Critical antecedents for successful labor-management partnerships (LMP): taxonomy, levels and the “black boxes”

Purpose Employment relations studies have examined the notion and practice of labor-management partnership (LMP); yet, a delineation of overarching explanations for successful LMP remain outstanding. This study sought to identify and classify critical antecedents for successful LMP that transcend key empirical peculiarities of time, setting, organizational level and research method. Design/methodology/approach We drew on a structured review of extant LMP research in three indexed databases including Scopus, Web of Science and EBSCOHost's Academic Search Ultimate, and thematically analyzed a data set of 97 papers through a multi-level analytical framework to delineate key findings. Findings The paper underscores the primacy of eight antecedents at the national, organizational and partnership levels across three taxonomies of deliberative institutional context, capacity for partnership and partner's existential needs. These antecedents create lock-in conditions, harmonize partner's outcomes expectations and enable a trusting relationship between labor and management. Practical implications Industrial and employment relations practitioners in different organizational levels and types may particularly find these findings useful when prioritizing their considerations for a formal labor-management relationship both at the design and implementation phases. Social implications The varieties of antecedents may help scholars integrate fragmented case based insights, reveal cross-level interactions while the “black boxes” may help to redirect the focus of future research questions encourage consideration of the level of analysis of LMP. Originality/value This study generates transcending explanations for effective LMP, delineates a two-dimensional framework to clarify antecedents and foregrounds “black boxes” in extant knowledge on LMP antecedents to shape further work.