Predicting the Outcome of Union Certification Elections: A Review of the Literature

Heneman, Herbert G.; Sandver, Marcus H.

doi:10.1177/001979398303600402

Cited by 108 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Figure 3 compares other observable characteristics: the union density of the MSA, the size of the bargaining unit, the proportion of cases in manufacturing establishments, and the proportion in right--to--work states. Studies have found all of these factors correlated with election outcomes (see Heneman and Sandver 1983;Riddell 2004;and Ferguson 2008 for reviews), as indeed the curves in figures 2 and 3 suggest. In each of these cases though crossing the 50--percent threshold is not associated with a striking change in the level of the variable concerned-unlike unionization itself, which is a step function at 50 percent support.…”

Section: Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…Unlike most work that uses union--representation election data (e.g., Heneman and Sandver 1983;Maranto and Fiorito 1987;Fiorito, Jarley, and Delaney 1995;Bronfenbrenner 1997;Riddell 2004;Ferguson 2008), I do not try to predict or model the success of particular campaigns. Quite the opposite: I focus on very close elections, those where success is least predictable.…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

Ferguson

2015

American Journal of Sociology

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Does limiting managers' discretion limit organizations' scope for discrimination? Social--psychological research argues that it limits opportunities to exercise cognitive biases. Organizational research has found that formal personnel practices that establish accountability for workplace diversity have increased women and minority representation in management. However, drawing causal inferences from such studies is complicated because adopting such policies may be endogenous to the firm's wish to hire and promote women and minorities. This study uses unionization elections to conduct a regression--discontinuity test from which stronger causal inferences can be made. I find that while unionization is associated with more representative workplaces and more women and minorities in management, these effects disappear close to the discontinuity threshold. Most of the effects of unionization on workforce diversity may be attributable to the unobserved drivers of selection into unionization. This has similar implications for the causal effects of diversity policies adopted by managers. Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Emilio Castilla, Roberto Fernandez, Aruna Ranganathan, Susan Silbey, Jesper Sørensen, and seminar participants at Stanford GSB, Berkeley--Haas, MIT--Sloan, INSEAD, and the 30 th EGOS Colloquium for comments on the manuscript. Sheldon Friedman, Alfonso Nevárez, and Gordon Pavy at the NLRB and Bliss Cartwright and Ronald Edwards at the EEOC gave invaluable support with the data. Direct correspondence to John--Paul Ferguson, Stanford Graduate School of Business. Email: jpferg@stanford.edu. suggests that it does. This work situates much employment discrimination not in the conscious actions of bigoted managers but in the unconscious impact of cognitive biases, deployed through personnel policies that fail to take such biases into account. As one classic review of the subject summarized, "We cannot rid work organizations of discrimination until we recognize both that much employment discrimination originates in automatic cognitive processes, and that it occurs because of work organizations' personnel practices" (Reskin 2000, p. 321).This social--psychological approach to discrimination reinforces an older organizational perspective on the subject. Organizational research has long emphasized the existence of informal social structures within formal organizations (Mayo 1984;Dalton 1959;Scott and Davis 2006) and recognized that, in the absence of formal structures, informal processes like ascriptive homophily will shape organizational careers and rewards. This is why, in his unromantic defense of complex organizations, Perrow (1986, p. 6) emphasizes the importance of rules that limit managers' discretion in "Purging Particularism":Particularism means that criteria irrelevant for efficient production (e.g., only relatives of the boss have a chance at top positions), in contrast to universalistic criteria (e.g., competence is all that counts), are used to choose employees. The criteria of eff...

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Section: Descriptive Statisticsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

Ferguson

2015

American Journal of Sociology

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“…Increased workloads may ultimately lead to lower levels of job satisfaction. Job dissatisfaction and autocratic leadership catalyze the decision to unionize, as it provides workers with a collective voice and a way to eliminate sources of dissatisfaction (Brett, 1980;Freeman and Medoff, 1984;Heneman and Sandver, 1983;Premack and Hunter, 1988). Are lower levels of job satisfaction related to higher propensities to join a union in Canada?…”

Section: Organizational and Work Related Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ideological orientation and attitudes of workers to unions may also influence the decision, with those holding left-leaning positions more prone to unionization (Adams, 1974;Heneman and Sandver, 1983;Kochan, 1979). Workers and students may join unions because of their political and ideological beliefs and philosophies (Wheeler and McClendon, 1991;Hemmasi and Graf, 1993).…”

Section: Personal Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploratory Study of Graduate Student Unions in Canada

Zinni

Singh

MacLennan

2005

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Graduate student unions are beginning to attract attention in Canada and the United States. In Canada, unionization on campuses is especially important for organized labour, as union density has dropped below 30 percent for the first time in five decades. Graduate student unionization is also important in the wider context of precarious employment in North America. Despite the decline in overall union density, graduate student unions have continued to grow in the past decade. However, there is a paucity of scholarly research in this area. In this article, we trace the historical origins of graduate student unions in Canada, discuss relevant legal concerns, analyze pertinent collective bargaining and strike issues, and suggest avenues for future research.Les syndicats d’étudiants diplômés commencent à capter considérablement l’attention des universitaires et des praticiens en Amérique du Nord. Au Canada, la syndicalisation sur les campus universitaires prend de l’importance dans le monde du travail syndiqué, au moment où la densité syndicale a plongé en bas de 30 % pour la première fois depuis cinq décennies. Entre 1992 et 1997, le membership syndical a perdu 255 000 personnes, une baisse moyenne de 51 000 par année, ce qui représente une perte de 7 % de l’effectif. Malgré le déclin de la densité globale, les syndicats étudiants ont continué à croître au cours de la dernière décennie. Cette propension à se syndiquer peut être reliée à la situation financière critique dans le monde universitaire canadien, qui a à son tour exercée un impact sur les salaires, la charge de travail, les frais de scolarité et possiblement dans l’avenir sur l’endettement des étudiants. Le syndicalisme apparaît alors comme le véhicule permettant graduellement aux étudiants diplômés de faire connaître leurs intérêts.Par ailleurs, on constate l’inexistence des publications scientifiques sur le syndicalisme chez les étudiants aux études supérieures. En tenant compte de la nature éphémère de ces syndicats, où les étudiants maintiennent leur membership seulement au cours des périodes limitées aux études supérieures, il est alors intéressant de constater qu’ils peuvent créer une préoccupation additionnelle au système de gestion des universités par le recours éventuel à la grève ou au ralentissement des activités. La section locale 3 903 du SCFP (Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique), qui représente le syndicat des étudiants diplômés de l’Université York, fournit un exemple frappant de l’influence d’un tel syndicat à ce niveau. Comme tel, il devient important que des recherches soient réalisées sur la syndicalisation des étudiants diplômés, car leur intérêt à se syndiquer semble se maintenir avec autant d’intensité.Pour obtenir de l’information et des données sur la syndicalisation des étudiants diplômés, nous avons effectué une revue de la documentation pertinente, une revue de l’information fournie sur les sites Internet des syndicats étudiants, et nous avons interviewé plusieurs représentants des syndicats et des administrations.Au premi...

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“…Employees involved in labor movements were usually dissatisfied with certain aspects of their jobs (DeCotiis & LeLouarn, 1981;Heneman III & Sandver, 1982;Visser, 2002;Dhammika, Fias & Sam, 2012). However, researches indicate that job dissatisfaction was not sufficient to result in unionization (Premack & Hunter, 1988) -employees would only unionize if they believed that the union could eliminate the source of their job dissatisfaction or improve their working conditions (Charlwood, 2002;DeCotiis & LeLouarn, 1981;Kochan, 1979;Youngblood, DeNisi, Molleston & Mobley, 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Job satisfaction and employee’s unionization decision: The mediating effect of perceived union instrumentality

Shan

Zhi

et al. 2016

JIEM

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Abstract:Purpose: Given the current lack of literature in the background of China labor force, this study aims to investigate the relationships among job satisfaction, perceived union instrumentality, and unionization from a reference-frame-based perspective and explore the referred relationships in the context of Chinese labor market.Design/methodology/approach: The study introduces perceived union instrumentality as a mediator to the relationship between job satisfaction and unionization. The applicability of western theories was tested in the Chinese context by a questionnaire survey on 390 employees who were working in private sectors of Jiangsu Province in China. Four hypothesis were proposed and tested by data analysis to verify the model. Findings:The study found that most aspects of job satisfaction were negatively correlated with unionization and perceived union instrumentality, while perceived union instrumentality had a positive relationship with unionization. Perceived union instrumentality was also found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between job satisfaction and unionization. examining the relationships between job satisfaction, unionization and union instrumentality of Chinese employees. It pays a regular contribution to labor union studies both inside and outside China.

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Predicting the Outcome of Union Certification Elections: A Review of the Literature

Cited by 108 publications

References 35 publications

The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

An Exploratory Study of Graduate Student Unions in Canada

Job satisfaction and employee’s unionization decision: The mediating effect of perceived union instrumentality

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