Toward Better Theory on the Relationship between Commitment, Participation and Leadership in Unions

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to give a critique of the extant literature on union commitment and participation in order to develop remedies to identified weaknesses
Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a critical assessment of extant literature.
Findings – A number of critical deficiencies exist in the literature to which remedies are proposed.
Research limitations/implications – The remedies need testing through empirical research.
Practical implications – Future research needs to have different research foci and questions.
Social implications – With a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation
and leadership, unions may be better able to benefit from academic research in the area.
Originality/value – The paper suggests that a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership will allow more incisive and more robust contributions to be made to understanding unions as complex social organisms.