Works Councils, Training and Employee Satisfaction

32 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2018

See all articles by Lutz Bellmann

Lutz Bellmann

Institute for Employment Research (IAB); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Olaf Hübler

University of Hannover; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ute Leber

Leibniz Universität Hannover

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of works councils in job satisfaction. Using the recently developed Linked Personnel Panel, we consider both the direct and indirect impact via further training. Basic estimates on an individual level do not reveal clearly direct effects, but on an establishment level, the existence of a works council increases the average job satisfaction in a company.In more extended approaches, we also find a positive, weakly significant link on an individual level accompanied by positive training with regard to job satisfaction if we control for personal characteristics, working conditions, firm size, collegiality variables and industry dummies. Firms with industry-wide bargaining agreements drive this result. The effects are stronger if the firm carries the training costs and if the share of trained workers within the firm measures training. The direct impact of works councils remains positive but becomes insignificant if Lewbel's instrumental variables estimator is applied.

Keywords: job satisfaction, training, works councils

JEL Classification: J24, J28, J53

Suggested Citation

Bellmann, Lutz and Hübler, Olaf and Leber, Ute, Works Councils, Training and Employee Satisfaction. IZA Discussion Paper No. 11871, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3273710 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3273710

Lutz Bellmann (Contact Author)

Institute for Employment Research (IAB) ( email )

Regensburger Str. 104
Nuremberg, 90478
Germany
+49 911 179 3046 (Phone)
+49 911 179 3297 (Fax)

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Olaf Hübler

University of Hannover ( email )

Institute of Quantitative Economic Research
D-30167 Hannover
Germany
+49 511 762 4794 (Phone)
+49 511 762 3923 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Ute Leber

Leibniz Universität Hannover

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