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Company or Trade Union: Which Wins Workers' Allegiance? A Study of Commitment in the UK Electronics Industry
Author(s) -
Guest David E.,
Dewe Philip
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
british journal of industrial relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.665
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-8543
pISSN - 0007-1080
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8543.1991.tb00229.x
Subject(s) - allegiance , dual (grammatical number) , trade union , job satisfaction , marketing , business , management , law , political science , labour economics , economics , art , literature , politics
A particular dimension of organisational commitment, namely identity of workers with the values and decisions of an organisation was explored with 716 employees in three electronics plants; 46 per cent belonged to trade unions. The study examined the extent, the causes and the consequences of dual allegiance to company and union, single allegiance to one or allegiance to neither. Less than 10 per cent displayed dual allegiance and a majority displayed allegiance to neither organisation. The best predictors of allegiance were perceptions of trade union performance and job satisfaction. Those showing dual allegiance also indicated lowest propensity to leave the company. These results, from a key sector of manufacturing industry, show little evidence of high employee involvement. The most typical response would appear to be: ‘a plague on both your houses’.