Employee Voice: The Missing Factor in Sustainable HRM?

Paulet, sRenee; Holland, Peter; Bratton, Andrew

Abstract

Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM), has the potential to facilitate organisations development of principles, policies and practices for the challenges of the 21st century. However, to do this we argue a fundamental element in this process has yet to be fully addressed and incorporated into the theory and practice of sustainable HRM; this is employee voice. Additionally, the actual and potential role of trade unions in facilitating employee voice is yet to be conceptualised within sustainable HRM literature. We argue that the development of effective employee voice mechanisms is vital in the implementation and maintenance of sustainable HRM. In this conceptual paper, we outline the nature of the voice architecture, the impact of the employment relationship on voice mechanisms, how it can be effectively measured, and propose a framework for further exploring these concepts. These key factors we identify as critical in implementing and assessing the effectiveness of the relationship between employee voice and sustainable HRM, to potentially serve as a basis of future research into sustainable HRM.

Citation

Paulet, S., Holland, P., & Bratton, A. (2021). Employee Voice: The Missing Factor in Sustainable HRM?. Sustainability, 13(17), Article 9732. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179732

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 26, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Aug 30, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Deposit Date: Sep 23, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 23, 2021
• Journal: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 17
• Article Number: 9732
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179732
• Keywords: sustainable HRM; employee voice; sustainability; unions; employment relationship
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2804680