Grease or Grit?: International Case Studies of Occupational Licensing and Its Effects on Efficiency and Quality

The book provides a comprehensive approach to whether a dominant governmental institution in the labor market-occupational licensing-greases, which enhances, or on the other hand results in grit, which diminishes the efficient workings of labor and service markets in parts of Europe and the United States. The detailed case studies in the book indicate that an increase in the availability of service providers or enhanced competition does not have negative effects on the quality of the services provided, prices, or survey measures of consumer satisfaction.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1288/thumbnail.jp

Investigating the structure and meaning of public service motivation across populations: Developing an international instrument and addressing issues of measurement invariance

The growth in international research on public service motivation (PSM) raises a number of important questions about the degree to which the theory and research developed in one country can contribute to our understanding of PSM in other counties. To help address this issue, this study revisits the conceptual and operational definitions of PSM to address weaknesses previously noted in the literature. Although some important steps have been taken to both improve and internationalize the PSM scale, this work has been done incrementally. In contrast, this study takes a more systematic and comprehensive approach by combining the efforts of international PSM scholars to develop and then test a revised measurement instrument for PSM in 12 countries. Although the resulting four dimensional 16-item measure of PSM reported here provides a better theoretical and empirical foundation for the measurement of PSM, our results suggest that the exact meaning and scaling of PSM dimensions are likely to differ across cultures and languages. These results raise serious concerns regarding the ability to develop a single universal scale of PSM, or making direct comparisons of PSM across countries. © 2012 The Author

Occupational Regulation in the European Union: Coverage and Wage Effects

We present the first EU-wide study on the prevalence and labour market impactof occupational regulation in the European Union. Drawing on a new EU Surveyof Regulated Occupations, we find that licensing affects about 22 per cent ofworkers in the European Union, although there is significant variability acrossmember states and occupations. On average, licensing is associated with a 4per cent higher hourly wage. Using decomposition techniques we show that rentcapture accounts for one-third of this effect and the remainder is attributed tosignalling. We find considerable heterogeneity in the wage gains by occupationand level of educational attainment. Finally, occupational licensing increaseswage inequality. After accounting for composition effects, licensing increases thestandard deviation of wages by about 0.02 log point

An anatomy of zero-hour contracts in the United Kingdom

We present the first attempt to locate zero-hour contract (ZHC) jobs—jobs that lack a guaranteed minimum number of hours—within theoretical frameworks of the employment relationship and occupational class and empirically explore their characteristics using successive UK Labour Force Surveys. In line with these theories, we find this contentious form of employment to be strongly differentiated by the nature of occupational tasks and to overlap with nonstandard employment features (e.g., part-time, temporary). They are also highly concentrated in a small number of occupations and sectors, with over half of ZHC jobs found in just 10 occupations. We further show that ZHCs are associated with indicators of inferior job quality such as low pay and underemployment. Although we find no evidence that ZHCs are a particularly pervasive feature of the UK labour market, further growth cannot be ruled out in certain occupations

The Role of CEOs in the Sustainability of Defined Benefit Pension Plans

This is the final version. Available on open access from Wiley via the DOI in this recordThe future of defined benefit (DB) pensions is a hotly debated topic in reward management. Drawing on agency and managerial power theories, we examine the conditions under which CEOs can affect their sustainability. We find when the CEO is a member of the same DB plan as their employees or when the CEO is both a member and a trustee of the plan, this affects the agency and power dynamics increasing the likelihood of these plans being retained. To address endogeneity concerns, we use propensity score matching to mimic randomization and our results continue to hold. Using the introduction of pension tax penalties as an exogenous shock on CEO self-interest, we find it affects the propensity of DB plan closures. Our study highlights the key role that CEO incentives play on pensionprovision decisions and indicates how HR practitioners/regulators can harness CEO selfinterest to safeguard the sustainability of DB pension plans

The gender representation gap: implications for workplace union effectiveness

This article investigates how the gender of workplace representatives has implications for three dimensions of union effectiveness: (i) responsiveness to members; (ii) opportunity to influence management; (iii) ability to bring about change. Utilising original analysis of the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS), we examine three core elements of workplace employment relations processes that cut across the three dimensions: (i) workplace representation processes and employer support for union activity; (ii) substantive areas of representative involvement; (iii) quality of relations between union representatives and management, and between union representatives and employees. Our analysis highlights significant gender differences embedded in all three processes. The conclusion considers the broader implications of these findings for the gender equality project of British trade unions, beyond the objective of merely seeking to increase the numbers of women representatives