Models of Union Participation: A Summary of Literature

Present study unravels how and why people join trade unions and also what hinders them to participate in unions activities. It throws light on the various types of union participation levels. Further, it formulates different types of participants (active and passive). The paper focuses on four union participation models. First explains role of organizational characteristics, personal characteristic and perceptual variables to predict trade union participation. Second unveils the reservation to join a union. Third is based on ‘organization support theory’ and ‘union support theory’. Fourth is known as segmented model as it separates five types of union members, namely reluctant members, card career, selective activists, apolitical stalwarts and ideological activists.