THE INFLUENCE OF EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION ON ATTITUDES: THE MODERATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

Using the Miles and Snow’s typology, this study investigated a moderating role of organizational strategy in the relationships between employee participation practices and employee attitudes. While previous research using Miles and Snow’s theory has focused on organizational performance, this study addressed the effects on individual employees’ attitudes. The proposed hypotheses were tested by data from a survey of over 1,290 employees in 50 companies in South Korea. The results demonstrated that employee participation practices are more strongly related to employee attitudes in companies with the prospector strategy than those with the defender strategy. These moderating effects, however, were not revealed in companies with analyzer strategy, with the exception of a marginal effect on organizational commitment. Implications for company policies and future research were discussed.