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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Grund, Christian (RWTH Aachen University); Nießen, Anna (RWTH Aachen University) |
| Abstract: | We explore the moderating role of job autonomy for the link between the use of performance appraisals and employees’ job satisfaction. Results based on German linked employer-employee panel data show that performance appraisals are linked to higher job satisfaction at moderate levels of job autonomy, whereas this positive relationship weakens at both low and high levels of autonomy. Moreover, the interplay between performance appraisals and job autonomy appears sensitive to broader institutional and contextual factors, such as the existence of employee representation, perceived job security, and design of the performance appraisals. Our findings highlight the complex role of job autonomy in shaping employee responses to performance management, underscoring the need for context-aware human resource practices. |
| Keywords: | job satisfaction, performance appraisals, job autonomy, German Linked Personnel Panel |
| JEL: | M12 M5 J28 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18191 |
| By: | Brosch, Hanna (Technical University of Munich); Lergetporer, Philipp (Technical University of Munich); Schoner, Florian (ifo Institute, University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | Firm training is key to meeting changing skill demands, yet little is known about the role of workers’ beliefs in shaping training participation. In a survey of 3, 701 workers in Germany, we document that they expect substantial returns to firm training – both in terms of earnings and non-pecuniary outcomes such as promotion chances, job task complexity, or enjoyment. These beliefs predict actual and intended training participation. Lower-skilled workers anticipate smaller non-pecuniary returns, partly explaining their lower uptake. An information treatment addressing return beliefs significantly increases training intentions among lower-skilled workers, suggesting that targeting beliefs may help narrow participation gaps between lower- and higher-skilled workers. |
| Keywords: | human capital, skill mismatch, firm training, beliefs, survey |
| JEL: | J24 J31 D83 I21 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18186 |
| By: | Bassier, Ihsaan; Manning, Alan; Petrongolo, Barbara |
| Abstract: | We estimate the elasticity of vacancy duration with respect to posted wages, using data from the near-universe of online job adverts in the United Kingdom. Our research design leverages firm-level wage policies that are plausibly exogenous to hiring difficulties on specific job vacancies, and controls for job and marketlevel fixed-effects. Wage policies are defined based on external information on pay settlements, or on sharp, internally-defined, firm-level changes. In our preferred specifications, we estimate duration elasticities in the range −3 to −5, which are substantially larger than the few existing estimates. |
| JEL: | J1 R14 J01 C1 |
| Date: | 2025–03–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129488 |
| By: | Baktash, Mehrzad B. (University of Trier); Heywood, John S. (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee); Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier) |
| Abstract: | Using German survey data, we show conflicting influences of performance pay on overall life satisfaction. The overall influence reflects a strong positive influence through domains of life satisfaction associated with the job (job satisfaction, individual earnings satisfaction and household earning satisfaction) and a strong negative influence through domains away from the job (health satisfaction, sleep satisfaction and family life satisfaction). This trade-off between work and home generalizes and helps explain many previous studies examining much more specific consequences of performance pay. Finally, controlling for the mediating role of the domains, the direct influence on life satisfaction is positive for women and insignificantly different from zero for men. |
| Keywords: | well-being, life satisfaction, performance pay, satisfaction domains, gender |
| JEL: | D10 J22 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18181 |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe (University of Trier); Rienzo, Cinzia (University of Brighton) |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on working from home (WFH) and employee well-being have produced conflicting results. We hypothesize that giving workers a choice over whether to use WFH plays a crucial role in the consequences for well-being. This has a series of testable implications for empirical work. Using panel data from the UK, our fixed effects estimates show that not only the actual use, but also the pure availability of WFH is linked with improved job-related and overall mental health. Not controlling for the pure availability of WFH implies that the positive influence of the actual use of WFH is underestimated. However, we find a positive link between the use of WFH and overall mental health only for the years before and after the pandemic. The link was negative during the COVID-19 crisis where WFH was largely enforced. Moreover, gender moderates the influence of WFH on mental health. For women, both the actual use and the pure availability of WFH are positively associated job-related and overall mental health. For men, we find a more mixed pattern where either only the pure availability or only the actual use has an influence on mental health. Men are more likely to over- or underrate the consequences of WFH than women. |
| Keywords: | pandemic, COVID-19, freedom of choice, remote work, mental well-being, gender |
| JEL: | I10 I31 J16 J22 M50 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18187 |
| By: | Florian Englmaier (LMU Munich); Jose E. Galdon-Sanchez (Universidad Publica de Navarra); Ricard Gil (IESE Business School); Michael Kaiser (E.CA Economics); Helene Strandt (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically examines how management practices affect firm productivity over the business cycle. Using plant-level high-dimensional human resource policies survey data collected in Spain in 2006, we employ unsupervised machine learning to describe clusters of management practices (“management styles”). We establish a positive correlation between a management style associated with structured management and performance prior to the 2008 financial crisis. Interestingly, this correlation turns negative during the financial crisis and positive again in the economic recovery post-2013. Our evidence suggests firms with more structured management are more likely to have practices fostering culture and intangible investments such that they focus in long-run profitability, prioritizing innovation over cost reduction, while having higher adjustment costs in the short-run through higher share of fixed assets and lower employee turnover. |
| Keywords: | management practices; culture; unsupervised machine learning; productivity; great recession; |
| JEL: | M12 D22 C38 |
| Date: | 2025–10–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:548 |
| By: | Burdin, Gabriel (University of Siena); Landini, Fabio (University of Parma) |
| Abstract: | Why does capital typically hire labor rather than the other way around? Employee-owned firms with majority workforce control—such as worker cooperatives—remain rare in market economies, despite evidence that they perform at least as well as investor-owned firms across various contexts. In this paper, we examine whether beliefs help explain this puzzle by shaping policy preferences and willingness to work in such organizations. In a preregistered experiment guided by a detailed pre-analysis plan, we randomly exposed 2, 000 young adults to information from an international expert survey. Respondents held more pessimistic prior beliefs about worker cooperatives compared to experts. Information exposure led to more optimistic beliefs and increased support for pro-cooperative policies. Text analysis of open-ended responses reveals fewer negative and more positive first-order concerns about cooperatives in the treatment group. We also find suggestive evidence of a relative re-ranking of career intentions in favor of worker cooperatives. |
| Keywords: | cooperatives, employee ownership, preferences, job attributes, career intentions, beliefs, information experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D83 J24 J54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18196 |
| By: | Rakesh Banerjee (University of Exeter Business School); Tushar Bharati (Economics Programme, University of Western Australia); Adnan Fakir (University of Sussex Business School); Yiwei Qian (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics) |
| Abstract: | We conducted an experiment on a major international online freelancing platform to examine how increased flexibility in daily work hours affects female participation. We post identical job advertisements (for 320 jobs) covering a wide range of tasks (80 distinct tasks) that differ only in flexibility and the wage offered. Comparing the numbers of applicants for these jobs, we find that, while both men and women prefer flexibility, the elasticity of response for women is twice that for men. Flexible jobs attracted 24% more women and 12% more men than inflexible ones. Importantly, these increases did not compromise the quality of the applications. In contrast, there is suggestive evidence that flexible jobs attracted higher-quality female candidates. Our findings have significant implications for understanding gender disparities in labor market outcomes and for shaping equity-focused policies of organizations. |
| Keywords: | workplace flexibility, online freelancing jobs, female labor force participation |
| JEL: | J22 O14 J16 L86 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:25-09 |
| By: | Huben Liu; Dimitris Papanikolaou; Lawrence D.W. Schmidt; Bryan Seegmiller |
| Abstract: | We use recent advances in natural language processing and large language models to construct novel measures of technology exposure for workers that span almost two centuries. Combining our measures with Census data on occupation employment, we show that technological progress over the 20th century has led to economically meaningful shifts in labor demand across occupations: it has consistently increased demand for occupations with higher education requirements, occupations that pay higher wages, and occupations with a greater fraction of female workers. Using these insights and a calibrated model, we then explore different scenarios for how advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are likely to impact employment trends in the medium run. The model predicts a reversal of past trends, with AI favoring occupations that are lower-educated, lower-paid, and more male-dominated. |
| JEL: | J23 J24 N3 O3 O4 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34386 |