The student Urtzi Uribetxebarria Andres obtained the qualification 'CUM LAUDE'.

The student Urtzi Uribetxebarria Andres obtained the qualification 'CUM LAUDE'.

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Thesis title: Analysis of the effect of participation in management, ownership and results on people's well-being and organizational performance.

Court:

• Chairmanship: Jordi Trullén Fernández (ESADE Universitat Ramon Llull)
• Vocal:Aitor Aritzeta Galan (UPV/EHU)
• Vocal:Álvaro Lleó De Nalda (Universidad de Navarra)
• Vocal: Frederick M. Freundlich (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
• Secretary:Alaine Garmendia Ochoantesana (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)

Abstract:

Employee participation is studied today from both HRM parallel streams, strategic HRM (SHRM) and Industrial Relations. These streams, focused on diverse levels and rooted in different theoretical perspectives, analyze different practices of employee participation to understand to what extent and why they affect outcomes. Both forms of participation, those that aim to involve employees psychologically and those that seek to do so financially, are shown to promote performance. However, there is no single agreement or system of employee participation practices in academia. Moreover, despite the predominance of financial performance-oriented literature in SHRM, recent calls for consideration of employee well-being have shifted attention towards a multi-stakeholder approach. Mixed results are reported on the effect of participation on employee well-being, to date, whether its role being a mediator or an end outcome. Using a representative and multisource data set from 1,741 employees in 333 firms located in Gipuzkoa (Spain), this study simultaneously examines the effect of participation on employee well-being and organizational performance. Specifically, participation in management, profit-sharing participation, and employee ownership was analyzed in a structural equation model to understand to what extent and how they explain both, well-being, and performance.

Participation in management is operationalized as employee job involvement and their participation in the broad context of the organization. The former refers to autonomy and discretion in their jobs whereas the latter means properly informed and trained unit-level participation in decision-making. Related to well-being the study measures job satisfaction and affective commitment, both representing its psychological dimension, and trust in management, which accounts for its social facet. Future organizational productivity is considered as organizational performance, obtained from a financial database. The synergistic effect of these three participatory practices is also explored by examining the effects of the various interactions on well-being and performance. The interactive terms of participation practices are theoretically determined by combining the practices of both domains, namely psychological involvement and financial involvement.

Both, company size and sector are shown to be related to participation, well-being, and organizational performance. Thus, after controlling for both variables, the results of the model show that participation in management enhances well-being and performance simultaneously, while ownership is positively related to affective commitment. Moreover, employee ownership and participation in management complement each other, overcoming the discrete impact of both participative initiatives on performance and demonstrating that the effects on performance will be multiplied by combining the two practices. Profit-sharing offers no direct relationship with either employee well-being or organizational performance. These findings have theoretical and practical implications, specifically those that benefit both investors and employees and their communities, alike.