The performance of employee-owned businesses in Scotland: some preliminary empirical evidence

Citation

Brown R, McQuaid R, Raeside R & Canduela J (2014) The performance of employee-owned businesses in Scotland: some preliminary empirical evidence. Fraser of Allander Institute Economic Commentary, 37 (3), pp. 108-117. https://www.strath.ac.uk/media/departments/economics/fairse/backissues/Fraser_Economic_Commentary_Vol_37_No_3.pdf

Abstract
In recent years, there has been a growing focus on promoting the concept of employee-ownership of businesses within public policy. One of the strong drivers of this is an assumption that these businesses out-perform conventionally structured businesses. This paper highlights some of the findings from the first empirical examination of the growth performance of employee-owned businesses (EOBs) ever undertaken in Scotland. The study involved an in-depth examination of a small sample of employeeowned firms and a quasi-experimental comparison of these firms against a control group of nonemployee owned firms. The study confirms that the performance of EBOs is generally superior to that of non EBOs on a number of different variables. On average, employee-owned firms both employ more staff and exhibit higher turnover growth than their peers.

Keywords
performance; employee-owned businesses; Scotland

Journal
Fraser of Allander Institute Economic Commentary: Volume 37, Issue 3

People

Professor Ronald McQuaid

Emeritus Professor, Management, Work and Organisation

• Fraser of Allander EOA Paper 10-02-14.pdf