Douglas Kruse

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | Rutgers · School of Management and Labor Relations

Purpose: This study investigates how access to assistive technologies affects employment and earnings among people with disabilities Methods: We first document employment and earnings gaps associated with specific disabilities using 2017-2021 American Community Survey and 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation data. We then use accommoda...

Purpose Many workers with disabilities face cultures of exclusion in the workplace, which can affect their participation in decisions, workplace engagement, job attitudes and performance. The authors explore a key indicator of engagement—perceptions of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)—as it relates to disability and other marginalized iden...

Background Telework has benefits for many people with disabilities. The pandemic may create new employment opportunities for people with disabilities by increasing employer acceptance of telework, but this crucially depends on the occupational structure. Objective We compare people with and without disabilities in the expansion of telework as the...

This chapter studies the disparate effects of COVID-19 on workers with physical and mental disabilities, paying particular attention to an intersectional analysis by disability, race/ethnicity, and gender. Results indicate that White and Black women with disabilities experienced relatively greater employment losses during the pandemic compared to W...

This chapter studies the disparate effects of COVID-19 on workers with physical and mental disabilities, paying particular attention to an intersectional analysis by disability, race/ethnicity, and gender. Results indicate that White and Black women with disabilities experienced relatively greater employment losses during the pandemic compared to W...

Time-based tensions at the intersection of mental illness and work are a pervasive yet understudied challenge for employees with mental illness. In this chapter, we review the temporal features of mental illness and explain how such features challenge the time-related assumptions and structure of organizations. In particular, we explicate the fact...

Background: Telework has benefits for many people with disabilities. The pandemic may create new employment opportunities for people with disabilities by increasing employer acceptance of telework, but this crucially depends on the occupational structure. Objective: We compare people with and without disabilities in the expansion of telework as th...

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...

Purpose This article examines the extent to which employees worked from home because of the pandemic, focusing on differentials between people with and without disabilities with implications for cancer survivors. Methods We use data on COVID-19 from the Current Population Survey over the May 2020 to June 2021 period. We present descriptive statist...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand how majority employee-owned firms responded to the pandemic compared to firms that were not majority employee-owned. The Employee Ownership Foundation partnered with Rutgers University and the SSRS survey firm to survey ESOP and non-ESOP firms about their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. A key p...

A major theoretical objection against employee share ownership is that workers are exposed to excessive financial risk. Theory posits that 10 to 15% of a typical worker’s wealth portfolio can be prudently invested in employer stock. The authors analyze employee share ownership in US family portfolios using the 2004 to 2016 Survey of Consumer Financ...

Objective: To examine political participation after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Design: Qualitative, participatory research via interviews and observations. Each participant was interviewed to discuss their experience of voting in 2007 or 2008. Data were coded using Grounded Theory to develop themes, metacodes, and theories. Setting: Communi...

Purpose The COVID pandemic was a severe blow to all workers, but it may ultimately have a silver lining for some workers with disabilities if it makes work from home easier and more acceptable. In addition, the pandemic is shaking up traditional workplace structures and causing employers to rethink how essential tasks can be done, which may broaden...

Despite substantial scholarly attention to workforce demographic diversity, existing research is limited in understanding whether or in what contexts firm-level racial diversity relates to performance and workforce outcomes of the firm. Drawing on social interdependence theory along with insights from social exchange and psychological ownership the...

Purpose This purpose of this paper is to explore to efficacy of influence tactics at the outset of a job interview. Across three empirical studies, five influence tactics were manipulated during a simulated job interview to explore first impressions for candidates with or without a visible disability. Design/methodology/approach Participants viewe...

Leader networking behaviors for innovation (LNBI) is an important yet less studied topic in innovation research. This study investigates the behavioral cascading effect of LNBI on organizational support for innovation. Building on faultline theory and the demographic representativeness approach, we conceptualize vertical faultlines as demographic m...

Research linking broad‐based employee stock ownership (BESO) with firm performance continues to receive considerable attention both in and outside the field of management. Despite the evidence being generally positive regarding the BESO–firm performance relationship, there has been a relative dearth of research providing insights into the circumsta...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the historical background for broad-based ownership in the USA, the development of forms of employee ownership and profit sharing in the USA, the research literature on employee ownership and profit sharing and related employee participation, the development of policy and options for new policies. De...

Purpose This article presents new evidence on employment barriers and workplace disparities facing employees with disabilities, linking the disparities to employee attitudes. Methods Analyses use the 2006 General Social Survey to connect disability to workplace disparities and attitudes in a structural equation model. Results Compared to employees...

We analyse competing explanations for the lower pay of employees with disabilities, using 2008–2014 data from the American Community Survey matched to O*Net data on occupational job requirements. The results indicate that only part of the disability pay gap is due to productivity-related job requirements. The remaining pay gap — experienced by empl...

Do firms with employee ownership (EO) programs exhibit greater employment stability in the face of economic downturns? In particular, are firms with EO programs less likely to lay off workers during negative shocks? In this article, we examine the relationship between EO programs and employment stability in the United States using longitudinal Form...

The authors investigate potential discrimination against people with disabilities through a field experiment that sent job applications to 6,016 accounting positions for which the applicants’ disabilities are unlikely to affect productivity. One-third of the cover letters disclosed that the applicant had a spinal cord injury, one-third disclosed th...

The literature on employment and disability has been relatively silent regarding the job loss experience of persons with disabilities. We document the gap in job displacement rates across disability status in the United States over the 2007–2013 period using data from the 2010, 2012 and 2014 Displaced Worker Supplements of the Current Population Su...

Employee ownership has attracted growing attention for its potential to improve economic outcomes for companies, workers, and the economy in general, and help reduce inequality. Over 100 studies across many countries indicate that employee ownership is generally linked to better productivity, pay, job stability, and firm survival—though the effects...

This book shows that employeee ownership firms came out of the last two recessions in better financial shape than non-employee ownership firms.

Past research has found employee ownership to be linked to better attitudes and behaviors. We investigate three possible mechanisms: (a) a selection effect - employees who buy stock in their own company may have better attitudes to begin with; (b) a status effect - employees who have any amount of employee ownership may have better attitudes; and (...

Building on economic and psychological ownership theories, this study investigates whether group incentives can reduce shirking because these practices enable employees to feel psychological ownership that motivates them to prevent their own and coworkers shirking in a collective work setting. We analyzed a sample of 38,475 employees in eight compa...

People with disabilities have low employment and wage levels, and some studies suggest employer discrimination is a contributing factor. Following the method of Bertrand and Mullainathan (2003), new evidence is presented from a field experiment that sent applications in response to 6,016 advertised accounting positions from well-qualified fictional...

This article analyses the linkages among group incentive methods of compensation (broad-based employee ownership, profit sharing and stock options), labour practices, worker assessments of workplace culture, turnover and firm performance in firms that applied to the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For in America’ competition from 2005 to 2007. Although...

Work practices that involve employees are generally assumed to be less effective in more hierarchical societies where employees’ values are not aligned with such practices. In this study, we challenge this assumption by developing a theory that differentiates between the symbolic and instrumental aspects of involvement work systems and proposing th...

A substantial body of research has found that shared capitalism plans such as employee ownership and profit-sharing can lead to higher organizational performance (e.g., financial performance) as well as a variety of positive employee outcomes (e.g., pay and benefits, job security, and job satisfaction). However, we still lack understanding of why s...

Efforts to recruit and retain employees with disabilities are often tempered by employers’ concerns over potential workplace accommodation costs. This study reports on accommodations requested and granted in intensive case studies of eight companies, based on more than 5,000 employee and manager surveys, and interviews and focus groups with 128 man...

Using a nationally representative and multisource data set, this study examines the mediating role of organisational commitment in the relationship between group incentives and financial performance. The study also investigates the moderating role of innovation in these relationships. The results demonstrate that organisational commitment partially...

PurposeUsing a population study, we provide evidence on the important but understudied issue of company survival under employee ownership, as well as on the performance effects of employee ownership and the issue of whether employee ownership substitutes for other pension benefits. Design/methodology/approachCompany survival and pension benefits ar...

Ensuring that citizens can vote with little or no difficulty is fundamental to a democracy, and an important topic in public debates and policy initiatives. We report results on disability and voting from analysis of two surveys: the Census Bureau’s voting supplement for November 2012, and a separate nationally representative survey of 3,022 citize...

The idea of workers owning the businesses where they work is not new. In America's early years, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison believed that the best economic plan for the Republic was for citizens to have some ownership stake in the land, which was the main form of productive capital. This book traces the development of that share idea...

This special issue aims to bring together contributions that take a dynamic approach to the development of financial participation, employee share ownership and profit sharing. The approach is premised on the notion that companies have ‘space’ to take a set of key decisions about financial participation. From different angles and experiences in dif...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

This paper analyzes the linkages among group incentive methods of compensation, labor practices, worker assessments of workplace culture, turnover, and firm performance in a non-representative sample of companies: firms that applied to the “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” competition from 2005 to 2007. Although employers with good labor...

Using the NBER Shared Capitalism Database comprised of over 40,000 employee surveys from 14 firms, we investigate worker attitudes toward employee ownership, profit sharing, and variable pay. Specifically, our study uses detailed survey questions on preferences over profit sharing, forms of employee ownership like company stock and stock option own...

No abstract available.

Combining BLS occupational projections for 2008–18 with Census data on disabilities shows that people with disabilities tend to be underrepresented in the fastest growing occupations, lowering their projected overall employment growth; however, O*Net data on occupational ability requirements reveal significant potential for increased employment gro...

We use the NBER Shared Capitalism Database comprised of more than 40,000 employee surveys from 14 firms to explore whether a close match between workers’ risk preferences and the riskiness of their compensation packages relates to improved employee outcomes including lower absenteeism, lower shirking, lower probability of voluntary turnover, greate...

The effects of employee involvement and group incentives on organisational commitment and turnover intention were examined using data from a survey of over 4,000 employees in 29 manufacturing companies. Using the mediated moderation model, we investigated the moderating role of capital intensity on the relationships between employee involvement and...

A small to moderate size investment in company stock results in a relatively small increase in the riskiness of an employee’s portfolio, even if the company’s volatility is substantially greater than that of a diversified portfolio which we assume the employee would hold otherwise. Thus the employee suffers relatively little loss in “expected utili...

This article explores the effects of structural inequality on organizational outcomes by examining the relationship between worksite segregation and performance-related attitudes by gender, race, and ethnicity. We use a new data set based on detailed surveys of 21,000 U.S. employees among 207 worksites in 14 companies gathered between 2001 and 2006...

The historical relationship between capital and labor has evolved in the past few decades. One particularly noteworthy development is the rise of shared capitalism, a system in which workers have become partial owners of their firms and thus, in effect, both employees and stockholders. Profit sharing arrangements and gain-sharing bonuses, which tie...

How do employees with health conditions, impairments, or other disabilities get treated at work? There has been substantial attention paid to the low employment rate of people with disabilities, but much less to the experiences of employed people with disabilities. In this paper we report some findings from a large project on disability and corpora...

Do non-employed people with disabilities want to work, and if so, what types of jobs do they want? Do employed people with disabilities have the types of jobs they want? Researchers seeking to explain the low employment rate among people with disabilities have focused primarily on skill gaps, employment disincentives from disability income, accommo...

Using nearly 30,000 employee surveys from fourteen companies, we find disability is linked to lower average pay, job security, training, and participation in decisions, and to more negative attitudes toward the job and company. Disability gaps in attitudes vary substantially, however, across companies and worksites, with no attitude gaps in worksit...

Profit-sharing and employee ownership in companies have attracted considerable interest, yet there has been little research on factors predicting the adoption and maintenance of these plans. This study uses new data from a survey of 500 US public companies, and panel data on corporate financial variables, to examine factors predicting the presence...

Between one-third and one-half of employees participate directly in company performance through profit sharing, gainsharing, employee ownership, or stock options. This flies in the face of concerns about the free rider problem and worker risk aversion in group incentives, and raises many questions about the effects on firms and workers. This paper...

Group incentive systems have to overcome the free rider or 1/N problem, which gives workers an incentive to shirk, if they are to succeed. This paper uses new questions on responses to shirking from the General Social Survey and a special NBER survey of workers at over 300 worksites in 14 companies that have some form of group incentive pay to exam...

Some analysts view risk as the Achilles Heel of employee ownership and to some extent variable pay plans such as profit sharing and gainsharing. Workers in such "shared capitalist" firms may invest too much of their wealth in the firm, contrary to the principle of diversification. This paper addresses whether the risk in shared capitalism makes it...

This paper uses data from NBER surveys of over 40,000 employees in hundreds of facilities in 14 firms and from employees on the 2002 and 2006 General Social Surveys to explore how shared compensation affects turnover, absenteeism, loyalty, worker effort, and other outcomes affecting workplace performance. The empirical analysis shows that shared ca...

This paper examines how shared capitalism compensation systems - those that link employee pay to company performance - affect diverse employee outcomes. It uses two data sets: the national GSS survey that provides a broad representative view of the extent of the programs; and the NBER Shared Capitalism Project surveys of workers in 14 companies tha...

Two hypotheses for the employer size-wage effect are explored using data from the 1980 Survey of Job Characteristics. We found that there is a strong establishment size effect in both medium-size and large companies and that employee-reported frequency of supervision has a negative relationship to pay but makes no difference in the effect. While 26...

This paper examines cross-country differences in labour policies and practices and employee performance and attitudes toward work from a sample of nearly 30,000 employees in a large multinational manufacturing firm. The analysis shows: 1) large establishment and country differences in work practices, performance, and attitudes toward work across co...

La finalité de notre article est de comprendre la nature et la diversité des relations intervenant dans le processus de diffusion interorganisationnelle des connaissances. Notre questionnement porte dans un premier temps sur la nature des dimensions de ces relations et dans un second temps sur leur diversité. L’intérêt est double : préciser et comp...

This paper analyses data on 490 companies with broad-based stock option plans, matched to data from CompuStat in order to compare their characteristics and performance to that of other public companies. Major findings are that 1) companies with broad-based plans have higher levels of labor productivity, employment growth, and sales growth than othe...

This study examines the incidence, industry differences, and economic environment of work practices in the United States in 1994 and 1997 using census data from a nationally representative random sample of establishments. Self-managed work teams were used by a majority of workers in some sites. Work-related meetings had higher incidence. A high-per...

This study examines the development of economic democracy in the United States since the 1700s with particular emphasis on the last 30 years. The particular focus is on employee ownership, although the phenomenon of profit sharing receives some attention. The nature of research and documentation on the subject is reviewed. The study concludes that...

For the last several decades, various companies have shared the benefit of corporate results with employees of the firm, using profit-sharing, gain sharing, bonuses, employee stock ownership, or stock options. All of these approaches have one thing in common: offering the worker a share in profits or stock appreciation when the company makes a prof...

This article addresses key questions arising from the economic and social disparities that individuals with disabilities experience in the United States. For instance, "What role does corporate culture play in the employment of people with disabilities?" "How does it facilitate or hinder their employment and promotional opportunities, and how can c...

This study seeks to increase our understanding of worker reactions to shirking by analyzing two new questions on shirking from the 2002 General Social Science Survey (GSS). We developed the questions in order to illuminate the factors that enable some shared capitalist enterprises to overcome the free rider or 1/N dilemma. Our guiding principle is...

Research on employee ownership has focused on questions of productivity, profitability, and employee attitudes and behavior, while there has been little attention to the most basic measure of performance: survival of the company. This study uses data on all U.S. public companies as of 1988, following them through 2001 to examine how employee owners...

In this study, we empirically examine whether firms remove restructuring charges from earnings for purposes of determining employer contributions to profit sharing plans. Understanding firms' non-executive compensation practices is important because compensation policies influence employee behavior and ultimately affect employees' incentives to inc...

While stock options have traditionally been reserved to top management employees, in recent years there has been strong growth of plans making stock options available to a broader group of employees. This paper analyses data on 490 companies with broad-based stock option plans, matched to data from Compustat in order to compare their characteristic...

La finalité de notre article est de comprendre la nature et la diversité des relations intervenant dans le processus de diffusion interorganisationnelle des connaissances. Notre questionnement porte dans un premier temps sur la nature des dimensions de ces relations et dans un second temps sur leur diversité. L’intérêt est double : préciser et comp...

The United States has developed a varied and widespread employee ownership sector. This sector has two distinct sub-sectors, the public stock market and small privately-held firms. There is a significant gap in the incidence and development of employee ownership between the European Union (EU) and the US when both sectors are examined. Socioeconmic...