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Worker voice, managerial response and labour productivity: an empirical investigation
Author(s) -
Bryson Alex,
Charlwood Andy,
Forth John
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2006.00414.x
Subject(s) - productivity , business , employee voice , industrial relations , human resource management , perception , psychological intervention , labour economics , economics , psychology , management , economic growth , neuroscience , psychiatry
This article investigates the relationship between worker voice practices, employee perceptions of managerial responsiveness and labour productivity. It argues that managerial responsiveness is a critical but under‐investigated variable in the study of the relationship between worker voice, human resource management and performance. Our results suggest that managerial responsiveness to worker voice does lead to superior labour productivity. However, this relationship is only found in non‐union workplaces and there is little relationship between formal voice regime and productivity. One important implication of this finding is that more responsive management will result in improved productivity, so policy interventions should focus on how to motivate managers to become more responsive to their employees.