Factors Related to Employees’ Desire to Join and Leave Unions

Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Volume 45, Issue 1, pp. 102-110, January 2006

10 Pages Posted: 11 Oct 2014

See all articles by Barry Friedman

Barry Friedman

SUNY at Oswego

Steven E. Abraham

State University of New York at Oswego - School of Business

Randall K. Thomas

Harris Interactive - Corporate Headquarters

Date Written: January 1, 2006

Abstract

Employees desire for unionization has been studied often, and one finding that has been reached consistently is that employee satisfaction helps account for employee desire for representation. Employees who are more dissatisfied with various aspects of their jobs are more likely to demand satisfaction helps account for employees’ desire for union representation. Employees who are more dissatisfied with various aspects of their jobs are more likely to demand union representation, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, satisfaction helps account for employees’ desire for union representation.. Furthermore, economic or “extrinsic” satisfaction appears to be more important than noneconomic or “intrinsic” satisfaction in determining the desire for unionization among blue-collar workers. By contrast, however, few studies have been conducted with respect to decertification, and no direct relationship between employee satisfaction/dissatisfaction and decertification has been demonstrated. Freeman and Medoff (1984) and Barling, Fullagar, and Kelloway (1992) summarize much of this research. A unique aspect of this study is that a common set of independent variables that encompass work attitudes, perceived company performance, employees’ intention to leave their company, and several facets of employee satisfaction are used as predictors of the desire to join and to leave a union. This allows us to examine how the same factors affect both the desire to join and the desire to leave a union..

Suggested Citation

Friedman, Barry and Abraham, Steven E. and Thomas, Randall K., Factors Related to Employees’ Desire to Join and Leave Unions (January 1, 2006). Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Volume 45, Issue 1, pp. 102-110, January 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2507992

Barry Friedman (Contact Author)

SUNY at Oswego ( email )

7060 Route 104
Oswego, NY 13126-3599
United States

Steven E. Abraham

State University of New York at Oswego - School of Business ( email )

316 Rich Hall
Oswego, NY 13126
United States
315-312-3307 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.oswego.edu/~abraham/

Randall K. Thomas

Harris Interactive - Corporate Headquarters ( email )

135 Corporate Woods
Rochester, NY 14623-1457
United States
585-214-7250 (Phone)

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