The quality of work life activities which exist in a sample of knitwear companies in Southwestern Ontario were described. Three levels of activity were identified: (1) active companies were largely non-unionized, with high annual sales, high levels of technology and an articulated corporate responsibility toward employees; (2) midrange companies were privately owned, unionized, with a medium level of technology; and (3) inactive companies were young, privately-owned companies with low technology levels and were attempting to establish corporate stability. Employees of midrange companies were more satisfied with “working conditions”, “social integration”, “constitutionalism” and “work and life components than were employees of the active companies. The discrepancy theory of satisfaction was used to explain this result.
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