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.

Purpose Little systematic work has been completed on the incidence of employee ownership in a Chinese context. Similar to the situation in Eastern Europe, this type of ownership was quite widespread in China, particularly during the 1990s. Based on the existing literature and available statistical data, the purpose of this paper is to identify drivers of, and barriers to, the development of employee ownership in China. Design/methodology/approach The scattered evidence from the literature and official statistical sources are collected and structured in a systematic analysis where the drivers and barriers for employee ownership in the transition process from plan to market are identified at three levels: society, the company and the individual. Findings Employee ownership developed as a transitory stage between state and private ownership; employees acquired ownership stakes as part of the privatisation of small- and medium-sized state-owned enterprises as well as collectively owned enterprises. However, in most cases the dynamics of ownership resulted in dominant ownership by managers. This trend became more noticeable at later stages of the privatisation process. Research limitations/implications The paper shows how policies and institutional settings at the society level are determining for the development of employee ownership. Originality/value The contribution of the paper is to give a general and systematic analysis of the development of employee ownership in China both based on a comprehensive literature review and by utilising existing statistical sources.

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