Retheorizing workplace spillover theory: does an economic-based pathway exist?

Michael L. Palmieri

International Review of Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 39, issue 4-5, 515-537

Abstract: Workplace spillover theory, which holds that experiences within the workplace shape how individuals interact with the political system outside of it, is receiving renewed interest. Studies using large multi-country representative samples that control reverse causality find a positive relationship between workplace participation and political participation. Despite these methodological advances, the theorised explanatory mechanisms by which workplace spillover occurs are underdeveloped, focusing namely on governance rights or worker voice in the firm. However, in employee-owned firms governance rights are only one side of the ownership coin which also includes financial rights. Synthesizing insights from scholars of employee ownership and research on political participation, I propose an alternative economic-based pathway for spillover to occur in employee-owned firms which focuses on financial rights, their associated economic benefits (wealth, income, employment stability), and how those benefits shape political participation. Using structural equation models to analyse General Social Survey data, I find evidence for the existence of an economic-based spillover effect with employee shareowners being more likely to vote in presidential elections.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/02692171.2024.2406354

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