Purpose France is the third country in Europe after Italy and Spain for the number of employee-owned firms, with some 2,600 worker cooperatives (SCOPs). The authors propose a comprehensive review of SCOPs and any barriers to their expansion. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyse...

This paper uses an unbalanced panel of 129 French firms over the period 1981–1991 to test the effects of two participatory schemes – profit sharing and employee share ownership – on voluntary quits. The effects of sharing schemes on productivity are well documented and most studies show...

The authors investigate the effects on absenteeism of two types of employee sharing plans--profit-sharing and employee share ownership--in 127 French firms over the years 1981-91. Both types of plans were associated with statistically significant reductions in absenteeism. Most effective was the...