{"title":"Works councils and workers’ party preferences in Germany","authors":"Uwe Jirjahn, Thi Xuan Thu Le","doi":"10.1111/bjir.12823","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Research on the consequences of works councils has been dominated by economic aspects. Our study provides evidence that works councils have non‐financial consequences for society that go beyond the boundaries of the workplace. Using panel data from a large sample of workers in Germany, we show that works councils have an influence on workers’ party preferences. Works council presence is negatively associated with preferences for extreme right‐wing parties and positively associated with preferences for the Social Democratic Party and The Left. These results hold in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. Our findings fit the notion that workplace democracy increases workers’ solidarity and their awareness of social and political issues. However, the influence of works council representation on party preferences is gender‐specific. Asymmetric gender norms within society may entail a lower responsiveness of women's party preferences to workplace democracy.","PeriodicalId":47846,"journal":{"name":"British Journal of Industrial Relations","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"British Journal of Industrial Relations","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/bjir.12823","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOR","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Research on the consequences of works councils has been dominated by economic aspects. Our study provides evidence that works councils have non‐financial consequences for society that go beyond the boundaries of the workplace. Using panel data from a large sample of workers in Germany, we show that works councils have an influence on workers’ party preferences. Works council presence is negatively associated with preferences for extreme right‐wing parties and positively associated with preferences for the Social Democratic Party and The Left. These results hold in panel data estimations including a large set of controls and accounting for unobserved individual‐specific factors. Our findings fit the notion that workplace democracy increases workers’ solidarity and their awareness of social and political issues. However, the influence of works council representation on party preferences is gender‐specific. Asymmetric gender norms within society may entail a lower responsiveness of women's party preferences to workplace democracy.
期刊介绍:
BJIR (British Journal of Industrial Relations) is an influential and authoritative journal which is essential reading for all academics and practitioners interested in work and employment relations. It is the highest ranked European journal in the Industrial Relations & Labour category of the Social Sciences Citation Index. BJIR aims to present the latest research on developments on employment and work from across the globe that appeal to an international readership. Contributions are drawn from all of the main social science disciplines, deal with a broad range of employment topics and express a range of viewpoints.