"National Culture and Union Membership: A Cultural-Cognitive Perspective" National Culture and Union Membership: A Cultural-Cognitive Perspective

Uncertainty avoidance may explain why younger and older people were less likely to be union members. overview institutions are resilient social structures that grow because of their perceived legitimacy (Scott, 2001). Labour unions are institutions that may flourish when they are perceived as legitimate (Bronfenbrenner, 1997; Hurd, Milkman and Turner, 2003). This study extends prior research on union membership in several ways. First, extant research has focused on legitimacy derived from regulative and normative foundations. Because those foundations have provided only partial and mixed results in explaining union membership across countries (Calmfors et al., 2001; Kuruvilla, Gallagher and Wetzel, 1993), this study offers a behavioural perspective that is based on a cultural-cognitive foundation (Scott, 2001; Lewin and Feuille, 1983). Second, much of the prior research on union membership has focused on the U.S. and other western countries (Cregan, 2005). Studies from the U.S. cannot explain the persistent and widely varying levels of union membership across countries or cultures (Lansbury and Baird, 2004). This study uses national culture to explain these differences. Third, prior research has focused on either micro-level individual factors or on macro-level factors, such as economic trends study integrates micro-and macro-level streams of research through a cultural-cognitive theoretical framework (Scott, 2001). This study explains why prior research did not find for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this manuscript.