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Profit sharing and innovation

Author

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  • Kris Aerts
  • Kornelius Kraft
  • Julia Lang

Abstract

We investigate the effect of profit sharing on product and process innovation. Profit sharing is a credible commitment on the part of companies to allow their employees to participate in any efficiency gain. Resistance to technical progress becomes less plausible. Moreover, employees are motivated to share their specific information advantage on possibilities to optimize the production process and products with the management. We take account of possible selectivity effects and, using survey data on German companies with and without profit sharing, we test our hypothesis by comparing measures of innovativeness. We apply matching and conditional difference-in-differences and find that the introduction of profit sharing spurs product innovation but has no effect on process innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Kris Aerts & Kornelius Kraft & Julia Lang, 2015. "Profit sharing and innovation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(6), pages 1377-1392.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:24:y:2015:i:6:p:1377-1392.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/icc/dtv009
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    Cited by:

    1. Prince, Nicholas R. & Bruce Prince, J. & Kabst, Rüediger, 2020. "National culture and incentives: Are incentive practices always good?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    2. Filippo Belloc, 2019. "Employer‐employee profit‐sharing and the incentives to innovate when the dismissal regulation matters," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(4), pages 641-654, November.
    3. Belloc, Filippo, 2022. "Profit sharing and innovation across organizational layers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 598-623.
    4. d'Andria, Diego & Uebelmesser, Silke, 2016. "The relationship between R&D intensity and profit-sharing schemes: evidence from Germany and the United Kingdom," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145622, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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