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Digitalisation, unions and ‘country-effect’: Does union strength at the workplace matter?

Caroline Lloyd & Jonathan Payne

Journal of Industrial Relations2025https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856251326682article
AJG 2ABDC A
Weight
0.41

Abstract

Trade unions are potentially important actors in shaping digitalisation to benefit workers. Research suggests that supportive national labour market institutions can help unions to influence digital change. This article considers the reach of national institutions, or ‘country effect’, and its relationship with union strength at the workplace. It applies a multi-level analysis to explore union influence over digital technology in the food and drink processing sector in Norway and the UK, two countries with starkly contrasting institutions. Drawing on interviews with officers and shop stewards in two unions, it compares a sample of workplaces with relatively strong and weak union organisation. The findings indicate union strength at the workplace has a more significant impact on unions' role in digitalisation in Norway, where there are strong institutional supports, than in the UK where these are lacking. The article contributes to analysing the relationship between ‘country-effect’ and union power in the shaping of digitalisation.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856251326682

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@article{caroline2025,
  title        = {{Digitalisation, unions and ‘country-effect’: Does union strength at the workplace matter?}},
  author       = {Caroline Lloyd & Jonathan Payne},
  journal      = {Journal of Industrial Relations},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856251326682},
}

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.