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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Kristina Czura (Groningen); Florian Englmaier (LMU Munich); Hoa Ho (LMU Munich); Lisa Spantig (RWTH Aachen) |
| Abstract: | The positive role of transformational leadership for productivity and mental wellbeing has long been established. Transformational leadership behavior may be particularly suited to navigate times of crisis which are characterized by high levels of complexity and uncertainty. We exploit quasi-random assignment of employees to managers and study the role of frontline managers’ leadership styles on employees’ performance, work style, and mental well-being in times of crisis. Using longitudinal administrative data and panel survey data from before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, we find that the benefits of different leadership styles depend on the environment: Employees of more transactional managers outperform those of more transformational leaders before the onset of the pandemic. During the pandemic, however, more transformational managers lead employees to better performance and mental well-being. We discuss potential explanations and implications. |
| Keywords: | leadership, frontline managers, labor-management relations, organizational behavior, crisi; |
| JEL: | M54 M12 J53 |
| Date: | 2024–10–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:512 |
| By: | Pham, Tho (University of York); Schaefer, Daniel (Johannes Kepler University Linz); Singleton, Carl (University of Stirling) |
| Abstract: | National payroll earnings data reveal that men are generally paid more than women when they enter firms. Although this hiring wage gap has narrowed over the past two decades, it still accounts for over half of the overall gender pay gap in Great Britain. Even when firms hire men and women into the same specific occupation at roughly the same time, and accounting for previous work experience, there remains an unexplained hiring wage gap within jobs that favours men by 2.6%. These findings suggest that gender pay gap reporting laws that focus exclusively on the overall gaps within employers miss an important margin. Mandating employers to additionally disclose their wage gaps among newly hired workers could be highly informative. |
| Keywords: | gender segregation, occupation-specific wages, employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17285 |
| By: | Mario Lackner; Hendrik Sonnabend |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impairing effect of heat stress on cognitive abilities in a high-stakes setting. Building on rich play-by-play data from the National Football League (NFL) linked to variations in game-time temperature, we find that players are about 25% more likely to be sanctioned for infractions associated with mental errors in games with temperatures above 85°F (29.4°C) compared to games with lower temperatures. Furthermore, we identify situations with (i) little room to adapt to heat stress and (ii) high work intensities, as well as the players’ physical constitution as channels that can explain the heat-induced decline in mental performance. |
| Keywords: | heat stress, mental performance, football |
| JEL: | Q51 J24 J81 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2024-11 |
| By: | Timothy W. Shields (Argyros College of Business and Economics, Economic Science Institute, Chapman University); James Wilhelm (Argyros College of Business and Economics, Economic Science Institute, Chapman University) |
| Abstract: | A robust finding in managerial accounting research is that participants prefer economically equivalent contracts framed as bonuses to penalties. Another finding is that participants put forth more effort when facing penalty contracts than equivalent bonus contracts. Both results are commonly described as due to loss aversion, an integral portion of Prospect Theory. We test whether loss aversion is correlated with higher effort in an experiment with two parts. In the first part, we elicit individual participants' loss aversion using two measures. In the second part of the experiment, participants choose costly efforts to increase the likelihood of high versus low state-contingent payoffs framed as bonuses or penalties. We find significant differences in the effort chosen between treatments: participants put in significantly more effort when facing penalty contracts. However, we find no evidence that either measure's degree of loss aversion correlates with effort choices as predicted by Prospect Theory. We find that only a quarter of participants are consistent with the Prospect Theory, and for those, we see little evidence of the commonly cited features of loss aversion. While the most cited reason for framing incentives changing participant behavior is loss aversion, our results suggest that this reason is falsified. While the results from prior studies are replicable, the untested underlying mechanism is not loss aversion. |
| Keywords: | contract framing, loss-aversion, bonus, penalty, utility preference, model selection |
| JEL: | C92 D82 D81 M40 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:24-14 |
| By: | Lagarde, Mylène; Riumallo Herl, Carlos |
| Abstract: | In a field experiment with 400 groups of informal entrepreneurs in El Salvador, we compare the impact of group incentives (linked to compliance of all members) to equivalent individual ones to encourage cardiovascular check-ups. We test two incentive designs: small rewards and lotteries. Group incentives are as effective as individual ones at increasing demand for prevention, but, unlike individual incentives, they fail to target those with potentially higher health risks. The equal effectiveness of group incentives is linked to more communication, coordination between members and, to some extent, peer pressure. These social dynamics contribute to reduce uncertainty about other group members’ decisions and enhance the perceived net benefit of prevention. Although the preventive check-ups do not induce short-term lifestyle changes, they substantially increase the detection of new risk factors, making all incentives highly cost-effective interventions in this population. |
| JEL: | C93 D91 I12 |
| Date: | 2025–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:125349 |
| By: | Nikunlaakso, Risto; Airaksinen, Jaakko M.; Pekkarinen, Laura; Aalto, Ville; Toivio, Pauliina; Kivimäki, Mika; Laitinen, Jaana; Ervasti, Jenni |
| Abstract: | Employee turnover is a challenge for public sector employers. In this study, we used machine learning to develop and validate models to predict actualized turnover of Finnish public sector workers. The development cohort data (N=52 291) included 158 variables from 2018. We defined overall turnover (regardless of reason) and net turnover (excluding workers in retirement age) through eligibility to a follow-up survey in 2020. The validation cohort included 9030 hospital workers who responded to survey in 2017, with turnover assessed in 2019. Area under the curve (AUC) value was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.74-0.76) for overall turnover and 0.75 (95% CI 0.73-0.76) for net turnover. The validation yielded similar AUC values. Key predictors of turnover were younger age, shorter job tenure, and turnover intentions totaling over 70% of the net gain. Work-related exposures, of which low threat of lay-off and satisfaction with challenges at work were most important, had considerably lower predictive power (about 1% each). These results may offer insights for public sector employers in their efforts to reduce employee turnover. |
| Date: | 2024–09–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:254bd |
| By: | Christoph Riedl; Eric Bogert |
| Abstract: | Can human decision-makers learn from AI feedback? Using data on 52, 000 decision-makers from a large online chess platform, we investigate how their AI use affects three interrelated long-term outcomes: Learning, skill gap, and diversity of decision strategies. First, we show that individuals are far more likely to seek AI feedback in situations in which they experienced success rather than failure. This AI feedback seeking strategy turns out to be detrimental to learning: Feedback on successes decreases future performance, while feedback on failures increases it. Second, higher-skilled decision-makers seek AI feedback more often and are far more likely to seek AI feedback after a failure, and benefit more from AI feedback than lower-skilled individuals. As a result, access to AI feedback increases, rather than decreases, the skill gap between high- and low-skilled individuals. Finally, we leverage 42 major platform updates as natural experiments to show that access to AI feedback causes a decrease in intellectual diversity of the population as individuals tend to specialize in the same areas. Together, those results indicate that learning from AI feedback is not automatic and using AI correctly seems to be a skill itself. Furthermore, despite its individual-level benefits, access to AI feedback can have significant population-level downsides including loss of intellectual diversity and an increasing skill gap. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.18660 |
| By: | David Dorn; Florian Schoner; Moritz Seebacher; Lisa Simon; Ludger Woessmann |
| Abstract: | We measure human capital using the self-reported skill sets of 8.75 million U.S. college graduates from professional profiles on the online platform LinkedIn. We establish that these skills are systematically related to human capital investments such as different types of schooling and work experience. The average profile of the number of reported skills by age looks remarkably similar to the well-established concave age-earnings profiles. More experienced workers and those with higher educational degrees have larger shares of occupation-specific skills, consistent with their acquisition through professional-degree programs and on-the-job experience. Workers who report more, and particularly more specific and managerial, skills are more likely to hold highly paid jobs. Skill differences across workers can account for more earnings variation than detailed vectors of education and experience. We also document a substantial gender gap in reported skills, which starts to manifest when young women reach typical ages of first motherhood. Gender differences in skill profiles can rationalize a substantial proportion of the gender gap in the propensity to work in highly paid jobs. Overall, the results are consistent with an important role of multidimensional skills in accounting for several well-known basic labor-market patterns. |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2409.18638 |
| By: | Schilter, Claudio (University of Bern); Lüthi, Samuel (Swiss Co-ordination Center for Research in Education); Wolter, Stefan C. (University of Bern) |
| Abstract: | We merge experimental data on competitiveness of a large sample of students with their complete educational history for up to ten years after the initial assessment. Exploiting quasi-random class assignments, we find that having competitive peers as classmates makes students choose and secure positions in higher-paying occupations. These occupations are also more challenging and more popular. On the cost side, competitive peers do not lead to a lower probability of graduating from the subsequent job-specific education, but they significantly increase the probability of requiring extra time to do so. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, competitiveness, occupational choice |
| JEL: | C93 D91 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17289 |