IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecdequ/v22y2008i3p213-227.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Economic and Workforce Development Activities of American Business Associations

Author

Listed:
  • Lynn E. McCormick

    (Hunter College, City University of New York)

  • Joshua D. Hawley

    (The Ohio State University)

  • Edwin Meléndez

    (Hunter College, City University of New York)

Abstract

Renewed scholarly interest in clusters of firms has increased attention on institutions—including business associations—that serve them. Scholars investigating “labor market intermediaries†also wonder to what extent employers' associations conduct workforce development. Much research has been done on business associations in Europe and less developed countries; less studied are those in the United States. This article fills this gap by reporting survey results from 716 American business associations. The article asks, To what extent do American business associations engage in economic development activities beyond lobbying? Does involvement in economic development predict involvement in workforce development? and Are those who engage in more strategic economic development activities more likely to conduct strategic workforce development? Using regression analysis, we find that a substantial share are involved in more strategic economic and workforce development activities and that economic development—specifically, more strategic activities—is a strong predictor of engagement in workforce-related activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Lynn E. McCormick & Joshua D. Hawley & Edwin Meléndez, 2008. "The Economic and Workforce Development Activities of American Business Associations," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 22(3), pages 213-227, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:22:y:2008:i:3:p:213-227
    DOI: 10.1177/0891242408321694
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0891242408321694
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0891242408321694?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. Doner, Richard F. & Schneider, Ben Ross, 2000. "Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(3), pages 261-288, November.
    2. Leonard H. Lynn, 1988. "Organizing Business: Trade Associations in America and Japan," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 917653, September.
    3. Doner Richard F. & Schneider Ben Ross, 2000. "Business Associations and Economic Development: Why Some Associations Contribute More Than Others," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 1-29, December.
    4. Dore, Ronald & Lazonick, William & O'Sullivan, Mary, 1999. "Varieties of Capitalism in the Twentieth Century," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 15(4), pages 102-120, Winter.
    5. Schmitter, Philippe C. & Streeck, Wolfgang, 1999. "The organization of business interests: Studying the associative action of business in advanced industrial societies," MPIfG Discussion Paper 99/1, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Moore, Mick & Hamalai, Ladi, 1993. "Economic liberalization, political pluralism and business associations in developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 21(12), pages 1895-1912, December.
    7. Angelo Pichierri, 2002. "Concertation and local development," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 689-706, December.
    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. William Pyle, 2006. "Collective action and post-communist enterprise: The economic logic of Russia's business associations," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(4), pages 491-521.
    2. Calì, Massimiliano & Sen, Kunal, 2011. "Do Effective State Business Relations Matter for Economic Growth? Evidence from Indian States," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1542-1557, September.
    3. Mas, José M. & Gómez, Andrés, 2021. "Social partners in the digital ecosystem: Will business organizations, trade unions and government organizations survive the digital revolution?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    4. Theo Papaioannou & Andrew Watkins & Dinar Kale & Julius Mugwagwa, 2018. "Politics of innovation and development: The role of industry associations in integrating political, bureaucratic, industrial and health systems in India and South Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 531-551, March.
    5. Nugent, Jeffrey B., 2023. "A new institutional perspective on business associations: Filling a gap between firms and states in the dynamic analysis of Richard Day," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 49-59.
    6. Papaioannou, Theo & Watkins, Andrew & Mugwagwa, Julius & Kale, Dinar, 2016. "To Lobby or to Partner? Investigating the Shifting Political Strategies of Biopharmaceutical Industry Associations in Innovation Systems of South Africa and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 66-79.
    7. Papaioannou Theo & Watkins Andrew & Kale Dinar & Mugwagwa Julius, 2015. "Industry associations, health innovation systems and politics of development: the cases of India and South Africa," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(2), pages 253-289, August.
    8. repec:bla:jomstd:v:47:y:2010:i:s1:p:837-858 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Pyle, William, 2006. "Resolutions, recoveries and relationships: The evolution of payment disputes in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 317-337, June.
    10. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis & Sahizer Samuk, 2020. "State business relations and the dynamics of job flows in Egypt and Turkey," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 519-558, December.
    11. Shao, Yan & Sun, Lingxia, 2021. "Entrepreneurs’ social capital and venture capital financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 499-512.
    12. Jeffrey B. Nugent & Grigor. Sukiassyan, 2009. "Alternative Strategies For Firms In Oppressive And Corrupt States: Informality Or Formality Via Business Associations?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(4), pages 423-439, October.
    13. Owolabi, Oluwarotimi & Pal, Sarmistha, 2011. "The Value of Business Networks in Emerging Economies: An Analysis of Firms' External Financing Opportunities," IZA Discussion Papers 5738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Abdel-Latif Abla & Schmitz Hubert, 2010. "Growth Alliances: Insights from Egypt," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(4), pages 1-29, December.
    15. Kazun, Anton (Казун, Антон) & Yakovlev, Andrei (Яковлев, Андрей), 2015. "Community of Attorneys and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Russia [Адвокатское Сообщество И Качество Правоприменения В России]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 7-37.
    16. Neba Bhalla & Rakesh Kumar Sharma & Inderjit Kaur, 2023. "Effect of Goods and Service Tax System on Business Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, June.
    17. Scandura, Alessandra & Bolzani, Daniela, 2020. "The Role of Collaboration Networks for Innovation in Immigrant-Owned New Technology-Based Firms," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 202004, University of Turin.
    18. Theodore Kahn & Zack Zimbalist, 2022. "Public investment versus government consumption: how FDI shocks shape the composition of subnational spending in Mexico," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 502-537, March.
    19. repec:zbw:bofitp:2007_018 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Salo Coslovsky, 2013. "Enforcing Food Quality and Safety Standards in Brazil," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 649(1), pages 122-138, September.
    21. Yakovlev, Andrei & Freinkman, Lev & Zolotov, Anton, 2016. "Domestic and external factors in the development of Russia's economic think tanks sector," BOFIT Policy Briefs 3/2016, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    22. Brimble, Peter & Doner, Richard F., 2007. "University-Industry Linkages and Economic Development: The Case of Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1021-1036, June.

    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:sae:ecdequ:v:22:y:2008:i:3:p:213-227. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.