Union Effects on Product and Technological Innovation

Alex Bryson and Harald Dale-Olsen

A chapter in Workplace Productivity and Management Practices, 2021, vol. 49, pp 41-65 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: We present theoretical and empirical evidence challenging early studies that found unions were detrimental to workplace innovation. Under our theoretical model, unions prefer product innovation to labor-saving technological process innovation, thus making union wage bargaining regimes more conducive to product innovation than competitive pay setting. We test the theory with population-representative workplace data for Britain and Norway. We find strong support for the notion that local bargaining leads to product innovation, either alone or together with technological innovation.

Keywords: Product innovation; process innovation; trade unions; collective bargaining; employer organization; comparative; J28; J51; J81; L23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:rleczz:s0147-912120210000049002

DOI: 10.1108/S0147-912120210000049002

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