What makes an active citizen? A test of multiple links between workplace experiences and civic participation

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on theoretical insights from the cross‐domain scholarship, this article proposes and tests multiple linkages between employees’ workplace experiences and their participation in different types of civic activities. Using data from the European Working Conditions Survey (2015), it explores both positive spillover effects due to work autonomy, decision participation, complex problem solving and satisfaction with work experiences, as well as negative cross‐domain links due to both desirable work experiences, such as accomplishment, and undesirable experiences, such as discrimination. Furthermore, the data allow for exploring the extent to which these links might vary with the type of civic activity: voluntary/charitable or political/union activities. Overall, by unpacking multiple relationships between the workplace and the civic domain, this article advances scholarship on how work conditions and experiences shape employees’ participation in the civic life, and provides some practical implications for employers, civic organizations and policy makers.