Ownership? The Spanish Case," Revista de Economía Laboral - Spanish Journal of Labour Economics, Asociación Española de Economía Laboral - AEET, vol. 9, pages 1-27.
    14. Michelle Brown & John Heywood, 2009. "Helpless in Finance: The Cost of Helping Effort Among Bank Employees," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 30(2), pages 176-195, June.
    15. Francis Green, 2002. "Why Has Work Effort Become More Intense?," Studies in Economics 0207, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    16. Francis Green, 2000. "Why has Work Effort become more intense? Conjectures and Evidence about Effort-Biased Technical Change and other stories," Studies in Economics 0003, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    17. Francis Green, 1999. "It's been a hard day's night: The concentration and intensification of work in late 20th century Britain," Studies in Economics 9913, School of Economics, University of Kent.

    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. Goerke, Laszlo, 1997. "Taxes in an efficiency wage economy," Discussion Papers, Series II 335, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    2. Paul H. Jensen & Robin E. Stonecash, 2004. "The Efficiency of Public Sector Outsourcing Contracts: A Literature Review," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n29, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Francis Green, 1999. "It's been a hard day's night: The concentration and intensification of work in late 20th century Britain," Studies in Economics 9913, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    4. Koskela, Erkki & Stenbacka, Rune, 2003. "Equilibrium Unemployment Under Negotiated Profit Sharing," IZA Discussion Papers 840, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3029-3084 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Koskela, Erkki & Stenbacka, Rune, 2003. "Profit Sharing and Unemployment: An Approach with Bargaining and Efficiency Wage Economics," Discussion Papers 863, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    7. P. K. Edwards, 1992. "Industrial Conflict: Themes and Issues in Recent Research," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 361-404, September.
    8. Nickell, Stephen & Nicolitsas, Daphne, 1997. "Wages, restrictive practices and productivity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 201-221, September.
    9. repec:bla:scotjp:v:47:y:2000:i:3:p:251-72 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Andreas P. Georgiadis, 2006. "Is there a Wage-Supervision Trade-Off? Efficiency Wages Evidence From the 1990 British Workplace Industrial Relations Survey," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/152, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    11. Koskela, E. & Stenbacka, R., 2000. "Capital Structure, Wage Bargaining and Employment," University of Helsinki, Department of Economics 475, Department of Economics.
    12. Koskela, Erkki & Stenbacka, Rune, 2003. "Equilibrium Unemployment Under Negotiated Profit Sharing," IZA Discussion Papers 840, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Goerke, Laszlo, 2000. "On the structure of unemployment benefits in shirking models," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 283-295, May.
    14. Frank Scharr, 2005. "Tarifbindung, Rententeilung und Konzessionsverträge als Einflussgrößen der Lohnhöhe in Unternehmen : eine Untersuchung mit Mikrodaten für thüringische Firmen," ifo Dresden Studien, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 39, May.
    15. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2291-2372 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Green, Francis & McIntosh, Steven, 2001. "The intensification of work in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 291-308, May.
    17. Kåre Johansen & Bjarne Strøm, 2001. "Efficiency Wages, Interfirm Comparison, and Unemployment," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(2), pages 387-402, October.
    18. Erkki Koskela & Rune Stenbacka, 2004. "Profit Sharing and Unemployment: An Approach with Bargaining and Efficiency-Wage Effects," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 160(3), pages 477-497, September.
    19. Michail Veliziotis & Guy Vernon, 2023. "From monopoly to voice effects? British workplace unionism and productivity performance into the new millennium," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 574-594, September.
    20. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2003_019 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Michelle Gilmartin & David Learmouth & J Kim Swales & Peter McGregor & Karen Turner, 2013. "Regional Policy Spillovers: The National Impact of Demand-Side Policy in an Interregional Model of the UK Economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 814-834, April.
    22. Chéron, Arnaud & Hairault, Jean-Olivier & Langot, François, 2004. "Labor Market Institutions and the Employment-Productivity Trade-Off: A Wage Posting Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 1364, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    23. Sergio Destefanis & Matteo Fragetta & Giuseppe Mastromatteo & Nazzareno Ruggiero, 2020. "The Beveridge curve in the OECD before and after the great recession," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 411-436, September.
    24. Milen Velev, 2015. "A research on the relationship between the unemployment rate and the inflation rate in Bulgaria," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 1, pages 40-59,60-79.

    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:51:y:1998:i:3:p:363-383. 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.