Digitalisation, unions and ‘country-effect’: does union strength at the workplace matter?

Lloyd, Caroline ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2624-8031 and Payne, Jonathan 2025. Digitalisation, unions and ‘country-effect’: does union strength at the workplace matter? Journal of Industrial Relations 10.1177/00221856251326682

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Abstract

Trade unions are potentially important actors in shaping digitalisation to benefit workers. Research suggests supportive national labour market institutions can help unions to influence digital change in the workplace. This article considers the reach of national institutions, or ‘country effect’, and its relationship with union strength at the workplace. It applies a multi-level analysis to explore union influence over digital technology in the food and drink processing sector in Norway and the UK, two countries with starkly contrasting institutions. Drawing on interviews with officers and shop stewards in two unions, it compares a sample of workplaces with relatively strong and weak union organisation. The findings indicate union strength at the workplace has a more significant impact on union’s role in digitalisation in Norway, where there are strong institutional supports, than in the UK where these are lacking. The article contributes to analysing the relationship between ‘country-effect’ and union strength at the workplace in the shaping of digitalisation.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
ISSN:	0022-1856
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 March 2025
Date of Acceptance:	10 February 2025
Last Modified:	10 Apr 2025 11:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/176521

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