Unions and Police Productivity: An Econometric Investigation

Byrne, Dennis; Dezhbakhsh, Hashem; King, Randall H.

doi:10.1111/j.1468-232x.1996.tb00422.x

Cited by 23 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…greater voice, among others), do not claim they exceed, or even match, the cost of unionization, a point repeated by Freeman in a subsequent publication (see Blanchflower and Freeman, 1992). In fact there seems to be a consensus among studies from the 1980s (for example see Clark, 1984;Hirsch and Connolly, 1987;Becker and Olson, 1989) and the 1990s (see Mitchell and Stone, 1992;Byrne, Dezhbakhsh and King, 1996;Bronars, Deere and Tracy, 1994) that not only do union productivity gains fail to match added cost; the net productivity effect is negative. Recent U.S. studies, to some degree, repeat this finding.…”

Section: Unions and (Other) Key Firm Outcomes: An Empirical Reviewmentioning

confidence: 85%

What Do Unions Do to Innovation? An Empirical Examination of the Canadian Private Sector

Walsworth¹

2011

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This article uses Canadian national data to examine the union effect on product innovation, a firm outcome which is widely researched in the management literature but has been less prominent in Industrial Relations scholarship. Using a longitudinal sample from the employer survey of the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey, the union effect on a firm’s ability to create or improve a product is examined. According to the commonly held view that unions impede firm performance, the results should point to a negative relationship between unions and product innovation. Interestingly, a strong negative effect is not observed. In fact a small statistically significant positive union effect is reported. This result is considered to be robust. Across various specifications the presence of a union and the intensity of the presence (firm union density) have significant and positive effects on a firm’s ability to innovate new products over a seven year period (1999-2005).The results of this study do not imply that the presence of a union is an important determinant of product innovation. The results are noteworthy because they do not identify a negative relationship between unions and a measure of firm performance: product innovation. In this regard, the results give weight to the observation that there is very little empirical support for the popular argument that unions impede firm performance.In Canada the demise of organized labour is often justified as a necessary adjustment to increasingly competitive markets. Indeed the signing of the 1993 NAFTA has put unions under greater scrutiny for their impact on Canada’s ability to compete internationally. That unions make firms less competitive is commonly accepted as a reasonable assessment. The results of this study and a review of the empirical literature on the union effect on other key firm outcomes such as productivity, labour costs, employment growth, sales and profitability, suggest that the popularly held negative assessment of unions is not based on a conclusive body of literature.Cet article utilise des données nationales canadiennes pour examiner l’effet des syndicats en matière d’innovation en matière de produits dans les entreprises, sujet abondamment traité dans la littérature managériale mais moins présent dans les travaux empiriques en relations industrielles. À partir d’un échantillon longitudinal de la composante « employeur » de l’Enquête sur le milieu de travail et les employés (EMTE) de Statistique Canada, l’effet de la présence syndicale sur la capacité de l’entreprise à créer de nouveaux produits ou à améliorer ses produits déjà existants est étudié. Selon un point de vue communément admis à l’effet que les syndicats agiraient plutôt comme un frein sur la performance de l’entreprise, les résultats de l’étude devraient indiquer une relation négative entre la présence syndicale et l’innovation en matière de produit. Or l’étude ne révèle aucun lien négatif fort. Au mieux seul un faible lien positif est observable d’un point de vue statistique. Et ce résu...

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Section: Unions and (Other) Key Firm Outcomes: An Empirical Reviewmentioning

confidence: 85%

What Do Unions Do to Innovation? An Empirical Examination of the Canadian Private Sector

Walsworth¹

2011

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“…Research is inconclusive on the role of administrative specialization on police officer behavior (Lewis, Green, & Edwards, 1979). One study indicates, however, that the presence of collective bargaining unions in large police departments is associated with lower rates of arrests (Byrne, Dezhbakhsh, & King, 1996). Together, research on the role of interdepartmental variations in departmental administration offers little guidance for explaining police officer arrest behavior.…”

Section: Organizational Context and Police Officer Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

The Organizational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions

Chappell

MacDonald

Manz³

2006

Crime & Delinquency

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A limited amount of research has examined the relationship between characteristics of police organizations and policing styles. In particular, few studies have examined the link between organizational structures and police officer arrest decisions. Wilson's (1968) pioneering case study of police organizations suggested that individual police behavior is a function of departmental goals that occur within the broader political climate of a community. Wilson suggested that agencies could be classified into three typologies: the watchman style, the legalistic style, and the service style. The present study examines the influence of organizational characteristics associated with these styles on individual officers' arrest rates using nationally representative data from large police agencies. Findings suggest that police officer arrest decisions are partially explained by variations in police organizational structures. The implications of these findings for contemporary organizational explanations of police behavior are discussed.

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“…2. Growing evidence that any union productivity effect is either negative or very small (Kaufman and Kaufman, 1987;Lovell et al, 1988;Machin, 1991;Wilson and Cable, 1991;Mitchell and Stone, 1992;Byrne et al, 1996). 3.…”

Section: Unions and Employment: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unions and the Employment Growth: Panel Data Evidence

Wooden

Hawke

2000

Industrial Relations

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This study adds to the small empirical literature on the impact unions have on employment growth using data from Australia. Unlike previous studies, the data used are from a panel of firms surveyed at two points in time rather than a single cross section. The results indicate a negative union effect on employment in private-sector firms of about 2.5 percent per annum that, despite the very different institutional framework that prevails in Australia, is consistent with results obtained with North American data.

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Unions and Police Productivity: An Econometric Investigation

Cited by 23 publications

References 25 publications

What Do Unions Do to Innovation? An Empirical Examination of the Canadian Private Sector

What Do Unions Do to Innovation? An Empirical Examination of the Canadian Private Sector

The Organizational Determinants of Police Arrest Decisions

Unions and the Employment Growth: Panel Data Evidence

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