Colleagues
Please access this month's issue of the ILR Review online, with articles covering a wide range of workplace, labor market, and trade union issues in the US and abroad.
Rose Batt and Larry Kahn, editors
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ILR Review
Volume: 70, Number: 4 (August 2017)
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This issue is now available at:
http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ilra/70/4
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Articles
Union Membership and Charitable Giving in the United States
Jonathan E. Booth, Daniela Lup, Mark Williams*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 835-864.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916677595
Abstract: Using U.S. panel data from 2001–2011, the authors examine general differences in charitable giving between union members, free-riders, and the nonunionized. Results indicate that union members are more likely to give and to give more to charity relative to the nonunionized, whereas free-riders are the least generous. Similar effects are found when examining the question of who joins a union or who becomes a free-rider: joining a union positively affects charitable giving, while becoming a free-rider makes individuals' behavior less charitable. Evidence also suggests that the positive effect of union membership on giving does not diminish over time. Taken together, these results provide new evidence that union membership generates civic engagement in the form of charitable behavior; results also suggest the need to further investigate the civic behavior of free-riders.
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Are Voluntary Agreements Better? Evidence from Baseball Arbitration
John W. Budd, Aaron Sojourner, Jaewoo Jung∗
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 865-893.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916661305
Abstract: This study empirically examines the widespread belief that voluntarily negotiated agreements produce better long-run relationships than do third-party imposed resolutions, such as arbitrator decisions or court judgments. Major League Baseball provides a compelling setting for these analyses because individual performance is well measured, there is the possibility of relationship breakdown, and both voluntary and arbitrator-imposed resolutions routinely occur. Two key outcomes are analyzed: post-resolution player performance and the durability of the club–player relationship. Multivariate analyses of 1,424 salary renegotiations fail to find significant differences in subsequent player performance, but voluntary resolutions are associated with more durable post-resolution club–player relationships.
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Trust-Based Work Time and Innovation: Evidence from Firm-Level Data
Olivier N. Godart, Holger Görg, Aoife Hanley*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 894-918.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916676259
Abstract: The authors explore whether the introduction of trust-based working hours is related to the subsequent innovation performance of firms. Based on a panel data set of German establishments, the study uses a propensity score matching approach that considers only firms that did not use trust-based work contracts initially. Results show that firms that adopt such contracts tend to be 12 to 15% more likely to improve products and 6 to 7% more likely to undertake process innovation. These results hold when controlling for another form of flexible working-time arrangement, namely working-time accounts. Thus, the positive relationship between the adoption of trust-based working hours and innovation seems to be driven by the degree of employee control and self-management over working time, rather than by merely allowing working-time flexibility.
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Trade Unions in Segmented Labor Markets: Evidence from the German Metal and Chemical Sectors
Lisa Dorigatti*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 919-941.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916677993
Abstract: Drawing on case studies in the German metal and chemical sectors, this article addresses trade unions' behavior toward employers' labor market segmentation strategies and, in particular, their use of outsourcing. Findings illustrate that, contrary to the expectations of the dualization literature, trade unions do not always give priority to their core constituency over the interests of temporary or peripheral workers. Union actions are not solely determined by the aim of defending the interests of their current members but depend instead on the interrelationship between unions' identity and their members' and organizational interests.
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Do Firms Demand Temporary Workers When They Face Workload Fluctuation? Cross-Country Firm-Level Evidence
Vanessa Dräger, Paul Marx*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 942-975.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916687718
Abstract: The growth of temporary employment is one of the most important transformations of labor markets in the past decades. Theoretically, firms' exposure to short-term workload fluctuations is a major determinant of employing temporary workers when employment protection for permanent workers is high. The authors investigate this relationship empirically with establishment-level data in a broad comparative framework. They create two novel data sets by merging 1) data on 18,500 European firms with 2) measures of labor-market institutions for 20 countries. Results show that fluctuations increase the probability of hiring temporary workers by 8 percentage points in countries with strict employment protection laws. No such effect is observed in countries with weaker employment protections. Results are robust to subgroups, subsamples, and alternative estimation strategies.
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Pension Structure and Employee Turnover: Evidence from a Large Public Pension System
Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, Kristian L. Holden*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 976-1007.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916678424
Abstract: Public pension systems in many U.S. states face large funding shortfalls, and policymakers have considered moving toward defined contribution (DC) pension structures in the interest of reducing the likelihood of future shortfalls. Concerns exist, however, that such changes might increase levels of employee turnover. The empirical evidence on the relationship between pension structure and turnover is mixed, and is quite limited in the case of public-sector plans. The authors study a single class of public-sector employees (teachers) who are enrolled in either a traditional defined benefit (DB) plan or a hybrid DB-DC plan during overlapping periods of time. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the authors find little evidence that the introduction of the hybrid plan increased employee turnover; in fact, they find that turnover is lower among teachers who transferred out of the DB plan into the hybrid plan. Employers may benefit by shifting the debate away from plan structure per se and toward a discussion of how to provide employees with pension plans they will highly value.
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The Effectiveness of Demand-Side Government Intervention to Promote Elderly Employment: Evidence from Japan
Ayako Kondo, Hitoshi Shigeoka*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1008-1036.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916676490
Abstract: In this article, the authors examine the effect of a demand-side government intervention on employment of the elderly. The growing gap between the increasing pension eligibility age and the mandatory retirement age has emerged as a serious social concern in Japan. Starting in 2006, the government legally mandated employers to offer continuous employment up to the increased pension eligibility age. By comparing cohorts affected and unaffected by the policy, the authors find that such legal enforcement increases the employment rate of men in their early 60s. Furthermore, the effect is concentrated on employees at large-sized firms, where mandatory retirement was applied more strictly in the past. The authors then examine potential complementarity between pension reform-the conventional supply-side intervention-and the demand-side intervention. Evidence suggests that the impact of an increase in pension eligibility age on elderly employment is slightly larger when combined with legal demand-side enforcement.
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The Effect of Potential Activations on the Employment of Military Reservists: Evidence from a Field Experiment
Theodore F. Figinski*
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1037-1056.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793916679601
Abstract: U.S. military reservists are primarily employed in the civilian labor market. During periods of military conflict, such as the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the government may call reservists to full-time military service, requiring reservists to leave their civilian jobs. Federal law requires employers to rehire reservists once their full-time military service ends and also prohibits employers from discriminating against reservists because of their military membership. This article uses a résumé study to examine how the labor market protections provided to reservists and the potential labor market absences affect the employment outcomes of reservists. The results suggest that current membership in the Reserves, as compared to previous membership, reduces the probability of receiving a request for a job interview by 10.7%.
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Book Reviews
Book Review:
The Vanishing American Corporation: Navigating the Hazards of a New Economy
Dionne Pohler
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1057-1058.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793917710929
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Book Review:
Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science
Daniel S. Hamermesh
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1058-1060.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793917710649
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Book Review:
Labour Regulation and Development: Socio-Legal Perspectives
Kelly Pike
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1060-1062.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793917710651
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Book Review:
Politicized Enforcement in Argentina: Labor and Environmental Regulation
Matthew Carnes
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1062-1064.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793917710652
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Book Review:
Achieving Workers' Rights in the Global Economy
Matthew Fischer-Daly
ILR Review, Vol. 70, No. 4: 1064-1066.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793917710653
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