The antecedents of union attitude formation : a study of preemployed individuals

Abstract

The development of attitudes toward unions is a complex process involving several factors. Although union attitude formation has been explored from a work related context there has been little research on non-job related variables. The present study examined the influence of preemployment predictors of union attitudes from 310 university students who responded to questionnaires on union attitudes, work beliefs, parental influence and willingness to join a union. Regression analyses demonstrated that parents' union attitudes was the best predictor of students' union attitudes while Marxist Work Beliefs, Humanistic Work Beliefs and Work Ethic were moderate predictors. Although gender and sex did not moderate the relationship between parents' and students' union attitudes sex did differentiate responses to the willingness to join a union when pay equity was the objective for unionization. The General Union Attitude scale was tested for an inherent gender bias. These results demonstrated that one did not exist thus indicating that this scale was an accurate measure of women's and men's union attitudes.