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High Performance Work Practices and Employee Voice: A Comparison of Japanese and Korean Workers
Author(s) -
BAE KIUSIK,
CHUMA HIROYUKI,
KATO TAKAO,
KIM DONGBAE,
OHASHI ISAO
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2010.00623.x
Subject(s) - productivity , work (physics) , business , quality (philosophy) , process (computing) , empirical evidence , industrial organization , aircraft industry , marketing , labour economics , computer science , economics , mechanical engineering , engineering , aeronautics , economic growth , philosophy , epistemology , operating system
Using a unique new cross‐national survey of Japanese and Korean workers, we report the first systematic evidence on the effects on employee voice of High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) from the two economies that are noted for the wide use of HPWPs. We find for both nations that: (i) workers in firms with HPWPs aimed at creating opportunities for employees to get involved (such as shopfloor committees and small group activities) are indeed more likely to have stronger senses of influence and voice on shopfloor decision making than other workers; (ii) workers whose pay is tied to firm performance are more likely to have a stake in firm performance and hence demand such influence and voice; and (iii) consequently workers in firms with HPWPs are more likely to make frequent suggestions for productivity increase and quality improvement. As such, this paper contributes to a small yet growing new empirical literature that tries to understand the actual process and mechanism through which HPWPs lead to better enterprise performance.