Worker Control as a Facilitator in the Match between Education and Jobs
| Author | Johanna Weststar |
| Date | 01 December 2009 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2009.00737.x |
| Published date | 01 December 2009 |
Worker Control as a Facilitator in the
Match between Education and Jobsbjir_737723..740
Johanna Weststar
Abstract
This article examines the relationship between worker control and subjective
underemployment among workers who have more education than is needed for
entry into their jobs (credential underemployment). Results indicate that social
and technical controls are related to a greater sense of education–job matching.
Workers who have credential underemployment are less likely to report sub-
jective underemployment (underutilization and lack of fit between education
and job) if they have higher levels of workplace control. This article contains
implications for job design and the role of employers and managers in fostering
the utilization of their workforces.
1. Introduction
‘One day will everyone have a university degree and work for the minimum
wage?’ (OECD 2007: 11). So wonders Barbara Ischinger, Director of Edu-
cation for the OECD in her editorial comments to the 2007 Education at a
Glance report. Her question was prompted by the findings of the report
which outlines that the acquisition of both upper secondary and tertiary
educational credentials has been rising across OECD countries over the past
two decades (OECD 2007). Despite these reports, or perhaps because of
them, the call for more education continues. For example, a Canadian gov-
ernment report states that ‘countries that succeed in the 21st century will be
those whose citizens are creative, adaptable and skilled’ and that ‘the
knowledge-based economy means an ever-increasing demand for a well-
educated and skilled workforce...’(Government of Canada 2002: 5–7). This
report reflects the tone and message of the OECD Education at a Glance
report (OECD 2007), as well as the governmental messages for many other
industrialized countries.
The darker side of Ischinger’s question — that highly educated individuals
will be working for minimum wage — is not explicitly supported in the
Johanna Weststar is at Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University.
British Journal of Industrial Relations doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2009.00737.x
47:4 December 2009 0007–1080 pp. 723–740
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2009. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
OECD report. At least in terms of labour-market value of educational cre-
dentials, Ischinger concludes that the ‘benefits of higher education have not
deteriorated as higher education has expanded’ (OECD 2007: 13). However,
an economic assessment of the individual returns to education is just one
component of the total impact that rising education rates have on labour
markets, individual workers and their jobs.
If the knowledge economy requires ever more highly educated workers, it
must also require the maximal use of the knowledge and abilities that workers
have acquired. However, a growing body of research documents the inci-
dence of the underemployment of workers (see, e.g. Berg 1970; Feldman
1996; Freeman 1976; Livingstone 1999; Sloane 2002; Wald 2004a). Using two
large Canadian datasets, Wald (2004a) places underemployment rates at
20–26 per cent while other estimates of various facets of underemployment
have been growing over the past two decades (Burris 1983; Livingstone et al.
2003). Canada and the United States show higher incidence levels compared
to other OECD countries, although the concern and subsequent documen-
tation of underemployment in European countries is growing (see Brisbois
2003; Brynin 2002; Green et al. 2002; Groot and Maassen van den Brink
2000; Sloane 2002; Wirz and Atukeren 2005).
Underemployment has negative and costly impacts to employees and orga-
nizations. For example, various dimensions of underemployment have been
positively linked to turnover intentions and job-hunting activity (Feldman
and Turnley 1995; Maynard et al. 2006; Wald 2004b), poor job satisfaction
(Jones-Johnson and Johnson 2000; Khan and Morrow 1991; Maynard and
Joseph 2008; Maynard et al. 2006), increased ‘careerism’ (Feldman and
Weitz 1991; Rousseau 1990) and negatively linked to other job attitudes such
as work commitment, job involvement and internal work motivation
(Feldman and Turnley 1995). Aspects of underemployment have also been
linked to negative mental health outcomes such as depression and low self-
esteem (Jones-Johnson and Johnson 1991). Despite these negative impacts,
few studies have explicitly addressed how underemployment can be elimi-
nated or its effects alleviated.
This article examines the role that the structure and design of organiza-
tions and jobs plays in reducing feelings of subjective underemployment
(definition expanded below). It acknowledges that power imbalances occur
in employer–employee negotiations over working conditions, knowledge
requirements and knowledge use (Livingstone 1999) and suggests that the
allocation of control in the workplace can impact employees’ abilities to
navigate their job space and apply their knowledge. The strategic design of
jobs within organizations becomes the focus rather than educational reform
or individual returns to educational attainment. This framework acknowl-
edges the large reservoirs of knowledge and ability that workers bring to jobs
and questions how their use can be maximized to the satisfaction and success
of both employers and employees.
The analyses below use the Canadian 2004 Work and Lifelong Learning
(WALL) dataset. The dataset is unique and well suited to this research
724 British Journal of Industrial Relations
© Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2009.
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