Employee participation and representation in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Using data from the 2013 European Company Survey, this article presents a study of employee involvement and participation (EIP) in decision-making in 12 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, a context that is rather less studied but interesting because of its political past and its current emerging economic status. The study explores how these countries can be clustered according to positive employee attitude towards employee representation (ER) and EIP in decision-making. It examines the association between these two components and the effectiveness of the ER body, as well as whether there are differences between country clusters. Finally, the article examines how the degree of EIP in decision-making is related to ER body effectiveness. This research contributes to prior work by seeking to understand EIP in decision-making in an understudied sample of CEE countries and provides an insightful classification.