Job satisfaction and employee’s unionization decision: The mediating effect of perceived union instrumentality

Abstract

Purpose: Given the current lack of literature in the background of China labor force, this study aims to investigate the relationships among job satisfaction, perceived union instrumentality, and unionization from a reference-frame-based perspective and explore the referred relationships in the context of Chinese labor market.

Design/methodology/approach: The study introduces perceived union instrumentality as a mediator to the relationship between job satisfaction and unionization. The applicability of western theories was tested in the Chinese context by a questionnaire survey on 390 employees who were working in private sectors of Jiangsu Province in China. Four hypothesis were proposed and tested by data analysis to verify the model.

Findings and Originality/value: The study found that most aspects of job satisfaction were negatively correlated with unionization and perceived union instrumentality, while perceived union instrumentality had a positive relationship with unionization. Perceived union instrumentality was also found to have a mediating effect on the relationship between job satisfaction and unionization.

Originality/value: The paper adapted and tested a number of western industrial relation theories in the backdrop of China, contributing to the gap in Chinese-context research by examining the relationships between job satisfaction, unionization and union instrumentality of Chinese employees. It pays a regular contribution to labor union studies both inside and outside China.