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Book part
Publication date: 8 May 2018

Janet Boguslaw and Sarah Taghvai-Soroui

This chapter and case study examine how and which structured elements of an employee-owned business contribute to building the economic security and asset wealth of the…

Abstract

This chapter and case study examine how and which structured elements of an employee-owned business contribute to building the economic security and asset wealth of the lowest-wage and skilled employees of the firm. It paves the way for greater understanding about how intentionally structured workplaces can address wealth inequality and economic security through income and non-income opportunity systems.

The study draws upon qualitative interviews with four members of management, two plant managers, and 12 low-income employee-owners. Company documents and confidential employee data were provided for direct research analysis. Interviews took place at company locations, and covered employees from all shifts.

Employee ownership structures provide an important tool for advancing policy support and management practices to rebuild the wealth building benefits of work for low-income workers.

To ensure confidentiality, the study is anonymized and does not directly draw on the worker-owner interviews. This limits the opportunity to demonstrate the effect of structure on workforce; nonetheless, the empirical data tell an important story.

Expanding wealth inequality and economic precarity among low- and moderate-income workers has raised broad debates about how shifts in the structure of work, through new business, capital, and ownership structures, may be contributing to these social problems.

The employee benefits of employee ownership are not fully studied. This case contributes to understanding how employee ownership may reduce gender and racial wealth gaps, build family well-being, and become a model for structuring opportunity for those traditionally left out of the economic mainstream.

Details

Employee Ownership and Employee Involvement at Work: Case Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-520-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 November 2021

Jenny Weissbourd, Maureen Conway, Joyce Klein, Yoorie Chang, Douglas Kruse, Melissa Hoover, Todd Leverette, Julian McKinley and Zen Trenholm

The paper discusses the relationship between systemic inequity and wealth disparity and advocates for expanding employee share ownership as a strategy to address divides in income…

Abstract

Purpose

The paper discusses the relationship between systemic inequity and wealth disparity and advocates for expanding employee share ownership as a strategy to address divides in income and wealth by race and gender. It targets diverse actors including policymakers, philanthropic leaders and social investors and presents a set of policy proposals and practice ideas that seek to advance a broader understanding of employee share ownership and build the capacity of key organizations to support employee-owned businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on data indicating positive outcomes from employee share ownership programs (ESOPs) related to job quality, economic stability and wealth-building, as well as widespread political support for ESOPs.

Findings

This paper suggests that employee share ownership can help to strengthen job quality and address race and gender income and wealth gaps. It argues that there is both public support and a range of different strategies actors can implement to expand awareness and access to different forms of employee share ownership.

Research limitations/implications

Additional research focused on other forms of employee share ownership (beyond ESOPs) is needed to deepen understanding of how each form can play a role in addressing racial and gender wealth inequities. The paper acknowledges that despite the potential of employee share ownership to mitigate racial and gender wealth gaps, additional simultaneous strategies are required to address the range of systemic barriers that have disproportionately limited women and people of color's participation in ESOPs.

Practical implications

Policymakers are actively seeking new proposals, while philanthropic leaders, social investors and others are also eager to build awareness and understanding of employee ownership models and develop the institutional capacity necessary to support strong employee-owned businesses. This paper directly responds to these needs and contributes to a broader collaborative effort to spread employee share ownership policies and practices that support economic recovery and lay the foundation for a more equitable and resilient economy.

Social implications

Employee share ownership is not yet a strategy that is well understood among policymakers and the public, but it connects to and supports outcomes that are top of mind for many, including increasing local ownership and bolstering local economies, helping small business owners retire in ways that preserve local jobs and businesses, strengthening job quality and workforce development, addressing racial inequity and economic inequality and providing workers greater voice and agency. This paper seeks to connect employee ownership to these high-priority issues and support efforts by a range of organizations to implement policy and practice solutions.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to aggregate recent research on the relationship between employee share ownership and wealth inequities on the basis of race and gender. It also offers a timely argument that employee ownership strategies can play an important role in responding to the challenges facing communities and workers – particularly women workers and workers of color – as we rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-7641

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 April 2023

Sarah Reibstein and Laura Hanson Schlachter

Worker cooperative practitioners and developers often claim that democratic worker ownership advances egalitarianism within and beyond the workplace, but most of the empirical…

Abstract

Purpose

Worker cooperative practitioners and developers often claim that democratic worker ownership advances egalitarianism within and beyond the workplace, but most of the empirical evidence in the USA is based on ethnographic case studies or small-scale surveys. This study aims to leverage the first national survey about individuals' experiences in these unique firms to test for the presence of inequalities by gender, race and immigration status in the broader sector.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a 2017 survey comprising a sample of 1,147 workers from 82 firms. This study focuses on measures of workplace benefits that capture material and psychological ownership, wealth accumulation, wages, workplace autonomy and participation in governance. This study uses ordinary least squares regression models with fixed effects alongside pooled models to determine the effects of gender, race, immigration status and the intersection of gender and race on these outcomes, both within and between firms.

Findings

This study finds no evidence of wage gaps by gender, race or immigration status within worker cooperatives, with job type, tenure and worker ownership status instead explaining within-firm variation in pay. Still, this study documents sector-wide disparities in material and non-material outcomes by gender, race and immigration status, reflecting differences in individual-level human capital and job characteristics as well as widespread occupational segregation and homophily.

Originality/value

The paper offers a novel contribution to the literature on workplace empowerment and inequality in participatory firms by analyzing race, gender and immigration status in the most robust dataset that has been collected on worker cooperatives in the USA.

Details

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-7641

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 October 2021

Aleksandra Gaweł and Katarzyna Mroczek-Dąbrowska

Although several theoretical concepts imply different determinants of female entrepreneurship, the literature lacks a consensus on their significance. The aim of this paper is to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Although several theoretical concepts imply different determinants of female entrepreneurship, the literature lacks a consensus on their significance. The aim of this paper is to verify how industry specificity influences the gender pay gap and its relation to female entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors distinguish industries based on the gender equality level, measured jointly by two factors: pay gap level and female participation rate. The study has been conducted among 22 European countries with relatively similar institutional backgrounds. The authors carry out the analysis based on the panel regression models, which enable the authors to verify two predefined research questions.

Findings

The results of panel regression models indicate that industry specificity plays a significant role in the relation between the pay gap and female entrepreneurship. Generally, it can be concluded that gender pay gap as a measure of gender inequality is dependent on the industry specificity. The dependence is especially visible in the breakdown of male- and female-dominated industries.

Originality/value

The findings are consistent with the assumption that the gender pay gap is a discriminatory factor for women willing to become entrepreneurs in certain industries. The findings of the study may constitute a vital tool in planning to overcome it.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 43 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 October 2023

Aleksandra Gaweł, Katarzyna Mroczek-Dąbrowska and Malgorzata Bartosik-Purgat

As women’s position in the economy and society is often explained by cultural factors, this study aims to verify whether the observed changes in female empowerment in the region…

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Abstract

Purpose

As women’s position in the economy and society is often explained by cultural factors, this study aims to verify whether the observed changes in female empowerment in the region of Central and East European (CEE) countries of the European Union (EU) are associated with masculinity as a cultural trait.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply the k-means clustering method to group CEE countries into clusters with similar levels of female empowerment in two time points – 2013 and 2019. Next, the authors examine the clusters and cross-reference them with the national culture’s masculinity to explore the interrelations between female empowerment and cultural traits in the CEE countries and their development in time.

Findings

The analyses reveal that female empowerment is not uniform or stable across the CEE countries. The masculinity level is not strongly related to women’s position in these countries, and changes in female empowerment are not closely linked to masculinity.

Originality/value

Despite the tumultuous history of women’s empowerment in the CEE countries, the issues related to gender equality and cultural traits pertaining to the region are relatively understudied in the literature. By focusing on the CEE region, the authors fill the gap in examining the independencies between female empowerment and cultural masculinity.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal , vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 8 May 2018

Abstract

Details

Employee Ownership and Employee Involvement at Work: Case Studies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-520-7

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 March 2024

Camila Alvarenga and Cicero Braga

In Brazil, over 4.7 million women enrolled in university in the year 2017. However, Brazilian women have been consistently overrepresented in humanities and care majors and…

Abstract

Purpose

In Brazil, over 4.7 million women enrolled in university in the year 2017. However, Brazilian women have been consistently overrepresented in humanities and care majors and underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Given that observed gender differences in math-intensive fields have lasting effects on gender inequality in the labor market, and that observed gender variations do not necessarily associate with differences in innate ability, in this paper we explore the paths of societal gender bias and gender differences in a Brazilian university.

Design/methodology/approach

We conduct a social experiment at a University in Southeastern Brazil, applying the gender-STEM Implicit Association Test.

Findings

We found that women in STEM are less likely to show gender-STEM implicit stereotypes, compared to women in humanities. The results indicate a negative correlation between implicit gender stereotyping and the choice of math-intensive majors by women.

Originality/value

The stereotype-congruent results are indicative of the gender bias in Brazilian society, and suggest that stereotypes created at early stages in life are directly related to future outcomes that reinforce gender disparities in Brazil, which can be observed in career choices.

Details

EconomiA, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1517-7580

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Huiping Xian

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Abstract

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2018

Christopher R. Reutzel, Jamie D. Collins and Carrie A. Belsito

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of business leader gender on the pursuit of innovation opportunities. Extant research suggests that leader gender represents…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of business leader gender on the pursuit of innovation opportunities. Extant research suggests that leader gender represents an important characteristic that shapes firm behavior in various ways. The authors build upon this research by relating business leader gender, perceptions of environmental munificence and distributive justice to firm investment in innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines the survey responses of 469 business leaders in India. These individuals were primarily responsible for their firms. Their responses to survey questions were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression.

Findings

The results of this study suggest that female-led firms exhibit less investment in innovation than male-led firms. Results also suggest that female business leaders perceive less environmental munificence as well as distributive justice. Finally, study results suggest that the effect of gender on firm investment in innovation is mediated by perceptions of distributive justice.

Originality/value

This study provides an empirical link between business leader gender and firm investment in innovation. In doing so, it acknowledges and provides insight into the gendered nature of the initiation of innovation processes and leadership. Finally, the finding that business leader perceptions of distributive justice mediate the relationship between business leader gender and investment in innovation extends current understanding of the mechanisms underlying the lower investment in innovation rates exhibited by female-led firms.

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2019

Harish Kumar Singla and Amit Hiray

The purpose of this paper is to find the effect of the hedonism value on the investment preference in India.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to find the effect of the hedonism value on the investment preference in India.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the literature review, a measurement model is developed to measure hedonism. Further, the effect of hedonism on investment choices of an individual and the impact of age, gender and income level on investment choices and on hedonism are also measured through a structural equation model (SEM).

Findings

The study finds that the measurement model is reliable, and all five items, that is an exciting life, happiness, pleasure, social recognition and a comfortable life, are an appropriate measure of hedonism. The study finds that hedonists prefer to invest in stock market-related instruments and real estate. The study also ascertains that age and income affect the hedonism value negatively. The findings also indicate that women prefer to invest in fixed income instruments and men prefer to invest in stock market-related instruments. As people grow in age, they prefer to invest in fixed-income instruments and gold as a hedge, thus avoiding risky investments.

Research limitations/implications

The study does not include education and financial literacy of individuals in the model, rather controls these factors by selecting a sample where the minimum educational qualification of the respondent is graduation.

Practical implications

It is assumed that the values that drive an individual have the potential to influence his/her investment choices. Therefore, the study advises the firms offering investment services to their clients to ensure that apart from studying the demographic and risk profile of individuals, they also assess their value system. This can help them target their customers more precisely and serve them better.

Originality/value

The study is perhaps the first attempt to find the effect of personal values (specifically hedonism) on investment choices made by individuals, through the development of an SEM.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 45 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

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