Workplace innovation and union status: Synergy or strife?

Anil Verma and Tony Fang, 55 th Industrial Relations Research Association Annual Conference Proceedings , pp. 189 - 198

Context

While there has been much speculation about the effect of unions on innovation there has been limited evidence on this relationship.

Objectives

Two effects were hypothesized: a direct negative effect of unions in the form of restrictive work rules and an indirect positive effect through adoption of innovative workplace practices.

Findings

The results show that the presence or absence of a union in itself appeared unrelated to the ability of workplaces to innovate.

Several work practices such as use of teams, flexible management and use of training were positively and significantly related to most measures of innovation.

Other practices such as incentives appeared to have little effect.

Flexible hours and use of new technology had positive effects on some measures of innovation but not others.

Data Sources: Workplace and Employee Survey (WES).