Abstract:
legal environment facing the unions have changed, throwing them into clutches of adversity and destitution.
The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons (i.e. antecedents) behind workers’ participation in union
activities (such as strikes, rallies, demonstrations) in today’s scenario, and to understand how these
participation tactics influence workers’ performance (i.e. worker behavior effectiveness) at work.
Design/methodology/approach – A range of published sources is drawn on, including quantitative,
survey based and qualitative, case-study and other evidence for building the conceptual review.
Findings – The investigation clearly indicates that contemporary challenges facing unions in the present
scenario prompt industrial actions. Only specific and genuine grievances and justifiable demands motivate
workers to form a strong emotional attachment to their unions and engage in union participation activities
such as strike activity (Darlington, 2006; Bean and Stoney, 1986).
Originality/value – Contrary to the traditional view, which sights unions as detrimental to worker
productivity, turnover, and attendance at work (via restrictive work rules, featherbedding and disruptive
strikes or other adversarial tactics), the investigation, through extensive review of literature proposes that
unions positively influence worker behavior at work. The model, however, requires empirical testing to
validate the proposed relationships.
Keywords Qualitative, Trade unions, Conceptual model, Antecedents of union participation,
Union participation, Worker behaviour effectiveness
