Predictors and Moderators of Employee Responses to Employee Participation Programs

This paper explores mechanisms that help account for the relationship between individual involvement in employee participation programs and variations in affective responses to such programs. Proximity to and duration of members' involvement in participation programs are investigated, as are two potential moderating factors: organizational citizenship propensity, and individual discontent with the extent of worker participation in decision making. Proximity and duration both are associated with increased liking of employee participation programs in this study. The positive association is enhanced for those low in organizational citizenship or high in discontent. Implications of these findings for the creation and management of employee participation programs are discussed. Directions for future research are also suggested.