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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Kohei Daido (Kwansei Gakuin University); Takeshi Murooka (Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | We study multitasking problems where an agent engages in both a contractible task and a non-contractible task, which are substitutes. The agent has private information on the value of the non-contractible task, and there are followers who can also contribute to this task. We highlight a new mechanism by incorporating leading-by-example (Hermalin, 1998) in a multi-tasking model. To prevent excessive effort by the agent with low value on the non-contractible task, the principal provides high-powered incentives for the contractible task. We discuss its organizational implications to pay for performance, incentives to help colleagues, and prevention of overwork. |
| Keywords: | Multitasking, Signaling, Leadership, Pay for Performance, Help, Overwork |
| JEL: | D82 D86 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:242&r=hrm |
| By: | Vladasel, Theodor (Pompeu Fabra University); Parker, Simon C. (Western University, Canada); Sloof, Randolph (University of Amsterdam); van Praag, Mirjam C. (Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | Revenue drift, where insufficient attention is given to economic, relative to social, goals, threatens social enterprise performance and survival. We argue that financial incentives can address this problem by redirecting employee attention to commercial tasks and attracting workers less inclined to fixate on social tasks. In an online experiment with varying incentive levels, monetary rewards succeed in directing worker effort to commercial tasks; high-powered incentives attract less prosocial employees, but low-powered incentives do not alter workforce composition. Social enterprises combining monetary rewards with a social mission not only attract more workers, but are also able to guard against revenue drift. |
| Keywords: | incentives, multitasking, experiment, social enterprise, prosociality |
| JEL: | D22 J33 L21 L31 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15716&r=hrm |
| By: | Florian Englmaier; Gerd Muehlheusser; Andreas Roider; Niklas Wallmeier |
| Abstract: | We study management practices and performance of public sector organizations in Germany. For a representative sample of municipalities, we provide survey evidence for substantial het-erogeneity in the use of structured management practices. This heterogeneity is not driven by differences across states, regional types, or population size. Moreover, we document a system-atic positive relationship between the degree of structured management and a diverse set of performance measures capturing municipalities’ attractiveness for citizens and firms. Topic modelling (LDA) of survey responses suggests that management styles differ indeed in the extent of structured management, with many municipalities displaying relatively little of it. |
| Keywords: | management practices, public sector organizations, local government, municipal performance, World Management Survey (WMS) |
| JEL: | D20 D73 H11 H73 R50 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10060&r=hrm |
| By: | Dobbelaere, Sabien (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); McCormack, Grace (University of Southern California); Prinz, Daniel (World Bank); Sovago, Sandor (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | Using rich administrative data from the Netherlands, we study the consequences of firm consolidation for workers. For workers at acquired firms, takeovers are associated with a 8.5% drop in employment at the consolidated firm and a 2.6% drop in total labor income. These effects are persistent even four years later. We show that the primary mechanism for this job loss is labor restructuring at consolidating firms. Specifically, workers with higher-than-expected pay relative to their human capital and workers with skills that are likely already present at acquirers are less likely to be retained. |
| Keywords: | takeovers, labor market outcomes, labor restructuring |
| JEL: | G34 J2 J3 M51 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15724&r=hrm |
| By: | Kunze, Astrid (Norwegian School of Economics); Scharfenkamp, Katrin (University of Bielefeld) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates boards of (non-executive) directors and whether employee representation has a positive effect on gender diversity on boards. We exploit rich, newly assembled board–director matched panel data for Norway and Germany, which contain unique information on whether a director represents shareholders or employees during the period around 2008, when a Norwegian board gender quota came into effect. We present two novel results that challenge previous thinking about the effects of board gender quotas on women directors. First, we find a positive impact of employee representation before the gender quota reform on gender diversity. Second, although the Norwegian gender quota has increased the probability of a director being female, the effect through employee representation has relatively decreased after the implementation of the reform. We discuss potential mechanisms and implications for the design of co-determination laws and gender quotas. |
| Keywords: | affirmative action, employee representation, shared governance, co-determination, women, boards of directors, firm size |
| JEL: | G3 J16 K3 L21 L25 M54 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15691&r=hrm |
| By: | van der Klaauw, Bas (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Vethaak, Heike (University of Leiden) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses data from a large-scale field experiment where unemployed workers were randomly assigned to an additional caseworker meeting with the purpose to impose a broader job search strategy. We find that the meeting significantly increases job finding and is cost effective. However, caseworkers differ substantially in the rate at which they impose broader job search. We exploit this heterogeneity in caseworker stringency and the random assignment of unemployed workers to caseworkers within local offices to evaluate the broader search requirement. Our results show that imposing the broader search requirements reduces job finding. We argue that restricting the job search opportunities forces unemployed workers to search sub-optimally which negatively affects labor market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | unemployment, broader job search, caseworker stringency, caseworker meetings, field experiment |
| JEL: | J22 J64 J65 J68 C93 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15698&r=hrm |
| By: | Hirsch, Boris (Leuphana University Lüneburg); Jahn, Elke J. (University of Bayreuth); Manning, Alan (London School of Economics); Oberfichtner, Michael (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | One of the factors likely to affect the market power of employers is the sensitivity of the flow of recruits to the offered wage, but there is very little research on this. This paper presents a methodology for estimating the wage elasticity of recruitment and applies it to German data. Our estimates of the wage elasticity of recruitment are about 1.4. We also report evidence that high-wage employers are more selective in hiring, in which case the relevant recruitment elasticity should be higher, about 2.2. Together with prior estimates of the quit elasticity these results imply that wages are 72–77% of the marginal product of labour. Further, we find lower elasticities for recruits hired from non-employment as well as for women, non-German nationals, non-prime-age workers, less skilled workers, and workers with less complex jobs. |
| Keywords: | monopsony, imperfect labour markets, wage elasticity of recruitment |
| JEL: | J42 J31 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15675&r=hrm |
| By: | Cassar, Lea (University of Regensburg); Fischer, Mira (WZB - Social Science Research Center Berlin); Valero, Vanessa (Loughborough University) |
| Abstract: | Mindfulness-based meditation practices are becoming increasingly popular in Western societies, including in the business world and in education. While the scientific literature has largely documented the benefits of mindfulness meditation for mental health, little is still known about potential spillovers of these practices on other important life outcomes, such as performance. We address this question through a field experiment in an educational setting. We study the causal impact of mindfulness meditation on academic performance through a randomized evaluation of a well-known 8-week mindfulness meditation training delivered to university students on campus. As expected, the intervention improves students' mental health and non-cognitive skills. However, it takes time before students' performance can benefit from mindfulness meditation: we find that, if anything, the intervention marginally decreases average grades in the short run, i.e., during the exam period right after the end of the intervention, whereas it significantly increases academic performance, by about 0.4 standard deviations, in the long run (ca. 6 months after the end of intervention). We investigate the underlying mechanisms and discuss the implications of our results. |
| Keywords: | performance, mental health, education, meditation, field experiment |
| JEL: | I21 C93 I12 I31 |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15723&r=hrm |
| By: | Kanazawa, Kyogo (University of Tokyo); Kawaguchi, Daiji (University of Tokyo); Shigeoka, Hitoshi (Simon Fraser University); Watanabe, Yasutora (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of Articial Intelligence (AI) on productivity in the context of taxi drivers. The AI we study assists drivers with finding customers by suggesting routes along which the demand is predicted to be high. We find that AI improves drivers' productivity by shortening the cruising time, and such gain is accrued only to low-skilled drivers, narrowing the productivity gap between high- and low-skilled drivers by 14%. The result indicates that AI's impact on human labor is more nuanced and complex than a job displacement story, which was the primary focus of existing studies. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, skill, productivity, taxi-drivers, prediction, demand forecasting, machine learning |
| JEL: | J22 J24 L92 R41 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15677&r=hrm |