The impact of triple-role conflicts of Chinese enterprise trade union (CETU) on its performance: The moderating role of employee rights expectation

Abstract

This paper aims to explore how Chinese enterprise trade union’s (CETU) triple-role conflicts will impact its performance as well as whether employees’ Rights expectation will moderate these relationships. CETU’s triple-role conflicts is a three-dimensional construct which refers to the extent to which CETUs and their cadres encounter conflicts among the triple roles—preserving social stability, protecting workers’ interests, and maintaining production order. In the Pilot Study, the authors developed the scales via both qualitative and quantitative studies which include the individual in-depth interviews with 36 informants and the exploratory factor analyses with 106 MBA students. In the Main Study, the authors used a sample of 327 employees from more than 20 firms in North and Southwest China. Results from the Pilot and Main Study indicate the high reliability and validity of the scales. Moreover, results from the Main Study provide largely consistent support for our hypotheses, that is, three dimensions of CETU’s role conflicts are negatively related to CETU’s performance; meanwhile employees’ Rights expectation moderates these relationships. The authors’ findings shed light on the moderating mechanism of Rights expectation in the relationships between CETU’s triple-role conflicts and its performance.