Political Spillovers of Workplace Democracy in Germany

Uwe Jirjahn and Thi Xuan Thu Le
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Thi Xuan Thu Le: University of Trier

No 15444, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: While works councils provide a highly developed mechanism to promote workplace democracy, research on their consequences has been dominated by economic aspects. This study brings a new perspective to the understanding of works councils by examining their influence on workers’ political behavior. Political spillover theory suggests that participation in the firm’s decision making has the potential to foster workers’ political participation in civic society. Our study for Germany indeed finds a positive association between the presence of a works council and workers’ interest in politics. This holds in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual-specific factors. However, separate estimations by gender show a positive association between works councils and political interest only for men, but not for women. Traditional gender roles and disproportionate responsibility for family may make it difficult for women to be politically engaged even when a works council is present.

Keywords: works council; works councilor; union member; gender; political interest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J51 J52 J53 J58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2022-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - revised version published in: Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 2024, 95 (1), 5-31

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Related works:
Journal Article: Political spillovers of workplace democracy in Germany (2024)
Working Paper: Political Spillovers of Workplace Democracy in Germany (2022)
Working Paper: Political Spillovers of Workplace Democracy in Germany (2022)
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