Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Paul T. Frankenhauser

Abstract

Frequent labor strikes are a problem in Ghana that often interrupt the production of goods and the provision of services including health and education. The strikes primarily result from wage disputes that appear to arise from inflation and low real wages. Although there have been studies on collective bargaining and macroeconomic conditions in Ghana, there is a lack of research on the relationship between inflation as well as real wages, and collective bargaining labor strikes. This quantitative correlational study involving secondary data analysis was undertaken to help solve the problem by addressing the lack of evidence on the statistical significance of the aforementioned relationships in Ghana. The main theoretical foundation for the research was the industrial relations theory of collective bargaining. Statistical inferential techniques and SPSS Version 28 were used to analyze 36 years of secondary time-series data on inflation rates, consumer price indices, number of labor strikes, and minimum wages. The results revealed that the correlation between inflation rate and number of labor strikes was statistically insignificant whilst that between real wages and number of strikes was significant. The regression of the number of labor strikes on the inflation rate and real wages was statistically significant. Individually, only the regression on real wages was statistically significant. It was concluded that real wages correlate inversely with the number of labor strikes. Further research may be done in similar settings to compare the generalizability of the outcomes of this study. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential of the findings to persuade the government to implement effective interventions that improve inflation and real wages to help curb frequent strikes by workers.

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