IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/intlab/v163y2024i1p117-140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preferential employment policies and firm performance: Evidence from Indian public sector enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Ritika JAIN
  • Vinoj ABRAHAM

Abstract

This article examines the impact of job reservations on the performance of public sector enterprises (PSEs) in India. Drawing on data for all central government‐owned manufacturing PSEs from 2014 to 2017 and employing instrumental variable techniques, the authors test the hypothesis that reservations benefit firm performance if implemented across all levels of the employment hierarchy. While the findings validate this hypothesis, they also indicate that the reserved categories are disproportionately represented in the lower end of the organizational hierarchy. This imbalance is primarily driven by systematic limitations in vacancy notifications and discriminatory practices within organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ritika JAIN & Vinoj ABRAHAM, 2024. "Preferential employment policies and firm performance: Evidence from Indian public sector enterprises," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 163(1), pages 117-140, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:163:y:2024:i:1:p:117-140
    DOI: 10.1111/ilr.12397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12397
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ilr.12397?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jain, Ritika, 2017. "Public sector enterprise disinvestment in India: Efficiency gains in a political context," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 18-36.
    2. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    3. Kölle, Felix, 2017. "Affirmative action, cooperation, and the willingness to work in teams," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 50-62.
    4. Harald Dale-Olsen & Pål Schøne & Mette Verner, 2013. "Diversity among Norwegian Boards of Directors: Does a Quota for Women Improve Firm Performance?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 110-135, October.
    5. Andrew Schotter & Keith Weigelt, 1992. "Asymmetric Tournaments, Equal Opportunity Laws, and Affirmative Action: Some Experimental Results," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 511-539.
    6. Deshpande, Ashwini & Weisskopf, Thomas E., 2014. "Does Affirmative Action Reduce Productivity? A Case Study of the Indian Railways," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 169-180.
    7. Jain, Ritika, 2020. "Bribery and firm performance in India: A political economy perspective," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Lin, Shuanglin & ROWE, Wei, 2006. "Determinants of the profitability of China's regional SOEs," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 120-141.
    9. Simon Commander & Jan Svejnar, 2011. "Business Environment, Exports, Ownership, and Firm Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 309-337, February.
    10. Ben Lipsius, 2018. "Labor Market Concentration does not Explain the Falling Labor Share," 2018 Papers pli1202, Job Market Papers.
    11. Phelps, Edmund S, 1972. "The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 659-661, September.
    12. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio López-de-Silanes, 1999. "The Benefits of Privatization: Evidence from Mexico," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1193-1242.
    14. Nandini Gupta, 2005. "Partial Privatization and Firm Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 987-1015, April.
    15. Ritika Jain & Shubhro Sarkar, 2019. "An empirical analysis of disinvestment policy in India: does ideology matter?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 384-398, October.
    16. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim, 2016. "Affirmative Action and the Quality-Fit Trade-Off," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 3-51, March.
    17. Ritika Jain & Shubhro Sarkar, 2019. "An empirical analysis of disinvestment policy in India: does ideology matter?," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 384-398, October.
    18. Gautam Ahuja & Sumit Majumdar, 1998. "An Assessment of the Performance of Indian State-Owned Enterprises," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 113-132, March.
    19. Beaurain, Guillaume & Masclet, David, 2016. "Does affirmative action reduce gender discrimination and enhance efficiency? New experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 350-362.
    20. Nguyet Thi Minh Phi & Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary & Chuc Anh Tu & Naoyuki Yoshino & Chul Ju Kim, 2021. "Performance Differential between Private and State-owned Enterprises: An Analysis of Profitability and Solvency," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(14), pages 3913-3928, November.
    21. Liu, Yu & Wei, Zuobao & Xie, Feixue, 2014. "Do women directors improve firm performance in China?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 169-184.
    22. Roland Fryer & Glenn Loury, 2005. "Affirmative action in winner-take-all markets," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 3(3), pages 263-280, December.
    23. Seker, Murat & Yang, Judy S., 2012. "How bribery distorts firm growth : differences by firm attributes," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6046, The World Bank.
    24. Leonard, Jonathan S, 1990. "The Impact of Affirmative Action Regulation and Equal Employment Law on Black Employment," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 47-63, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Patricia Esteve‐González & Anwesha Mukherjee, 2023. "Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(3), pages 924-974, January.
    2. Allison, Lee & Liu, Yu & Murtinu, Samuele & Wei, Zuobao, 2023. "Gender and firm performance around the world: The roles of finance, technology and labor," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Trieu, Chi, 2023. "Who's who: How uncertainty about the favored group effects outcomes of affirmative action," DICE Discussion Papers 405, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    4. Ritika Jain, 2022. "State Ownership and Dividend Decisions: Economic Versus Political Determinants," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 20(1), pages 23-42, March.
    5. Ombir Singh, 2019. "State ownership and performance of firm: evidence from India," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 43(2), pages 195-217.
    6. Ghosh, Saibal, 2017. "Why is it a man’s world, after all? Women on bank boards in India," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 109-121.
    7. Pan, Xia & Cheng, Wenyin & Gao, Yuning, 2022. "The impact of privatization of state-owned enterprises on innovation in China: A tale of privatization degree," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    8. Irfan Kurniawan & Riyanto, 2020. "Should I Bribe? Re-Examining the Greasing-the-Wheels Hypothesis in Democratic Post-Soeharto Indonesia," Economics and Finance in Indonesia, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, vol. 66, pages 123-140, Desember.
    9. Sanjukta Brahma & Chioma Nwafor & Agyenim Boateng, 2021. "Board gender diversity and firm performance: The UK evidence," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5704-5719, October.
    10. Um‐E‐Roman Fayyaz & Raja Nabeel‐Ud‐Din Jalal & Michelina Venditti & Antonio Minguez‐Vera, 2023. "Diverse boards and firm performance: The role of environmental, social and governance disclosure," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1457-1472, May.
    11. Ye, Dezhu & Deng, Jie & Liu, Yi & Szewczyk, Samuel H. & Chen, Xiao, 2019. "Does board gender diversity increase dividend payouts? Analysis of global evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-26.
    12. Nguyen, Quynh & Kim, Maria H. & Ali, Searat, 2024. "Corporate governance and earnings management: Evidence from Vietnamese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 775-801.
    13. Jain, Ritika, 2020. "Bribery and firm performance in India: A political economy perspective," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Fallucchi, Francesco & Quercia, Simone, 2018. "Affirmative action and retaliation in experimental contests," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 23-40.
    15. Beaurain, Guillaume & Masclet, David, 2016. "Does affirmative action reduce gender discrimination and enhance efficiency? New experimental evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 350-362.
    16. Francesco Fallucchi & Simone Quercia, 2016. "Affirmative action and retaliation in experimental contests," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) 16-03, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    17. Asma Houcine & Imen Derouiche, 2024. "Board gender diversity and corporate social performance: the moderating effect of family firms," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 265-301, June.
    18. Petters, Lea M. & Schröder, Marina, 2020. "Negative side effects of affirmative action: How quotas lead to distortions in performance evaluation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    19. Maximiliano González & Alexander Guzmán & Eduardo Pablo & María Andrea Trujillo, 2020. "Does gender really matter in the boardroom? Evidence from closely held family firms," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 221-267, February.
    20. Giorgia Giovannetti & Margherita Velucchi, 2022. "Gender discrimination and firm survival: a multilevel approach for EU textile companies," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(9), pages 1-19, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:intlab:v:163:y:2024:i:1:p:117-140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ilounch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.