Employee ownership

Shared capitalism, ranging from employees owing shares to profit sharing schemes, can take many forms. Even within a single country like the U.S., several forms exist in parallel. A well-known form is the Japanese Employee Share Ownership. About half of employees in public firms in Japan participate in the JESO and JESO accounts for a considerable share of employees’ asset holdings. Studies of the impact of employee ownership on firms point to positive as well as negative effects. In accordance with goal alignment theory, EO has been found to enhance productivity. However, higher productivity typically is costly, in particular, labour costs are higher, and consequently evidence of the impact on profitability is less clear. Effects on worker outcomes such as pay, training and employment stability, are in general positive. A notable exception is job satisfaction.