abstract: 'Given consistent evidence of its social benefits but questions about its

  market viability, this paper examines the conditions under which

  workplace democracy can be understood as a ``real utopia ``; a viable

  form of organization that is both economically productive and socially

  welfare enhancing. Conceptualizing democratic firms as organizations

  with formally distributed authority and collectivist norms, we argue

  that democratic firms will operate more productively in knowledge

  intensive industries, compared with conventional firms in the same

  industries, because they give authority to those with relevant knowledge

  and encourage intrafirm information sharing. Next, focusing on intrafirm

  wage inequality as a key social welfare outcome, we argue that

  knowledge-intensive sectors are also settings where the benefits of

  workplace democracy are likely to be greater. Knowledge intensive

  industries tend to generate greater intrafirm inequality through the

  adoption of market based employment policies and reliance on unique

  expertise, yet the formal structure and collectivist norms of democratic

  firms are likely to limit these mechanisms of inequality, generating

  inequality reductions. We test these hypotheses with longitudinal linked

  employer employee data from French cooperatives and conventional firms,

  including firms that shift organizational structures over time. We find

  robust support for our hypothesis about economic performance and

  moderate support for our hypothesis about social performance.'
affiliation: 'Young-Hyman, T (Corresponding Author), Univ Pittsburgh, Katz Grad Sch
  Business, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA.

  Young-Hyman, Trevor, Univ Pittsburgh, Katz Grad Sch Business, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
  USA.

  Magne, Nathalie, Univ Montpellier 3, Site St Charles, F-34080 Montpellier, France.

  Kruse, Douglas, Rutgers State Univ, Sch Management \& Lab Relat, Piscataway, NJ
  08854 USA.'
author: Young-Hyman, Trevor and Magne, Nathalie and Kruse, Douglas
author-email: 'try6@pitt.edu

  nathalie.magne@univ-montp3.fr

  dkruse@smlr.rutgers.edu'
author_list:
- family: Young-Hyman
  given: Trevor
- family: Magne
  given: Nathalie
- family: Kruse
  given: Douglas
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1287/orsc.2022.1622
earlyaccessdate: SEP 2022
files: []
issn: 1047-7039
journal: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
keywords: 'organizational structure; social responsibility; compensation; power and

  politics; organizational design; organizational form; wage inequality'
keywords-plus: 'INCOME INEQUALITY; ORGANIZATIONS; WORKER; COOPERATIVES; MARKET; LABOR;

  FIRMS; LIFE; COMMITMENT; CAPITALIST'
language: English
month: 2022 SEP 8
number-of-cited-references: '118'
orcid-numbers: 'Magne, Nathalie/0000-0003-2578-094X

  Young-Hyman, Trevor/0000-0003-2111-3189

  Kruse, Douglas/0000-0002-7121-7616'
papis_id: 0fb06390952ee634678bf3b09611f124
ref: Younghyman2022realutopia
times-cited: '1'
title: A Real Utopia Under What Conditions? The Economic and Social Benefits of Workplace
  Democracy in Knowledge- Intensive Industries
type: article
unique-id: WOS:000855148600001
usage-count-last-180-days: '4'
usage-count-since-2013: '15'
web-of-science-categories: Management
year: '2022'