The determinants of work autonomy and employee involvement: A multilevel analysis

Abstract

Although work autonomy (WA) and employee involvement (EI) are often subsumed into a single construct in the literature, we argue that there is theoretical and empirical ground to meaningfully distinguish the two notions. To better understand a) the extent to which WA and EI are distinct constructs and b) the factors that explain their respective levels, we use the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey to build sound indexes of WA and EI, provide a picture of the level of both constructs in 31 European countries and analyse their predictors through multilevel structural models. The results show that WA and EI differ significantly in what concerns their macro-level but not micro-level predictors. Whereas union density and generalised trust strongly influence EI, only generalised trust impacts WA. Documenting that generalised trust as a macro-social trait is powerfully associated with organizational choices is a key contribution of the paper.