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Share capitalism and worker wellbeing

Author

Listed:
  • Alex Bryson

    (UCL - University College of London [London], IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor - Institute for the Study of Labor)

  • Andrew E. Clark

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor - Institute for the Study of Labor, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Colin P. Green

    (NBER - The National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University)

  • Richard Freeman

    (Lancaster University)

Abstract

We show that worker wellbeing is determined not only by the amount of compensation workers receive but also by how compensation is determined. While previous theoretical and empirical work has often been preoccupied with individual performance-related pay, we find that the receipt of a range of group-performance schemes (profit shares, group bonuses and share ownership) is associated with higher job satisfaction. This holds conditional on wage levels, so that pay methods are associated with greater job satisfaction in addition to that coming from higher wages. We use a variety of methods to control for unobserved individual and job-specific characteristics. We suggest that half of the share-capitalism effect is accounted for by employees reciprocating for the "gift"; we also show that share capitalism helps dampen the negative wellbeing effects of what we typically think of as "bad" aspects of job quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alex Bryson & Andrew E. Clark & Colin P. Green & Richard Freeman, 2016. "Share capitalism and worker wellbeing," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01383778, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01383778
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2016.09.002
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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. Zhang, Huili & Cui, Xuegang & Xu, Lei & Wang, Kaiyan, 2024. "Non-executive employee stock ownership plans and corporate innovation efficiency: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    3. Alex Bryson & Andrew E. Clark & Colin P. Green, 2021. "Footsie, Yeah! Share Prices and Worker Wellbeing," DoQSS Working Papers 21-26, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    4. 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.
    5. Cooper, Dylan A. & Fang, Tony & Wan, Vincent, 2025. "Employee Ownership and Promotive Voice: The Roles of Psychological Ownership and Perceived Alignment of Interests," IZA Discussion Papers 18023, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Clarisse Toniatti & Manuela Guerreiro & Carla Viana & Luís N. Pereira, 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.
    7. 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).
    8. Natalia Kopylova & Talita Greyling & Stephanié Rossouw, 2024. "Women’s Mental Health During COVID-19 in South Africa," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 19(3), pages 959-990, June.
    9. 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).
    10. Emmanuel Petrakis & Panagiotis Skartados, 2018. "Strategic Profit–Sharing in a Unionized Differentiated Goods Duopoly," Working Papers 1801, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    11. 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.
    12. Talita Greyling & Stephanié Rossouw, 2025. "Development and Validation of a Real-Time Happiness Index Using Google Trends™," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1-24, March.
    13. Sarracino, Francesco & Greyling, Talita & O'Connor , Kelsey & Peroni, Chiara & Rossouw, Stephanie, 2021. "A year of pandemic: levels, changes and validity of well-being data from Twitter. Evidence from ten countries," GLO Discussion Paper Series 831, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    14. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S., 2023. "Performance pay, work hours and employee health in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    15. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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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