The Empirical Research Of Job Satisfaction And Employee’s Unionization Decision

In Western countries, the research of employees’ unionization is relatively mature. According tothe frustration-aggression theory, when employees are unhappy at work or suffered injustice produced,they will want to join the union, so many researchers have pay attention to the relationship betweenjob satisfaction and unionization. But few scholars research this issue in Southeast Asia, especially inChina, which is determined by the nature of the Chinese trade unions. In the period of plannedeconomy in China, the benefits in state-owned enterprise’ managers and workers are highly consistent,the pay gap is not big, the contradiction of labor relations is not outstanding, the union’s role in theadjustment of labor relations is not obvious, so it is not meaningful about the problem between jobsatisfaction and employees’ unionization. But with the development of market economy and theestablishment of modern enterprise system, state-owned enterprises have become the main body ofmarket competition, in addition, private enterprises, foreign-owned and joint ventures are alsodeveloping rapidly, competition among enterprises and work pressure make the employeesdissatisfaction on the job and result in the growing labor conflicts. At the same time, in the newsituation trade unions has been moving from the traditional model and image through reconstruction,consolidation, restructuring and other means and gradually become an important force in adjustinglabor relations and stabling society. So in this context, the studying between job satisfaction and theemployees’ unionized has a new meaning. Under job dissatisfaction, whether the employees will jointhe union depends on their perceived union instrumentality. According to the rational choice theory,human pursues the maximum individual interests. During the decision making, employees shouldevaluate the benefits and drawbacks of joining the union and take the option that can potentially bringthem the highest gain. That theory supports the important role of perceived union instrumentality-employees tend to join the union only when they believe the union can help protect their rights. Withsuch a point of view, we have studied the individual unionization through the triadic relationshipamong job satisfaction, perceived union instrumentality, and unionization, and explored the mediatingeffect of perceived union instrumentality between job satisfaction and unionization.