American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Voice at Work
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 17,
no. 3, July 2025
(pp. 271–309)
Abstract
We estimate the effects of worker voice on productivity, job quality, and separations. We study the 1991 introduction of a right to worker representation on boards or advisory councils in Finnish firms with at least 150 employees, designed to facilitate workforce-management communication. Consistent with information-sharing theories, our difference-in-differences design reveals that worker voice raised labor productivity. In contrast to exit-voice theory, we find no effects on voluntary job separations. However, treated firms reduce involuntary separations (during our recessionary sample period). A 2008 introduction of shop-floor representation, another worker voice institution preexisting in our main firm sample, had more limited effects.Citation
Harju, Jarkko, Simon Jäger, and Benjamin Schoefer. 2025. "Voice at Work." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 17 (3): 271–309. DOI: 10.1257/app.20220451Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J53 Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
- J63 Labor Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
- M54 Personnel Economics: Labor Management