Editors' Introduction: The Effects of New Work Practices on Workers

The effects of employee involvement have been widely studied, including a special issue of this journal ( Ichniowski et al. 1996 ). This issue examines the effects of involvement and related programs on employees. This introduction examines several relevant theories and describes the methodological challenges. Of the many outcomes of interest ranging from employee satisfaction to health and safety, we focus our literature review on one: wages. The results of the studies we review vary widely, as do the programs those studies examine. Our reading is that many programs have no effect on wages, while on average, the effect is a small increase in wages after companies introduce new work systems with higher employee involvement.