The article investigates how environmental and organisational factors may affect union effectiveness in a developing country context. Based on a perceptions survey of union members in the Zambian public service sector, the article uses principal components analysis, correlation, multiple linear regression and mediation analyses to examine relationships between environmental and organisational factors and union effectiveness. Results suggest that labour and product markets and mass media are significant environmental factors influencing union effectiveness. At the organisational level, results suggest that organisational strategies, leadership accountability, innovations and administrative and democratic structuring are significant factors that positively influence union effectiveness. Results also suggest that organisational factors mediate the link between environmental factors and union effectiveness. In this sense, the article provides a striking demonstration of the importance of a strong internal state for the union organisation in mediating the influence of the external environment on the union’s goal of advancing and defending workers’ interests.
BadigannavarVKellyJ (2005) Why are some union organizing campaigns more successful than others?British Journal of Industrial Relations43(3): 515–535.
2.
BarbashJ (1985) Book review: Labour history: ideology and the rise of labour theory in America. Industrial and Labour Review38(3): 456–456.
3.
BaronRMKennyDA (1986) Moderator-mediator variables distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology51(6): 1173–1182.
BoxallPHaynesP (1997) Strategy and trade union effectiveness in a neo-liberal environment. British Journal of Industrial Relations35(4): 567–591.
6.
BrysonA (2005) Working with dinosaurs? Union effectiveness in Britain. In: GallG (ed.) Union Recognition: Organising and Bargaining Outcomes. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 25–43.
7.
BurchielliR (2004) It’s not just numbers: Union employees’ perceptions of union effectiveness. Journal of Industrial Relations46(3): 336–343.
8.
BurchielliRBartramT (2009) What helps organising work? The indicators and the facilitators of organising. Journal of Industrial Relations51(5): 687–707.
9.
CattelRB (1965) Factor analysis: An introduction to essentials. (I) the purpose and underlying models, (II) the role of factor analysis in research. Biometrics21: 190–215, 405–435.
10.
CharlwoodA (2004) Influences on trade union organizing effectiveness in Britain. British Journal of Industrial Relations42(1): 69–93.
11.
ChildJLoveridgeRWarnerM (1973) Towards an organizational study of trade unions. Sociology7(1): 71–91.
12.
ChurchillGA (1979) A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. Journal of Marketing Research16(2): 64–73.
13.
ClarkP (2009) Building More Effective Unions, 2nd edn.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
14.
CSO (2014) Living Conditions Monitoring Survey. Lusaka: Central Statistics Office.
15.
FashoyinT (2008) Employment relations in Zambia. Employee Relations30(4): 391–403.
16.
FioritoJGallG (2012) Why we need a survey of unions. Working USA15(2): 217–232.
17.
FioritoJJarleyPDelaneyJ (1993) National union effectiveness. Research in the Sociology of Organizations12: 111–137.
18.
FioritoJJarleyPDelaneyJ (1995) National union effectiveness in organizing: Measures and influences. Industrial and Labor Relations Review48(4): 613–635.
19.
FioritoJJarleyPDelaneyJ (2001) National unions as organisations. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management20: 231–268.
20.
FregeC (2002) Understanding union effectiveness in Central Eastern Europe: Hungary and Slovenia. European Journal of Industrial Relations8(1): 53–76.
21.
GahanPBellS (1999) Union strategy, membership orientation and union effectiveness: An exploratory analysis. Labour and Industry9(3): 5–30.
22.
GallGFioritoJ (2016) Union effectiveness: In search of the Holy Grail. Economic and Industrial Democracy37(1): 189–211.
23.
HairJBlackWBabinB, et al. (2006) Multivariate Data Analysis, 6th edn.Uppersaddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
24.
HammerTWazeterD (1993) Dimensions of local union effectiveness. Industrial and Labor Relations Review46(2): 302–319.
25.
HayesAFScharkowM (2013) The relative trustworthiness of inferential tests of the indirect effect in statistical mediation: Does method matter?Psychological Science24(10): 1918–1927.
26.
HeeryESimmsM (2008) Constraints on union organising in the United Kingdom. Industrial Relations Journal39(1): 24–42.
27.
HurdRWBehrensM (2003) Structural change and union transformation. In: Proceedings of the Fifty-fifth Meeting of the Industrial Relations Research Association. Available at: http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles/887
28.
HymanR (2007) How can trade unions act strategically?Transfer13(2): 193–210.
29.
KimJMuellerCW (1978) Factor Analysis: Statistical Methods and Practical Issues. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
30.
KochanTA (1980) Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
31.
MadimutsaCPrestoriusLG (2017) Revisiting trade union responses to new public management: A case from Zambia. Public Personnel Management46(3): 288–307.
32.
ManningN (2001) The legacy of the new public management in developing countries. International Review of Administrative Sciences67(2): 297–312.
MohamedSShamsudinMJohariH (2010) Union organisation and effectiveness: An empirical study on an in house union in Malaysia. Akademika78 (January–April): 89–94.
35.
NeilJT (2008) Enhancing life effectiveness: The impact of outdoor education programmes. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Western Sydney, Sydney.
36.
NunnallyJ (1978) Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw Hill.
37.
PreacherKJKelleyK (2011) Effect size measures for mediation models: Quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychological Methods16(2): 93–115.
38.
RoseJChaisonG (1990) New measures of union organizing effectiveness. Industrial Relations29(3): 457–468.
39.
SaveryLSoutarG (1990) Community attitudes towards trade union effectiveness. Australian Bulletin of Labour16(2): 77–89.
40.
SimmsMHolgateJ (2010) Organising for what? Where is the debate on the politics of organising?Work, Employment and Society24(1): 157–168.
41.
StraussGGallagherDGFioritoJ (eds) (1991) The State of the Unions. Madison, WI: Industrial Relations Research Association.
42.
StreeckWVisserJ (1997) The rise of the conglomerate union. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 3(3): 305–332.
UndyR (2008) Trade Union Merger Strategies: Purpose, Process, and Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
45.
VisserJ (2006) Union membership statistics in 24 countries. Monthly Labour Review1: 38–49.
46.
VyasSKumaranayakeL (2006) Constructing socio-economic status indices: How to use principal components analysis. Health Policy and Planning21(6): 459–468.
47.
WaddingtonJ (2005) Trade union membership in Europe: The extent of the problem and the range of trade union responses. A background paper for the ETUC/ETUI-REHS Top-Level Summer School, Florence.
48.
WesternBRosenfeldJ (2011) Unions, norms and the rise in U.S. wage inequality. American Sociological Review76(4): 513–537
49.
ZCTU (Zambia Congress of Trade Unions) (2015) Report of the 13th Quadrennial Congress. Lusaka: ZCTU.
50.
ZhaoXLynchJChenQ (2010) Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and truths about mediation analysis. Journal of Consumer Research37(2): 197–206.
