Toward better theory on the relationship between commitment, participation and leadership in unions

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to give a critique of the extant literature on union commitment and participation in order to develop remedies to identified weaknessesDesign methodology approach - The paper uses a critical assessment of extant literature.Findings - A number of critical deficiencies exist in the literature to which remedies are proposed.Research limitations implications - The remedies need testing through empirical research.Practical implications - Future research needs to have different research foci and questions.Social implications - With a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership, unions may be better able to benefit from academic research in the area.Originality value - The paper suggests that a reorientation of future research on union commitment, participation and leadership will allow more incisive and more robust contributions to be made to understanding unions as complex social organisms.