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Vertical disintegration and training: evidence from a matched employer–employee survey

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  • Elisabetta Magnani

Abstract

The mechanism through which outsourcing favourably impacts on workplace performance, particularly productivity, is still unclear. I explore the hypothesis that it does so by impacting workers’ training. I use AWIRS-1995, a matched employer–employee survey that reports ample information on the extent of technology and organizational change in Australian workplaces. I find that there is a positive and significant impact of outsourcing on training when I do not control for the correlation between ununobservable factors in these two binary outcomes. However, once I control for this correlation using a bivariate probit estimator, the training impact of outsourcing becomes negative. I then assess the sensitivity of the outsourcing effect to endogeneity by using the method advocated by Altonji et al. (J Polit Econ 113(1):151–184, 2005 ) to find that this latter result persists even in the presence of a low correlation between unobservables. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

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  • Elisabetta Magnani, 2012. "Vertical disintegration and training: evidence from a matched employer–employee survey," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 199-217, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:38:y:2012:i:2:p:199-217
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-011-0256-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Elisabetta Magnani, 2016. "Dissatisfaction with Working Time and Workers' Training Opportunities. Evidence from Matched Employer–Employee Data," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(2), pages 112-129, June.
    2. Christiane Hinerasky, 2014. "Advances in Training Evaluation - Psychological, Educational, Economic, and Econometric Perspectives on the Kirkpatrick Model," Working Papers Dissertations 14, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Organizational change; Vertical disintegration; Outsourcing; Training; Older workers; D22; J24; L24;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures

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