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Share Capitalism and Worker Wellbeing

Author

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  • Alex Bryson
  • Andrew E. Clark
  • Richard B. Freeman
  • Colin P. Green

Abstract

We show that worker wellbeing is not only related to the amount of compensation workers receive but also how they receive it. While previous theoretical and empirical work has often been pre-occupied with individual performance-related pay, we here demonstrate a robust positive link between the receipt of a range of group performance schemes (profit shares, group bonuses and share ownership) and job satisfaction. Critically, this relationship remains after conditioning on wage levels, which suggests these pay methods provide utility to workers in addition to that through higher wages. These findings survive a variety of methods aimed at accounting for unobserved individual and job-specific characteristics. We investigate two potential channels for this effect. We first demonstrate that half of the positive effect can be accounted for by employees' tendency to reciprocate in return for the "gift" of share capitalism. Second, we show that these 'share capitalist' modes of pay dampen the negative wellbeing effects of what we typically think of as "bad" aspects of job quality. Finally, share-capitalist pay methods also have positive wellbeing spill-over effects on co-workers.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Bryson & Andrew E. Clark & Richard B. Freeman & Colin P. Green, 2015. "Share Capitalism and Worker Wellbeing," CEP Discussion Papers dp1329, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
  • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1329
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Prince, Nicholas R. & Bruce Prince, J. & Kabst, Rüediger, 2020. "National culture and incentives: Are incentive practices always good?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    2. Alex Bryson & Andrew E. Clark & Colin Green, 2021. "Footsie, yeah! Share prices and worker wellbeing," Post-Print halshs-04205882, HAL.
    3. Vangelis Papadimitropoulos, 2018. "Reflections on the Contradictions of the Commons," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(2), pages 317-331, June.
    4. Sarracino, Francesco & Greyling, Talita & O'Connor, Kelsey J. & Peroni, Chiara & Rossouw, Stephanié, 2021. "A Year of Pandemic: Levels, Changes and Validity of Well-Being Data from Twitter. Evidence from Ten Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 14903, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Toniatti, Clarisse & Guerreiro, Manuela & Viana, Carla & Pereira, Luís N., 2023. "Emerging Branding Trends in the Post-COVID World," Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, Cinturs - Research Centre for Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, University of Algarve, vol. 11(2), pages 100-114.
    6. Rossouw, Stephanie & Greyling, Talita & Adhikari, Tamanna & Morrison, Phillip S., 2020. "Markov switching models for happiness during a pandemic: The New-Zealand experience," GLO Discussion Paper Series 573, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Alex Bryson & Richard B. Freeman, 2019. "The Role of Employee Stock Purchase Plans — Gift and Incentive? Evidence from a Multinational Corporation," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(1), pages 86-106, March.
    8. Rossouw, Stephanie & Greyling, Talita & Adhikari, Tamanna, 2021. "New Zealand's happiness and COVID-19: a Markov Switching Dynamic Regression Model," GLO Discussion Paper Series 573 [rev.], Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Emmanuel Petrakis & Panagiotis Skartados, 2018. "Strategic Profit–Sharing in a Unionized Differentiated Goods Duopoly," Working Papers 1801, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    10. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S., 2023. "Performance pay, work hours and employee health in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    11. Greyling, Talita & Rossouw, Stephanie & Adhikari, Tamanna, 2020. "Happiness-lost: Did Governments make the right decisions to combat Covid-19?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 556, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Job satisfaction; wages; compensation methods; working conditions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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