The International Journal of Human Resource

Management

ISSN: 0958-5192 (Print) 1466-4399 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rijh20

Revitalizing social dialogue in the workplace:

the impact of a cooperative industrial relations
climate and sustainable HR practices on reducing
employee harm

Peggy De Prins, David Stuer & Tim Gielens

To cite this article: Peggy De Prins, David Stuer & Tim Gielens (2018): Revitalizing social dialogue
in the workplace: the impact of a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable HR
practices on reducing employee harm, The International Journal of Human Resource Management,
DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2017.1423098

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1423098

Published online: 05 Jan 2018.

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Download by: [University of New England] Date: 09 January 2018, At: 16:57
 The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1423098

Revitalizing social dialogue in the workplace: the

impact of a cooperative industrial relations climate and
sustainable HR practices on reducing employee harm
Peggy De Prinsa,b, David Stuera and Tim Gielensa
a
Antwerp Management School, Competence Center Next Generation Work, Antwerp, Belgium;
b
Department of Management, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
The purpose of the present study is to unravel the relationship Social dialogue; industrial
between current forms and realities of social dialogue in relations climate; sustainable
the workplace, the industrial relations climate, HRM, and HRM; employee harm; post-
employee harm. We tested a model specifying associations Fordist labor relations
between (1) indicators of revitalized social dialogue, (2)
perceived cooperation within the industrial relations
climate, (3) perceived sustainability in HR practices, and (4)
management perceptions regarding employee harm. The
test was based on a survey conducted among 356 (HR-)
managers and CEOs in Belgium. The results support the idea
that a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable
HR practices can reduce employee harm. More specifically,
efficiency in social dialogue fully mediated the relationship
between cooperative industrial climate and employee harm.
In turn, industrial relations climate partially mediated the
relationship between sustainable HR practices and employee
harm. Finally, sustainable HR practices correlated positively
with a cooperative industrial relations climate, suggesting
that HR and employee relations reinforce rather than weaken
each other.

Introduction
Organized social dialogue, which has historically been consolidated through a
compromise between capital and labor, continues to be recognized as an essen-
tial element of twenty-first-century democracy throughout Europe (Van Gyes,
Vandekerckhove, Van Peteghem, & De Spiegelaere, 2015). It definitely forms the
cornerstone of the European social model wherein both competitiveness and fair-
ness is promoted. In recent years, however, the difficult socio-economic environ-
ment has combined with other changing contextual factors in the world of work
(e.g. globalization, technological change, the decline of Fordist mass-production)

CONTACT  Peggy De Prins  peggy.deprins@ams.ac.be

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 2   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

and labor (e.g. changing labor relations, decline of trade union membership,
growth of female employment, decentralization of collective bargaining) to
put social dialogue under pressure. In anticipation of these developments, the
European Commission is committed to revitalizing and restarting the currently
deteriorated social dialogue (European Commission, 2015). There is a strong
ambition to succeed in this regard. For example, according to the EU commis-
sioner on employment, social affairs, and inclusion Marianne Thyssen, ‘it would
be great if, in ten years’ time, we could already be in history books for having
managed to give a fresh start to social dialogue after the crises.’1
The fundamental principle is that the European sustainable growth strategy
should become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy, providing ‘more and
better jobs’ alongside high levels of productivity and social cohesion (European
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Commission, 2010). Launched in 2010, the Europe 2020 strategy was intended
to extend beyond the crisis. Within the various economies in Europe, enterprises
must adjust to changing economic pressures and other developments in order
to remain competitive in the long term. At the same time, they are encouraged
to make efforts to enhance the quality of work and the experience of sustainable
employment for their workers. A revitalized social dialogue, combined with a
cooperative industrial relations climate (IR climate) in the workplace, is regarded
as a prerequisite to addressing this challenge. Although the aim may be clear, the
conditions and antecedents fur such dialogue and climate remain the subject of
debate.
A wide body of research has addressed the nature of in-company social dia-
logue and IR-climate upon indicators of individual and organizational success
(e.g. Deery & Iverson, 2005; Eurofound, 2015; Iverson, Buttigieg, & Maguire,
2003). Although existing research helps to substantiate the relationship between
IR-variables and outcomes, several gaps in the literature exists, which this study
aims to address. First, a lack of insight remains into the antecedents and mutual
relationship between social dialogue and IR-climate. Most studies are limited
to one IR-variable without addressing the other. Our research adds to literature
on both concepts predominantly by our investigation of social dialogue and
IR-climate in the same research setting.
Second, most research on the role and effects of social dialogue and IR climate
has ignored human resource management (HRM) (and/or sustainability within
HRM). For a long time, both IR and HR research streams were developed sep-
arately. Whereas classical IR scholars have focused on the differences between
employees and employers, often in terms of power relationships, conflicts and of
a competitive social climate, HR scholars have especially stressed shared interests
and cooperation within the employee relationship (Boselie, 2010). Recently both
traditions are coming closer together in what is called new schools of thought (see
supra). It seems that both perspectives meet each other in the middle, at least from
a theoretical point of view. From an empirical perspective however many knowl-
edge gaps persist. This study fills this gap and breaks new ground by examining
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   3

employee harm in relation to revitalization in social dialogue, cooperation within

the IR climate, and sustainability within the context of HRM.
Third, our study contributes to the relatively new stream of research on sus-
tainable HR and employee harm. According to Mariappanadar (2012, 2013, 2014)
much more research is needed on the domain to enrich our understanding of the
different types of harm(reduction) associated with using sustainable HRM as an
emerging new trend in HRM. In adding the perspective of social dialogue and
IR climate we broaden the scope of this challenge. To the best of our knowledge,
no studies published to date have addressed the combination of current inter-
pretations of ‘innovative’ social dialogue, ‘cooperative’ IR climate, and ‘sustain-
able’ HRM with regard to their impact on the ways in which managers perceive
employee harm. The findings of our study therefore have the potential to generate
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valuable new insights into the role of HRM and the role of employee relations
in enhancing employee profit. Such insight is relevant to organizations that are
seeking to develop innovative HR and IR policies in order to achieve win-win
situations. For individual employee representatives, employees, and managers,
greater insight into the critical role of social dialogue could stimulate the devel-
opment of concrete innovation initiatives in this regard. This could support the
IR climate within the organization, as well as in terms of sustainable growth
strategy at the EU level.

Background, researchmodel and hypotheses

Revitalization of social dialogue
Revitalization and reinvestment in social dialogue are seen by different stake-
holders in different ways, ranging from highly pragmatic to relatively theoretical,
and from local to transnational. For example, when sociologists think about the
future of employee relations, they often refer to the transition from Fordist to
post-Fordist labor relations (Lipietz, 1997). Freely interpreted, this refers to a
shift in the productivity debate from ‘working harder’ to ‘working smarter;’ from
economic growth to sustainable growth; and from a focus on improvement in
material welfare (consumption) to improvement in sustainable welfare (work
engagement) (Van Gyes et al., 2015). In a more pragmatic way, and inspired by the
ideas and guidelines from the EU policy and research (see e.g. the New European
Industrial Relation [NEIRE] study by Euwema, Munduate, Elgoibar, Pender, &
García, 2015), we outline three characteristics of a revitalized social dialogue in
the workplace from within a post-Fordist mindset.
One feature of revitalized social dialogue concerns the width of the agenda
concerning social dialogue. Within a revitalization movement, the agenda
evolves from a focus on the traditional (bargaining) hardware issues (e.g. work-
ing hours, pay and incentives systems, performance targets), to more innova-
tive (co-­creative) software issues, including work-life balance, equality, career
 4   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

sustainability, corporate social responsibility and green issues (Bryson, Forth, &
George, 2012; Cutcher-Gershenfeld & Kochan, 2004). Such software topics are
ideal testing grounds, as they allow for open dialogue and co-creation, rather
than purely bargaining within the formal structure of social dialogue or consul-
tation (De Prins, 2015). To date, labor unions have been relatively ambiguous on
this debate. Despite historical efforts to achieve what many regard as key tenets
of social dialogue – equitable wages, humane working conditions, due process
for workers, and rights for marginalized communities – some union leaders fear
that social responsibility would undermine their preferred structure of contracts
and regulation (Preuss, 2008). Others argue that a broad, socially conscious labor
movement that is genuinely concerned about social justice is better positioned for
the future, and that a more favorable view of unions by members and potential
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members is a prerequisite for union revitalization (Freeman & Rogers, 1999).

A second feature of a revitalized social dialogue concerns process (e.g. high effi-
ciency). Social dialogue is often criticized because of its slow, complex, over-struc-
tured, conservative, or excessively formal character. Within a revitalization
movement, the process of social dialogue is revisited. Efficient relationships are
built at both a formal and an informal level (García, Pender, Elgoibar, Munduate,
& Euwema, 2015). Transparency within the process is important, as are efforts
to promote the sharing of information at an early stage, with opportunities for
regular consultation (both formal and informal). Social dialogue has also been
identified as a vehicle for innovation. According to the large-scale NEIRE study
(García et al., 2015) the vast majority of European employers prefer to have strong
counterparts at the table. This is logical, given their interest in reaching innova-
tive collective agreements that are capable of responding to developments in the
workforce and economy.
A third feature of a revitalized social dialogue is the quality of its output. Within
a revitalized social dialogue, social partners strive for agreements of high quality
and high impact. As observed by Euwema and Elgoibar (2012), the ability to
increase impact is highly dependent upon the labor legislation in each country. At
the organizational level, however, the motivation and competencies of employee
representatives and the attitudes of employers play an even more important role.

Cooperative IR climate

As mentioned above, not only a revitalized social dialogue, but also a cooperative
IR climate is seen as a key factor to address the European challenge. The IR climate
is defined as a subset of the organizational climate that consists of the atmosphere,
norms, attitudes, and behaviors that reflect and form the foundation for the ways
in which workers, unions, and managers collectively interact in the workplace,
thus subsequently affecting workplace outcomes (Kersley et al., 2006). The IR
climate of an organization can be described according to several dimensions. One
common basic distinction involves the model of ‘competition’ vs. ‘cooperation’ in
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   5

industrial relations (Euwema, García, Munduate, Elgoibar, & Pender, 2015). The
central idea in this model is that cooperative structures promote a cooperative
culture and behaviors, and vice versa. A competitive context is related to com-
petitive behaviors. When parties have a cooperative orientation towards conflict,
they discuss their differences with the objective of clarifying them and attempt-
ing to find ‘win-win’ solutions, which are satisfactory to both parties (Euwema,
Munduate, et al., 2015). In summary, in cooperative relations, both parties are
willing to invest in the relation, thereby empowering each another. These type of
relations are seen as key factors in the European ambition for smart, sustainable
and inclusive growth
We address this debate in terms of in-company social dialogue, as it is the dia-
logue that has the greatest impacts on the day-to-day perceptions of both employ-
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ers and employees. At this level, a climate of cooperative IR (or the lack thereof)
is likely to affect the perceptions of both employers and employee representatives
regarding the quality of social dialogue (Euwema, García, et al., 2015). When
quality perceptions are poor, social dialogue in the workplace is at risk of negative
stereotyping. In turn, negative perceptions of workplace social dialogue can be
due to a long tradition of adversarial management-union relationships (Van Gyes
et al., 2015). We assume a reciprocal positive relationship between cooperation in
employee relations and a high-quality, revitalized social dialogue. Although both
of these aspects have been associated with a range of positive effects on organ-
izational performance and well-being (e.g. Deery & Iverson, 2005; Eurofound,
2015; Iverson et al., 2003), there is no consensus regarding their impact. Our
investigation focuses specifically on their impact on the ways in which managers
perceive employee harm.

Sustainable HRM and employee harm

In this study, we also link cooperation within the IR climate to the perceptions
of the dominant HR philosophy and HR practices with regard to the workplace.
Boxall (2014) identifies three agendas in HRM: individual, organizational and
societal/global. The academic discipline of HRM has emerged from the second
agenda: the needs of managers to hire, motivate, and develop people with regard
to talents and competencies that their organizations need. This HR philosophy is
relatively one-sided, and it neglects the perspectives of the individual and society,
as well as that of employee relations. In this vein, HRM research focuses largely
on the objectives of employers objectives, based primarily on analyses of per-
formance-related variables. The HR practices that are examined tend to focus
on ‘high-performance works systems (HPWS),’ with other HR practices being
largely ignored (Nienhueser, 2011). According to the scholar, we should con-
struct a theory of how organizations can meet their needs for profit and renewal
while supporting mutuality and sustainability in employee relationships and
employee well-being in the long term. One current HRM theory – ‘sustainable
 6   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

HRM’ – supports this idea explicitly. In studies by Mariappanadar (2003) and by

Wagner (2013), sustainable HRM practices are identified as HR systems or bun-
dles that enhance profit maximization for the organization, while also ‘reducing
harm’ on employees. In addition to good practices of revitalizing social dialogue
and cooperating within the IR climate, the incorporation of sustainability into
HR practices shows promising effects with regard to reducing employee harm.
Employee harm refers to reduced psychological, social, and work-related health
and well-being for different stakeholders (e.g. employees, their family members,
and communities) (Mariappanadar, 2012). The focus of our study is limited to
reduced health and well-being of the employees themselves.
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Research model

Scholars have examined a range of issues related to the dimensions, antecedents,

and outcomes of social dialogue (e.g. Bryson et al., 2012). In our research model
(see Figure 1) the three dimensions of a revitalized social dialogue (output, effi-
ciency and breadth) forms the central mediator variables. Sustainable HR and
cooperative IR are the antecedent-variables. Outcome-variable is employee harm.
To explain the theoretical dynamics behind the model in more detail, we have to
go back to the roots of the IR and HRM tradition (see Table 1).
For many years classical IR scholars have focused on the differences between
employees and employers, often in terms of power relationships, conflicts and
of a competitive social climate (Boselie, 2010). Within the IR view, conflicts and
employee harm are mere consequences of the structure of the employment relation
and the conflicts that underlie it. In contrast, within the unitarist HR perspective
employee problems find themselves on the individual level and are perceived as a

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   7

Table 1. Comparing HRM and IR perspectives.

New schools of thought
  Classical IR Classical HRM within IR & HRM
Conception of employee Pluralistic Unitary (Neo)-pluralistic
relation
Interests Conflicting Shared Both
Participation Institutionalized Direct Both
Climate Hostile Cooperation Mostly cooperative
Importance of social Substantial Minor Substantial
partners
Focus Societal performance Organizational perfor- Societal, organizational
mance and individual perfor-
mance
Source: Based on Delaney and Godard (2002) and Boselie (2010).
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failure of managerial practice instead of a consequence of the institutional design,

that can be solved by changes in the managerial rather than in the public policy.
Consequently, if managers adopt progressive or innovative HRM policies to ensure
an appropriate ‘fit’ between employees and the firm, it is presumed that problems
of trust and employee harm are rare (Delaney & Godard, 2002). Thus, whereas
the social climate within an IR perspective is by definition of a conflicting nature,
within a HR perspective it is almost always cooperative and constructive. And
even though HRM researchers are aware of employee problems, they are addressed
in terms of their possible implications for the organizational performance. In
contrast, employee well-being and broader societal issues have traditionally been
an important concern of IR scholars (Kochan, 1980). It may be claimed that the
main concern of these scholars were not the organizational outcomes but rather
the broader societal ones (Delaney & Godard, 2002).
The classical typology of IR and HRM has recently been contested both within
the IR and HR disciplines. Within IR more and more scholars plea for coopera-
tion and partnership in the employee relation instead of hostility, as a necessary
condition for a constructive conflict resolution and for a reduction of employee
harm (see e.g. Ackers, 2002). This is what is called a ‘neo-pluralistic point of
view’ within IR. Within the HR-discipline, more and more scholars plea for plu-
ralism instead of unitarism. Certainly those authors who use a critical, balanced,
stakeholders and/or sustainability viewpoint will abandon the unitarist approach.
They acknowledge that employers and employee have shared interests in some
situations, but also pinpoint the often conflicting interests between the two. The
relationship between employers and employees is therefore best described in terms
of a coalition instead of a harmony or a conflict.
As a consequence the focus should not only lay on ‘what employers want’,
but also on ‘what employees want’ and ‘what society/external stakeholders want’.
Within sustainable HR, this is known as the synthesis effect (Clegg, Vieira Da
Cunha, & Pina e Cunha, 2002; Mariappanadar, 2013). In this approach, organiza-
tions can use HRM practices to maximize their profits, while reducing the harm
of HRM practices on the stakeholders, since both two polarities are not mutually
 8   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

exclusive but mutually reinforcing instead. In such balanced approach, an exclu-

sive focus on high scores based on financial, individual, or social performance is
considered as undesirable for the long-term survival of an organization. In this
respect, sustainable HRM differs substantially from mainstream HRM (De Prins,
Van Beirendonck, De Vos, & Segers, 2014).

Hypotheses development

Within sustainable HRM, it is assumed that employee harm can be reduced both
by a cooperative IR climate as well as by sustainable HR-practices. More spe-
cifically, it is expected that the absence of a cooperative IR climate could have a
negative effect on employee harm. In previous research a cooperative perceived
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IR climate could be associated with such positive outcomes as reduced turnover,

reduced absenteeism, and reduced conflict (e.g. Iverson et al., 2003). Other out-
comes that have been associated with a favorable industrial relations climate are;
positive perceptions of organizational prestige, positive attitudes towards supervi-
sors, innovation, customer satisfaction, and service/product quality (e.g. Carmeli,
2004; Deery & Iverson, 2005).
It can be expected that sustainable HR practices, that target – in theoretical
terms – both profit maximization for the organization and ‘harm reduction’ for the
employees, are negatively related to employee harm. In the theory of sustainable
HRM, the notion of harmful work practices proceeds from the negative exter-
nality perspective (Ehnert & Harry, 2012; Kramar, 2014; Mariappanadar, 2013),
which reflects the social costs of welfare loss for stakeholders (e.g. employees,
their family members, and communities) in terms of less favorable outcomes as
reduced psychological, social, and work-related health and well-being. The focus
of our study is limited to only one group of stakeholders: employees. We wanted
to assess if the theoretical premise holds in daily life given that companies differ
extremely in the degree and maturity of a sustainable HR-implementation. We
expect that companies with a strong sustainable HR character are also those com-
panies with lower scores on personnel harm. Employee harm can be measured in
terms of work intensification, job stress, job demotivation, mental and physical
exhaustion, increased absenteeism/sick leave etc., and can hence be as surrogate
variables of harm in the sustainable HRM literature (see Mariappanadar, 2012,
2013, 2014). Therefore, in this study the measure as work accidents, sick leave,
social conflict and demotivation of the European Company Survey (Eurofound,
2015) is used as a surrogate indicator for employee harm (see also infra). The first
two hypotheses are as follows:
Hypothesis 1: A cooperative IR climate is negatively associated with employee harm.

Hypothesis 2: Sustainable HR practices are negatively associated with employee harm.

The hypotheses outlined above hide a complex and dynamic reality. From the
wide range of impact studies of so called HPWS we know that there are a lot of
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   9

possible moderating effects between X (HPWS) and Y (organizational and/or

employee performance outcomes). Examples of mediators in de sphere of social
dialogue are employee perceptions about the nature of the employee–employer
relationship (e.g. Zhang, Zhu, Dowling, & Bartram, 2013) and participation in
decision-making (e.g. Bartram, Casimir, Djurkovic, Leggat, & Stanton, 2012).
Mariappanadar and Kramar (2014) found that, within the framework of sustain-
able HR, employee benefits and trade union influence have a moderating effect
on the impact of HPWS resulting in an improved organizational profitability
and a reduction of employee harm. In our research we definitely focus on the
three dimensions of a revitalized social dialogue as possible mediators between
X (cooperative IR climate and sustainable HR practices) and Y (employee harm).
We assume that social dialogue is not only relevant within an IR-, but also within a
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HR-context. We want to leave the exclusive focus on direct participation practices

within HR-impact studies by adding the impact of institutionalized employee
participation. More specifically, we expect that the relationships within hypothesis
1 and 2 are at least partially mediated by the aforementioned characteristics of a
revitalized social dialogue (output, efficiency and breadth).
Hypothesis 3: (a, b, c): Revitalized social dialogue (in terms of output, efficiency and
breadth) mediates the relationship between cooperative IR climate and employee harm.

Hypothesis 4: (a, b, c): Revitalized social dialogue (in terms of output, efficiency and
breadth) mediates the relationship between sustainable HR practices and employee
harm.
Finally, we propose a positive and reaffirming relationship between sustainable HR
practices and a cooperative IR climate. There is no clear consensus on the relation-
ship between HRM and IR. Within the classical view some authors have suggested
that a mature HR policy is likely to slow the operation of trade unions, even to the
point of making them unnecessary (e.g. Legge, 1995). A common adage is that
employers get the trade unions they deserve. Other authors have highlighted a
positive or strengthening effect between HRM and trade union. In a recent study,
Vernon and Brewster (2013) report that trade unions strengthen the strategic inte-
gration (i.e. ‘vertical integration’) of HRM and strategy, rather than decreasing. In
addition, Poutsma, Ligthart, and Veersma (2006) suggest that unions do not resist
the collaborative HR practices supported by high-performance work systems.
Nevertheless, unions are more concerned with the threats that such innovative
HR systems may cause (e.g. innovative HR practices, including new skill require-
ments, new worker responsibilities, and new subordinate–superior relationships,
tend to limit the roles and entitlements of unions). Gill and Meyer (2013) provide
additional evidence that trade unions, combined with good social relations, can
facilitate the implementation of mature HR practices, which subsequently have
a positive impact on the competitiveness of the company. These scholars argue
that the myth that trade unions are ‘bad for business’ is invalid. As reported by
Pohler and Luchak (2015), an employee-focused business strategy is a critical
moderating variable in the relationship between union density and organizational
 10   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

outcomes that mitigate the negative effects of unions and enhance their positive
effects by sending a clear signal of management’s intentions to cooperate. Our
fifth hypothesis is in line with these findings.
Hypothesis 5: Sustainable HR practices are positively related to a cooperative IR
climate.

Data
Sample background
According to Bryson and colleagues (2012), although social dialogue is function-
ing well in a large proportion of European establishments, there is also a sizeable
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group in which a lack of resources and a lack of trust are accompanied by a high
likelihood of industrial action. These scholars identify such variability in the func-
tioning of social dialogue and the uneven geographical spread of social dialogue
structures across European countries as two causes for concern. In this study, we
focus on social-dialogue practices in Belgium. According to Van Gyes (2015),
the Belgian model of industrial relations is clearly difficult to characterize, as it
apparently combines institutional features of both North (cooperative) and South
(polarizing). In particular, Belgian trade unions have retained the language and
culture of a grassroots (class) movement (Van Ruysseveldt & Visser, 1996), even
as they are involved in consultation bodies with regard to social and economic
matters at the sector and inter-sector levels (Pulignano & Doerflinger, 2015).
These factors make Belgium an interesting case for research in the domain of
social dialogue.
The data for this study were collected through an online survey in 2015–2016,
which was conducted in collaboration with (1) a Belgian employer organization
and (2) a Belgian HR periodical. In the first wave, members of Essenscia, the
Belgian employer organization for the chemical and lifescience industry were
invited to participate. At that time, we received 233 completed questionnaires. In
a second wave, our ambition was to elaborate our sample to include more diver-
sity. We collaborated with a Belgian HR periodical to obtain additional responses.
Invitations were sent by email, including a guarantee of anonymity and privacy
with regard to the data being gathered. This strategy yielded 123 additional
questionnaires, bringing our finale response to 356. The majority (60.5%) of the
respondents were HR managers, 26.6% were CEOs, .9% CFO’s, 12% of the sample
was from a variety of different functions. The sample includes organizations of
various sizes, with smaller organizations (fewer than 100 employees) comprising
18.5% of the sample, medium-sized organizations (100–500 employees) account-
ing 50.2%, and large organizations (more than 500 employees) comprising the
remaining 31.4%. In 27.9% of the organizations, most of the employees were low-
skilled. Another 21% of the organizations had mostly high-skilled employees, with
the remaining 51.1% of the organizations having a combination of both. The rate
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   11

of union membership among blue-collar employees was estimated at 68.9%, with

a rate of 49.9% for white collar employees. All of the responding organizations
had institutionalized IR structures at the workplace level (consisting of the union
delegations, the health and safety committee, and/or the works council).2

Operationalization

Breadth of social dialogue was operationalized by counting the number of sub-

jects included in the social dialogue. Respondents had to indicate whether or not
soft and hard HR topics are subject of the social dialogue within their company.
Scores on this variable ranged from 0 to 12. Soft HRM is characterized by such
features as the inclusion of minorities, training and development, careers and
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employability, sustainable development, job quality, and change, with working

times and flexibility, safety/ergonomics/hygiene, pay and benefits, and similar
features characterizing hard HRM.
Our measures for the output and efficiency of social dialogue were inspired
by the ideas and outcomes of the recent NEIRE study (Euwema, Munduate, et
al., 2015) and by the work of Van der Brempt (2014). We measured output and
efficiency using a five-item bipolar scale (e.g. ‘How would you value the content
of decisions made through social dialogue: proactive–reactive?’). The Cronbach’s
alpha value for this scale was .877, indicating nearly excellent reliability. The effi-
ciency of social dialogue was measured using a five-item scale (e.g. ‘A large amount
of time is wasted with the social dialogue in our organization.’/‘Managers and
employee representatives take a large amount of time to resolve differences in
opinion.’) These items were rated along a seven-point Likert scale ranging from
strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7) with agree nor disagree as the midpoint
of the scale. The Cronbach’s alpha value was .788, indicating good reliability.
Building on the work of Dastmalchian, Adamson, and Blyton (1986), we
measured cooperative IR climate using a four-item scale (e.g. ‘Managers and trade
unions work together to search for solutions to problems.’/‘Managers and trade
unions achieve consensus regarding how to address issues with respect for all
stakeholders.’). The Cronbach’s alpha value for this scale was .792, indicating very
good reliability.
Sustainable HR practices were measured by a newly developed scale. The 10
items selected for this scale were intended to assess the extent to which respond-
ents recognize sustainable HR practices in their organizations. This is differ-
ent from Breadth of social dialogue in the sense that this measures the actual
practises that are used in the organization, rather than the breadth of the social
dialogue. Results from exploratory factor analyses (using principal component
analyses with varimax rotation), indicated that our data represented three factors
corresponding to (1) decent work (‘Jobs are a reflection of what employees are
good at and like to do in our organization.’/‘Employees are largely able to man-
age their work themselves.’/‘This organization truly cares about the well-being
 12   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

of employees.’/‘Employees are rewarded fairly and equitably according to the

effort they put into their work’.); (2) workplace democracy (‘The organization has
no unnecessary hierarchical levels.’/‘The decision-making in this organization
is highly centralized (reverse)’/‘Bottom-up voice is stimulated in the organiza-
tion.’/‘Managers appreciate and anticipate the suggestions and ideas of employ-
ees.’); and (3) sustainable career climate (‘There is a range of training and learning
opportunities for everyone in the organization.’/‘The organization helps employ-
ees to maintain long-term employability and agility.’/‘Employees receive regular
feedback on their performance and results.’). Respondents were asked to indi-
cate the extent to which they agreed with these statements, using a seven-point
Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Given that the focus of our
investigation is on the bundle of sustainable HR practices, all items were loaded
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on a general latent variable. The Cronbach’s alpha value for this scale was .750,
indicating adequate reliability.
Inspired by the European Company Survey (Eurofound, 2015) employee harm
was measured using a scale in which respondents indicated the extent to which
their organization (as compared to others) faced such employee-related problems
as a high degree of accidents at work, high levels of sick leave, which are reflective
of the physical dimension of work related health and well-being in our earlier
described definition of the negative externality principle, low levels of motiva-
tion, which is a reflection of the psychological dimension of employee harm and
finally high levels of social conflict, which is a reflection of the social dimension of
employee harm. All items are explained by a common factor, in our case employee
harm. Cronbach’s alpha value for this scale was .706, indicating adequate reliability.

Analyses and results

The alpha reliability scores and correlations between all variables included in the
study are presented in Table 2. Overall, these correlations provide preliminary

Table 2. Correlation matrix of the major variables.

Efficiency Breadth
Cooperative Sustainable of social Quality of of social Employee
  IR climate HR dialogue output dialogue harm
Cooperative IR .792          
climate
Sustainable HR .271** .750        
Efficiency .332** .039 .788      
of social
dialogue
Quality of .562** .160* .268** .877    
output
Breadth .234** .252** .102 .288** NA  
of social
dialogue
Employee −.364** −.358** −.297** −.242** −.075 .706
harm
Alphas are the italic values on the diagonal. **p < .01.
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   13

evidence for the proposed model. These results indicate that perceptions of
employee harm are significantly and negatively related to a cooperative IR cli-
mate, sustainable HR practices, and two of the three indicators of revitalized social
dialogue (efficiency and high-quality output). The results also reveal a significant
positive correlation between a cooperative IR climate and sustainable HRM, and
both of these variables are significantly and positively related to the indicators of
revitalization of social dialogue (except for the relationship between sustainable
HRM and efficiency). We further found a significant positive relationship between
the breadth of social dialogue and high-quality output.
In further analyses, we tested the hypotheses with structural equation modeling
(SEM), using latent variables in SPSS AMOS v22.0, with maximum likelihood
estimation. First we estimated a measurement model, followed by a structural
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model with the aim of investigating the hypotheses. First a measurement model
was constructed with the five latent constructs. Subsequently, a structural model
with 5 latent constructs (employee harm, sustainable HR, output of social dialogue,
efficiency of social dialogue and cooperative IR climate) and 1 observed construct
(Breadth of social dialogue)3 was tested. We used the estimation of means and
intercept procedure to include partial responses of participants.
We used multiple fit indices (e.g. TLI, CFI, and RMSEA), in accordance with
guidelines set by Kline (2005) and by Hu and Bentler (1999). The TLI and CFI
index for both the measurement model and structural models was greater than
.9, and the RMSEA index was less than .08, thus indicating adequate fit (Bentler,
1990; Browne & Cudeck, 1993).
Furthermore, besides the theoretical model, we also compared other models
by adding/removing pathways or adding a moderating effect to the model, in
order to determine whether it would improve model fit (see Table 3). So besides
investigating the model directly, we also look at plausible alternatives to our own
model. Investigating alternative models is considered good practise in the field
of SEM-research (Thompson, 2000). Models 1 through 4 constitute direct tests of
our different hypotheses and are nested variants of the theoretical model. Model
5 considered the possibility of an alternative model interaction effect between
IR-climate and sustainable HR-climate on employee harm, which could take into
account a possible strengthening effect between these variables on employee harm,
which is not unlikely given that the literature for hypothesis 5 suggests that there
might be a strengthening effect between sustainable HR and social dialogue which
could be expressed in a positive interaction effect.
Because these models aren’t all nested variants of the theoretical model, it
would not have been appropriate to use Chi-square statistics to indicate model
fit. Instead, we used the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC; Akaike, 1974). The
AIC is not an absolute, but a relative index of fit. This means that it should not
be used to make statements regarding whether a model fits the data well, it can
however be used to compare the relative fit of two models. This fit index is well
 14   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

suited to the investigation of non-nested models (Kline, 2005), with lower AIC
values indicating better model fit (Table 3).
Alternative Model 6 was the best of all of our alternative models, based on its
relatively lower AIC value. We therefore opted for this model. The Chi-square value
for the final model was 537.234 (Degrees of freedom = 329, p < .001). The TLI,
CFI, and RMSEA values indicated that the model had an adequate fit (TLI = .907,
CFI = .919 and RMSEA = .053). It is therefore appropriate to interpret the model
parameters. According to our overall results, IR climate predicts the three varia-
bles for revitalized social dialogue. It is a strong positive predictor for output and
the efficiency of social dialogue, and a weak positive predictor for the breadth
of social dialogue. The results from Model 4 further suggest that efficiency fully
mediates the relationship between IR climate and employee harm. Sustainable
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HR is positively related to IR climate and the breadth of social dialogue, and it is

negatively related to employee harm. The structural model and summarized results
are presented in Figure 2. We note a negative direct effect of sustainable hr on
employee harm (β = −.489, z = 4.692, p <.001) and a positive effect on cooperative
IR climate (β = −.350, z = 4.169, p <.001). Cooperative IR climate had positive
effects on output of social dialogue (β = .687, z = 6.767, p < .001), efficiency of social
dialogue (β = .718, z = 6.018, p <.001) and breadth of social dialogue (β = .149,
z = 1.995, p = .046). Finally, efficiency of social dialogue has a negative effect on
employee harm (β = −.521, z = 4,145, p <.001).
We also estimated the indirect effects of both Sustainable HR climate and
IR-climate on Employee Harm using the distribution of the product procedure
outlined by MacKinnon, Lockwood, and Williams (2004), since this retains more
power than a classical test (MacKinnon et al., 2004). We find both a significant
indirect effect for IR-climate on Employee harm (95% CI[−.5351343, −.1556352])
and for Sustainable HR on Employee harm (95% CI[−.289, −.032]). Both these
indirect effects constitute small effect sizes. As such, for sustainable HR there is
both a significant direct and indirect effect on Employee harm.

Table 3. Model comparison.

  χ2 Df TLI CFI RMSEA AIC
CFA 519.481 305 .902 .915 .055 665.481
Theoretical model 536.750 330 .907 .919 .053 692.750
Alternative model 1 556.354 327 .900 .913 .055 706.354
Alternative model 2 563.105 329 .896 .911 .056 717.105
Alternative model 3 707.986 327 .833 .856 .071 857.986
Alternative model 4 570.868 331 .894 .907 .056 720.868
Alternative model 5 575.782 331 .902 .914 .052 737.782
Alternative model 6+ 537.234 329 .907 .919 .053 691.234
Notes: (1) Drops the path between variables of the revitalized social dialogue and employee harm.
(2) Drops the path between sustainable HR and employee harm.
(3) Drops the path between IR-climate and variables of a revitalized social dialogue.
(4) Drops the paths between sustainable HR and variables of a revitalized social dialogue.
(5) Adds interaction term between sustainable HR and IR climate on employee harm.
(6) Drops direct path from IR-climate to harm.
+ Final model.
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   15
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Figure 2. Standardized estimates of the theoretical model.

Notes: Final model: χ2  =  537.234, Df  =  329, p  <.001. *p  <  .05, **p  <.01, ***p  <.001, dotted paths represent
nonsignificant paths.

Conclusion and discussion

The EU’s Europe 2020 strategy aims to address the shortcomings of the European
growth model and to create the conditions for smart, sustainable and inclusive
growth. Revitalized social dialogue is regarded as a key factor in this aim. Based
on this premise, our study addresses the impact of social dialogue, along with
perceived cooperation within the IR climate and perceived sustainability within
HR practices. Our results indicate that all three of these variables have both direct
and indirect effects. The data support our core hypothesis that employee harm is
affected by both IR climate and HR practices. More specifically, the results indicate
that efficiency in social dialogue fully mediates the relationship between a coop-
erative IR climate and employee harm. In its turn, IR climate partially mediates
the relationship between sustainable HR practices and employee harm. Finally,
our model indicates that sustainable HR practices are positively correlated with
a cooperative IR climate, thus suggesting that the worlds of HR and employee
relations reinforce rather than weaken each other. These results contribute to the
literature on IR and HRM in several ways.
First our study offers insight into the dynamics of IR climate and social dialogue
with regard to output variables for employees, as well as for organizations (albeit
indirectly). As noted by Gill and Meyer (2013), there is a need for more complex
research exploring both the antecedents and consequents of specific bundles of HR
practices on employer and employee outcomes. The same is needed for practices
in the domain of employee relations and social dialogue. Both research traditions
on impact could benefit from a further integration and synergy between the IR
and HRM disciplines. As indicated by the results from our final model, social
dialogue mediates the impact of IR climate, with efficiency in social dialogue
having a particularly strong effect. One possible explanation for this result is that
social dialogue within a company is a potentially powerful, yet expensive tool. In
 16   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

many cases, it can consume a large number of person-hours each year. From the
employer perspective, therefore, it is vital to maintain good control and to take
all possible precautions to ensure the success of all meetings that are held in this
regard (Van Gyes et al., 2015). Optimization of the process of social dialogue in
terms of such aspects as efficiency, information exchange, meeting techniques, con-
flict resolution, the balance between formal and informal relations, trust building,
the stimulation of innovation, and change is therefore likely to play a crucial role
for the employer, as well as for the employee representatives. According to our
data, high efficiency in the process of social dialogue is apparently accompanied
by high-quality results. This is likely to apply to the perceptions of both employers
and employees. Further research from a multi-stakeholder perspective could add
to our understanding in this regard.
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A second contribution of this study has to do with the finding that investment
in a cooperative social climate can facilitate the optimization of social dialogue.
The results of bivariate analyses reveal a positive relationship between cooperative
social dialogue and revitalized social dialogue in terms of breadth, efficiency, and
output. This result is in contrast to the findings of Bryson and colleagues (2012). In
their view, meaningful social dialogue cause disharmony to become more apparent
in the workplace, as the process of social dialogue is likely to reveal issues that
might otherwise remain hidden. This could highlight the weaknesses of either
party. It could also politicize employees, making them more critical of employment
relations than they might otherwise have been. These scholars have argued that the
overall IR climate may thus suffer in the presence of effective social dialogue. Our
results do not support this claim. Consistent with our expectations, we provide
further empirical evidence that trusting and cooperative industrial relations are
closely related to an efficient, rich, and high-quality practice of social dialogue.
This is especially remarkable within the context of the country in which this study
was conducted, Belgium, where characteristics of cooperation and conflict have
traditionally been mixed. Organizations that succeed in transcending the adversar-
ial sphere and negative stereotyping of employee relations and social dialogue can
profit in terms of improvements in employee outcomes. Enhancing the IR climate
should therefore be a desired outcome for both employers and employees. As
also argued by Pyman, Holland, Teicher, and Cooper (2010), both parties require
particular capabilities in order to succeed in building cooperative relationships.
They must manage their ongoing relationships strategically by simultaneously
embracing elements of conflicting interest and cooperation, as these two polarities
are mutually reinforcing, rather than mutually exclusive. Further research on this
topic would be interesting. Further empirical insight is needed in order to enhance
understanding concerning how social partners can address tensions proactively
and positively, instead of being paralyzed by the fear of unfolding dynamics, instead
of victimizing employers or employees, and instead of ignoring or suppressing
tensions. Such research could be supported theoretically by the both/and approach
or the synthesis paradox (Clegg et al., 2002; Mariappanadar, 2013).
 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT   17

Insight into the dynamics of sustainable HR practices constitutes a third contri-

bution of our study. Our results suggest that sustainable HR practices can optimize
both social dialogue and a cooperative IR climate. This insight contributes to the
literature on HRM and on employee relations. Further research is needed in order
to connect these traditions and to clarify their roles and impact on employee
outcomes. Our results suggest that there is a positive relationship between sus-
tainable HR practices and the breadth of the social-dialogue agenda. This is in
line with our assumption that balance in HR leads to balance in social dialogue.
Dawkins (2016) supports this assumption with results suggesting that the social
responsibility of labor unions (e.g. focusing on soft HR issues) can enhance union
attachment and inform union strategy. It can also allow employee representatives
to ‘stretch’ their roles and broaden their impact (Lucio, Pulignano, Whittall, &
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Ittner, 2012). Our results further suggest a reinforcing effect between sustainable
HR practices and IR climate. The advance of HRM in the 1980s gave rise to the
notion that the implementation of HR practices would eventually decrease the
presence of trade unions. According to this line of reasoning, HR practices were
expected to create win-win situations for both management and employees, thus
eliminating the necessity of trade union defense. As confirmed by this and other
studies (see e.g. Theunissen & Ramioul, 2005), however, there is little reason to
believe that HR practices are substitutes for social dialogue. On the contrary,
being a good employer in terms of making high investments in sustainable HR
practices is good for the quality of social dialogue, as well as for a cooperative
spirit between trade unions and management.
A fourth contribution of our study has to do with the finding that sustainable
HR practices can reduce employee harm. These results provide empirical evidence
to the emerging tradition of sustainable HR by confirming the basic theoretical
premise of minimizing the negative impact of HRM on people, organizations,
and communities. Sustainable HR seeks to reintroduce the ‘human element’ into
the rhetoric of HRM. When the employment relationship is managed solely in
economic terms, humanity is ‘squeezed out,’ and the resource is therefore never
seen in its full light (Bolton and Houlihan (2007). Our results show that it pays
to bring more humanity into HR.
Summarizing, our results support the idea of using different theoretical lenses
for studying employee harm or more broadly spoken, for doing impact studies.
In the past social dialogue and institutionalized participation were typically IR
considerations. These factors however cannot be longer neglected from a bal-
anced or sustainable HR perspective. Ignoring the role of unions in the search
for reducing employee harm, especially in a continental European tradition with
a significant impact of the social partners, would be a missed opportunity. When
there is more and more empirical evidence for the reinforcing character between
IR and HRM in daily life, than there are also more and more reasons to bridge
the classical gap between IR and HRM perspectives. The new schools of thoughts
are giving hopeful perspectives to that.
 18   P. DE PRINS ET AL.

Finally, it is important to mention several drawbacks to this study. First, to val-

idate our findings, future research could include a more objective assessment of
employee harm (e.g. sick-leave figures, conflict ratios, turnover rates). Additional
indicators of employee harm and measures of social cost could be included as well.
The measurement of sustainable HR practices, revitalization in social dialogue,
and a cooperative IR climate are also in need of further elaboration. These three
variables are undergoing a continuing process of change and evolution. Staying
abreast of developments concerning these variables poses an ongoing theoretical
and empirical challenge. Second, in order to validate our findings, it might be
interesting to conduct the same type of research in other national settings, taking
additional control variables into account. Third, because the data used in this
study were cross-sectional, any causal inferences should be treated with caution.
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Although the relationships observed in this study correspond to the underlying

rationale, they are based solely on previous research and existing theories. Further
research using a longitudinal design is needed in order to unravel the causal rela-
tionships between IR climate, social dialogue, HR practices, and employee harm.

Notes
1. 
Marianne Thyssen, Social Agenda No. 39. December 2014, also cited in Welz and
Foden (2015).
2. 
Workplace representation in Belgium runs through two separate channels. The
works council (CE in French and OR in Flemish) represents the entire workforce,
although it is elected only in larger workplaces (more than 100 employees). The
trade union delegation (DS in French and SD in Flemish) represents trade unionists.
There are also separate bodies for health and safety (CPPT in French and CPBW
in Flemish), which are elected by the workforce as a whole in all companies with
more than 50 employees. For companies having 50–100 employees, these health and
safety committees also have information and consultation rights on economic and
social issues. http://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations/
Countries/Belgium/Workplace-Representation.
3. 
We also ran a model with 2 controls: organization size and human capital
composition (does the organization consist of mainly high-skilled employees, low-
skilled employees, or a mix of both). Including these controls caused fit to decrease
substantially, whilst not accounting for a lot of variance in the variables and not
changing the relation of the independent variables with the outcomes. As such we did
not include controls in the model.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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