To join or not to join? Factors influencing employee share plan membership in a multinational corporation

Bryson, Alex and Freeman, Richard B. (2010) To join or not to join? Factors influencing employee share plan membership in a multinational corporation. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1001). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.

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Abstract

Many firms encourage employees to own company stock through share plans that subsidizethe price at favorable rates, but even so many employees do not buy shares. Using a newsurvey of employees in a multinational with a share ownership plan, we find considerablevariation in joining among observationally equivalent workers and explore the reasons for thevariation. Participation in the plan is higher the greater the potential pay-off from joining theshare plan, which indicates that rational economic calculations affect the decision to join. Butthere is also evidence that psychological factors affect the decision to join. Some nonmemberssay they intend to join in the future, which means they forgo the benefits ofimmediate membership. The proportion of workers who purchase shares varies acrossworkplaces beyond what we predict from worker characteristics. This suggests that coworkerbehavior influences decisions. Indeed, workers say that they pay most attention toother workers and little attention to company HR management in their decision on joining.

Item Type:	Monograph (Report)
Official URL:	http://cep.lse.ac.uk
Additional Information:	© 2010 The Authors
Divisions:	Centre for Economic Performance
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief H - Public Economics > H3 - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education > I22 - Educational Finance J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J33 - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J5 - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining > J54 - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2013 17:00
Last Modified:	13 Sep 2024 16:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/48915

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