Job talk will be streamed in room 1249.
Zoom link: https://uio.zoom.us/j/68436200199?pwd=TTA4MGs3Q2Z5SXYxeHVDd21OVWtWdz09
Abstract:
In a survey experiment, respondents demonstrated substantial willingness-to-pay (WTP) for institutions which would give them a voice in their workplace. On average, respondents were willing to sacrifice 3% of wages for a workers’ union, 4% for a human resources department (HR) that proactively solicits employee feedback, and 5% for an ‘employee resource group’ (ERG) in which workers and managers solve workplace problems collaboratively. WTP for these ‘worker voice institutions’ tended to be substantially higher among women, people of color, and under40-year-olds. Neither proactive HR nor ERGs acted as strong utility substitutes for unions. WTP for worker voice remained high in the context of remote work and digital surveillance by the employer. I find large WTP for a remote work option (13%), and large negative WTP for digital surveillance (-16%). Surveillance significantly decreased the desirability of remote work by about 1.9% of wages, but not enough for the desire to escape monitoring to explain the desire for remote work. Supplementing these estimates using a Bayesian hierarchical model, I find considerable heterogeneity between individuals, strong correlations between WTPs for all voice institutions, and that WTP for each voice institution is correlated with WTP for freedom from digital surveillance.
Host: Manudeep Bhuller