Managerial Orientations and Workers' Job Responses in Labour-Owned and Private Industrial Plants in Israel

Abstract

The study compares the managerial orientations and workers' attitudes in labour- owned enterprises to those in privately owned enterprises in Israel. Data were collected by means of closed questionnaires from production managers and 847 production workers in a representative sample of 57 industrial plants stratified by size and sector of ownership. Contrary to the expectations derived from the formal ideology of labour control, no differences were found in the orientations of line managers to workers and in the work centrality, job satisfaction and identification with the enterprise of workers in labour-owned plants as compared to privately owned plants. It was found, however, that in small plants managerial orientations explain more variance of workers' responses, especially of work centrality, in labour as compared to private plants. In large plants, these stronger relationships were not found. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for labour ownership and worker outcomes, both from a general theoretical point of view and in the context of the labour economy in Israel.