‘Americanization’ and the drivers of the establishment and use of works councils in three post‐socialist countries

Richard Croucher,Paul N. Gooderham,Alexander Madsen Sandvik

doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12408

Abstract

AbstractWe question notions of the ‘Americanization’ of employment relations in Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia. First, we examine the roles of unions, the use of US strategic approach to Human Resource Management (SHRM), and management perceptions of their organisations' innovativeness in the establishment of Works Council (WCs). Second, we employ the same variables in relation to the use of WCs for downward communication in these countries in comparison with what Amable (2003, https://doi.org/10.1093/019926113X.001.0001) terms the Continental European Coordinated Market Economy (CECME) of Austria, adding the CECMEs Germany and Norway as control variables. Union influence drives the adoption of WCs and their use for management downward communication. Hence, on our measures the three countries share features of the CECME category and have not been ‘Americanized’.

Highlights

Our primary purpose is to employ institutional theory to question notions of the ‘Americanization’ of employment relations (Cretu & Morrison, 2017; Meardi, 2013, p. 69) in Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia by assessing their proximity to Austria
In addition to examining the roles of unions and Strategic Human Resource Management (HRM), we examine whether works organisations whose managers perceive them as being relatively innovative are more favourable to adopting Works Council (WC)
When we examine the antecedents of the adoption of WCs in Slovenia, Croatia, and Slovakia only, the total number of work organisations is 629

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Our primary purpose is to employ institutional theory to question notions of the ‘Americanization’ of employment relations (Cretu & Morrison, 2017; Meardi, 2013, p. 69) in Slovenia, Slovakia, and Croatia by assessing their proximity to Austria. Little extensive research exists on WCs in Austria, Kotthoff (1994) and Halgmann (2019) suggest that for Germany once established, how successful WCs are as effective workplace governance institutions depends on internal management-employee relations far more than on legal detail. Once WCs are introduced, the extent to which managements use them for downward communication derives from essentially relational motives This causes us to suppose that while WC legal frameworks in Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia are weaker than in Austria, strong management-works councillor social relations may develop in work organisations in these countries. H5b In work organisations in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia with WCs, union influence positively affects the use of WCs as channels for downward communication. We hypothesise: H7 In work organisations in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia with WCs, the more innovative a work organisation perceives itself to be, the more likely it is to use WCs for downward communication

| METHOD

| RESULTS

HQ other

13. Density

| DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS