PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES AND UNION VOTING: REVISITING THE ROLE OF GENERAL AND SPECIFIC UNION BELIEFS.

The article discusses the growing number of professional unions in the U.S. Professionals differ from non-professionals in several ways. Because of advanced and specialized education professionals expect a great deal of discretion at work. And rather than control through supervision, professionals are governed by allegiance to collegially developed codes of ethics and conduct. Because of their expertise, professionals also have more individual bargaining power than nonprofessionals. Thus the factors that affect their union voting intent, and the relative importance of these factors, may differ from those influencing the voting intentions of nonprofessionals. The concepts of schema, mental models, and social identity improve the understanding of the relationship between general and specific union beliefs. A schema is a cognitive structure used to group information in an organized fashion. Mental models are broad views that guide perceptions and behaviors. General union beliefs are an abstract construct; thus, they more closely mirror the concepts of schema and mental models. Nonunion employees would rely more heavily on general beliefs to inform their voting intentions, and to form their specific beliefs. For professionals, ideology plays a significant role in the determination of their employment-related schema, mental models, and social identity.