The influence of financial participation and participation in decision-making on employee job attitudes

Abstract

This study investigates the direct and indirect effects of financial participation (FP) and participation in decision-making (PDM) on employee job attitudes. The central premise is that both financial participation and participation in decision-making have effects on job attitudes, such as integration, involvement and commitment, perceived pay equity, performance-reward contingencies, satisfaction and motivation. After reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature and testing two theoretical frameworks, developed by Long (1978a) and Florkowski (1989), a new model was constructed to consider a combined effects of both FP and PDM, herein referred to as employee participation (EP). The underpinning of the model is based on the assumption that both (a) the combination of financial participation and participation in decision-making (‘employee participation’), and (b) participation in decision-making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes. The test of the new model showed that employee participation does not produce more favourable effects on employee job attitudes, than does participation in decision-making on its own. The data were gathered from a questionnaire study administered in a large British retail organization that operates two types of ownership schemes – profit-sharing and SAYE schemes.

Keywords:

• Financial participation (profit sharing and SAYE schemes)
• participation in decision-making
• employee participation
• job attitudes

Notes

Assistant Professor Dr  Ismail Bakan (address for correspondence): Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, The Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, The Department of Business Administration, 46060 Kahramanmaras, Turkey (tel:[phone] ext. 396; fax:[phone]; e-mail: [email protected]). Yuliani Suseno, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. Dr  Ashly Pinnington, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. Professor Arthur Money, Henley Management College, Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 3AU, UK.