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on Human Capital and Human Resource Management |
| By: | Hanna Brosch (Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Management, Heilbronn Campus); Philipp Lergetporer (Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Management, Heilbronn Campus); Florian Schoner (ifo Institute and 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: | beliefs, firm training, skill mismatch, human capital, survey |
| JEL: | J24 J31 D83 I21 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aiw:wpaper:44 |
| By: | Baktash, Mehrzad B.; Heywood, John S.; Jirjahn, Uwe |
| 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: | Performance Pay, Life Satisfaction, Well-Being, Satisfaction Domains, Gender |
| JEL: | D10 J22 J33 M52 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1677 |
| By: | Michal Hodor; Liat Eldor; Peter Cappelli |
| Abstract: | Recent research in psychology, management, and more recently in economics, highlights the role of individual managers and their behavior in shaping employee performance. While emerging literature on harmful managerial behavior has focused primarily on severe forms of workplace mistreatment, especially various types of harassment, much less is known about its boundary conditions: How minor can a manager’s bad behavior be and still negatively affect employee performance? We study what appears to be a very minor workplace mistreatment—failing to deliver an expected birthday gift and greeting card on time—and examine its effect on subsequent employee performance. Using a dynamic difference-in-differences approach with detailed data from a national retail chain, we find that this small slight leads to over a 50% increase in employee absenteeism and a reduction of more than two working hours per month. Our analysis suggests that emotional responses to perceived workplace mistreatment drive the results. These findings indicate that even modest slights can meaningfully harm employee performance. |
| JEL: | D23 J22 J24 J53 M50 M54 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34362 |
| By: | David C. Macdonald; Jerry Montonen; Emily E. Nix |
| Abstract: | Romantic relationships in the workplace are common, but those between managers and subordinates have increasingly drawn scrutiny. Using administrative data on the universe of cohabiting couples in Finland, we examine the career implications of starting or ending a personal relationship with a workplace manager and the spillovers of these relationships on the broader workforce. An event study design reveals that entering a relationship with a manager increases the subordinate's earnings by 6%, but breaking up triggers an abrupt 18% earnings decline. We also find that these relationships generate spillovers: retention of other workers declines by six percentage points, with effects concentrated in workplaces where subordinates experience greater earnings gains. Our findings highlight both the private benefits and organizational costs of hierarchical workplace relationships. |
| JEL: | J12 J15 M12 M14 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34346 |
| By: | Jirjahn, Uwe; Rienzo, Cinzia |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on working from home (WFH) and employee well-being have produced extremely 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 perspective has a series of testable implications for empirical work. Using panel data from the United Kingdom, our fixed effects estimates show that not only the actual use, but also the pure availability of WFH is associated 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 in the regressions. However, we find a positive association between the use of WFH and overall mental health only for the years before and after the pandemic. The association was negative during the COVID-19 crisis where WFH was largely enforced. Finally, 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. This indicates that men are more likely to over- or underrate the consequences of WFH than women. |
| Keywords: | Remote Work, Freedom of Choice, Pandemic, Mental Well-Being, Gender |
| JEL: | I10 I31 J16 J22 M50 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1675 |
| By: | Michael R. Richards; Jonathan Seward; Christopher M. Whaley |
| Abstract: | Human capital formation enhances worker productivity and firm performance. However, firms may not fully internalize the financial benefits from investing in employee skill-building, which can disincentivize worker training and suggest roles for government support. We examine such tradeoffs in the context of physician training (i.e., “residency” programs). Using the universe of Medicare inpatient and outpatient records from 2014-2019 and differences-in-differences analyses, we show that hospitals’ productivity and revenues grow by 10-20% after underwriting a procedure-oriented residency––though heterogeneity exists. The hospitals benefiting from trainee labor conservatively net over $2 million in steady-state, revealing substantive private incentives to finance physician training. |
| JEL: | I11 I18 J24 J44 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34365 |