Three Dimensions of Employees Acquiring Shares in Their Firms: Personal Characteristics, Motives and Type of Ownership

This study is based on a survey and interviews in six Icelandic firms in which share purchases by employees have transpired. The focus is on employees’ characteristics and motives in becoming shareowners as well as the reasons for non-participation. The article’s contribution is to add to the theory and empirical evidence regarding the individual-level antecedents to employee ownership across both majority and minority variants. The results reveal that income, tenure and age influence ownership status. There is some support for expectations that employees place greater emphasis on stakeholder goals and collective goals in majority employee-owned firms and on financial goals in minority employee-owned firms. Employees were hindered from becoming owners due to a lack of funds or internal exclusionary barriers.