Voice at Work

Jarkko Harju, Simon Jäger and Benjamin Schoefer

No 28522, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We estimate the effects of worker voice on productivity, job quality, and separations. We study the 1991 introduction of a right to worker representation on boards or advisory councils in Finnish firms with at least 150 employees, designed primarily to facilitate workforce-management communication. Consistent with information sharing theories, our difference-in-differences design reveals that worker voice raised labor productivity. In contrast to the exit-voice theory, we find no effects on voluntary job separations, and at most small positive effects on other measures of job quality. However, we find evidence for reductions in involuntary separations during the recessionary context. A 2008 introduction of shop-floor representation, another worker voice institution pre-existing in our main sample of firms, had more limited effects.

JEL-codes: G3 J3 J5 J63 L22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hea, nep-hrm and nep-lma
Note: CF IO LE LS PE POL PR
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Voice at Work (2021)
Working Paper: Voice at Work (2021)
Working Paper: Voice at Work (2021)
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