Employee involvement and participation (EIP) continues to attract significant interest from academics and practitioners alike, often in terms of so‐called newer forms of employee engagement and informal consultation. However, although the history of EIP shows that multiple channels are the norm in most organisations, it is still rare for representative, direct and informal EIP to be discussed in the same study. This article breaks new ground by developing measures for the breadth and depth of EIP, as well as analysing the forces at and beyond organisation level which shape management choices about which forms to adopt and how to embed them more deeply in organisations. Data were collected from 86 interviews and associated documentary analysis at and beyond organisational level in four liberal market economies (LMEs) (UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand) in order to identify how forces at national and organisational level shaped the breadth and depth of EIP in 25 case study organisations. The article's main conclusion is that while institutional forces – such as legislation, government action and intermediary bodies – do have an influence in LMEs, the way in which management interprets more immediate organisational forces remains significantly important in embedding EIP within organisations.
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