Working Paper: NBER ID: w12878
Authors: Wei Chi; Richard B. Freeman; Morris M. Kleiner
Abstract: This study uses a 10-year longitudinal database on U.S. manufacturing establishments to analyze the dynamics of the adoption and termination of employee involvement programs (EI). We show that firms' use of EI has not grown continuously, but rather introduce and terminate EI policies in ways that imply that the policies are complementary with each other and with other advanced human resource practices, seemingly moving toward an equilibrium distribution of EI policies. Using a Markov model, we estimate the long-run distribution of the number of EI programs in firms and find that adjustment to the steady-state distribution takes about 20 years.
Keywords: employee involvement; human resource practices; Markov model; manufacturing establishments
JEL Codes: J0; J53
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| business strategy (L21) | EI program adoption (O33) |
| complementary HR practices (M52) | EI program adoption (O33) |
| unionization (J50) | EI program adoption (O33) |
| unionization (J50) | EI program termination (J65) |
| existing level of EI (I24) | likelihood of adopting new EI programs (L26) |
| number of EI programs (J68) | dynamics of EI programs over time (J68) |