A multidimensional approach to employee participation and the association with social identification in organizations

Abstract

Purpose

Employee participation is often suggested to improve employees' relations to the organization. A multidimensional perspective on employee participation may heighten its specificity. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate the relationships between multiple dimensions of employee participation and social identification.

Design/methodology/approach

The study applies questionnaire data from 166 hospital employees, i.e. nurses, physicians and medical secretaries, in a cross‐sectional design. Hierarchical regression analyses were applied to investigate the hypothesized associations.

Findings

The results showed that individual influence on proximal (i.e. work‐related) issues predicted organizational identification. The relevance of proximal issues and psychological involvement in relation to direct participation were suggested to explain why this particular dimension of participation is directly associated with organizational identification. The result qualifies the theoretical notion that participation symbolically signals inclusion and status in the organization.

Research limitations/implications

The result emphasizing participation in decisions about work issues may be limited to the highly meaningful patient work in the health care context. Future studies are to establish if the findings may be generalised to other contexts.

Originality/value

The originality of the study lies in the applied combination of participation dimensions, the inclusion of organizational identity at different social foci, and the application of social identity as a theoretically well‐grounded concept of employees' relations to their organization.

Citation

Joensson, T. (2008), "A multidimensional approach to employee participation and the association with social identification in organizations", Employee Relations, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 594-607. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450810910000