Board-level employee representation in Sweden

• A special feature of the Swedish corporate governance system is that employees are allowed to appoint two to three representatives to the board of directors of the company they work for. As other aspects of board structure (e.g., size, independence, gender) are found to be related to how firms decide and perform, allowing employees to enter the boardroom could have implications for corporate outcomes as well. In this chapter we first provide with a description of how the Swedish system for board-level employee representation (BLER) is designed, and how this compares to other countries with some form of BLER. We then account for some empirical findings related to employee representation in Sweden. First, not all firms have employee representatives as it is voluntary to appoint representatives to the board. We therefore account for the existing evidence on when employees chose to appoint representatives to the board of directors. Second, we turn to the literature on how employee representatives are regarded by managers and chairpersons as shown by survey data. Third, we account for the empirical evidence there is on how BLER in Sweden is related to firm performance and reporting outcomes. Lastly, we summarize and conclude.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)