UNIONIZATION, UNION INVOLVEMENT, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF GAINSHARING PROGRAMS

This study empirically examines the relationships between union status , union involvement, and the performance of gainsharing programs. Usin g survey data from 217 establishments in the U.S.A. and Canada, the au thors evaluate the predictions of various competing theoretical perspe ctives: the agency/transaction cost approach, the monopoly model, the institutional voice model and a ''two faces'' model of labour organiza tion. Ordered-probit and OLS regression results show that gainsharing programs with union involvement in program administration resulted in better perceived performance than average programs in the nonunion sec tor. However gainsharing programs in the union sector without union in volvement had worse outcomes than those in the nonunion sector. These two divergent situations resulted in union status itself having an ins ignificant relationship with program performance. These results are mo st compatible with the ''two faces'' model.