Employee Voice: The Missing Factor in Sustainable HRM?

Renee Paulet, Peter Holland and Andrew Bratton
Additional contact information
Renee Paulet: Federation Business School, Federation University, Churchill 3842, Australia
Peter Holland: Swinburne Business School, Swinburne University, Hawthorn 3122, Australia
Andrew Bratton: Business School, Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh EH11 4BN, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM), has the potential to facilitate organisations development of principles, policies and practices for the challenges of the 21st century. However, to do this we argue a fundamental element in this process has yet to be fully addressed and incorporated into the theory and practice of sustainable HRM; this is employee voice. Additionally, the actual and potential role of trade unions in facilitating employee voice is yet to be conceptualised within sustainable HRM literature. We argue that the development of effective employee voice mechanisms is vital in the implementation and maintenance of sustainable HRM. In this conceptual paper, we outline the nature of the voice architecture, the impact of the employment relationship on voice mechanisms, how it can be effectively measured, and propose a framework for further exploring these concepts. These key factors we identify as critical in implementing and assessing the effectiveness of the relationship between employee voice and sustainable HRM, to potentially serve as a basis of future research into sustainable HRM.

Keywords: sustainable HRM; employee voice; sustainability; unions; employment relationship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9732-:d:625296

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