The impact of country-level factors on the use of new work practices

The present work analyses the impact of country-level factors on the use of new work practices such as job rotation, autonomous teams, job autonomy and upward communication. Using employee-level information on 16 European countries from the "Fourth European Working Conditions Survey", the paper shows that the use of these practices is more common in countries with low power distance, high individualism, low masculinity, high uncertainty avoidance, high indirect worker participation and low labour market rigidity. The results help to explain why new work practices vary across countries. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.