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Works Councils and the Productivity Impact of Direct Employee Participation

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  • Zwick, Thomas

Abstract

This paper measures the productivity impact of management-led participative establishment practices. On the basis of a representative German establishment data set, the IAB establishment panel, the study finds that the presence of team-work, a reduction of hierarchies and autonomous work groups in 1997 significantly increases average establishment productivity in 1997 – 2000. An endogeneous switching regression model takes the endogeneity of work councils into account and shows that the productivity effect can only be measured in establishments with works councils, i.e. employee induced participation. The estimation strategy controls for unobserved time invariant establishment heterogeneity by using a two-step system GMM panel regression approach. It simultaneously controls for endogeneity of participative work organization by using instrument variable regressions.

Suggested Citation

  • Zwick, Thomas, 2003. "Works Councils and the Productivity Impact of Direct Employee Participation," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-47, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:1356
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    Cited by:

    1. John T. Addison, 2005. "The Determinants Of Firm Performance: Unions, Works Councils, And Employee Involvement/High‐Performance Work Practices," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 52(3), pages 406-450, July.
    2. Ipsita Roy & Uwe Cantner & Wolfgang Gerstlberger, 2020. "Works councils, training activities and innovation: a study of German firms," International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 20(3/4), pages 269-294.
    3. Sohr, Tatjana, 2005. "Wenn die Karriereleiter wegbricht: Fairness und der Abbau von Hierarchieebenen (When the career ladder is removed * fairness and the elimination of hierarchical levels)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(1), pages 68-86.
    4. Sohr, Tatjana, 2005. "Wenn die Karriereleiter wegbricht: Fairness und der Abbau von Hierarchieebenen (When the career ladder is removed * fairness and the elimination of hierarchical levels)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(1), pages 68-86.
    5. Addison, John T. & Belfield, Clive R., 2007. "Unions, training and firm performance," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 40(4), pages 361-381.
    6. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira, 2020. "Management Practices, Worker Commitment, and Workplace Representation," CESifo Working Paper Series 8329, CESifo.
    7. Addison, John T. & Belfield, Clive R., 2007. "Unions, training and firm performance," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 40(4), pages 361-381.
    8. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2004. "The Course of Research into the Economic Consequences of German Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 255-281, June.
    9. Engelstätter, Benjamin, 2009. "Enterprise systems and labor productivity: disentangling combination effects," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-040, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Sohr, Tatjana, 2005. "Wenn die Karriereleiter wegbricht: Fairness und der Abbau von Hierarchieebenen (When the career ladder is removed * fairness and the elimination of hierarchical levels)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 38(1), pages 68-86.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    employee participation; works council; establishment productivity; panel regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity

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