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Positive Effects of Ageing and Age-Diversity in Innovative Companies - Large Scale Evidence on Company Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Uschi Backes-Gellner

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich)

  • Stephan Veen

    (Disney Research Zurich)

Abstract

This paper investigates how age diversity within a company's workforce affects company productivity. It introduces a theoretical framework that helps to integrate results from a broad disciplinary spectrum of ageing and diversity research to derive empirically testable hypotheses on the effects of age diversity on company productivity. It argues that first the balance between costs and benefits of diversity determines the effect of age diversity on company productivity and that second the type of task performed acts as a moderator. To test these hypotheses, it uses a large-scale employer-employee panel data set (the LIAB.) Results show that increasing age diversity has a positive effect on company productivity if and only if a company engages in creative rather than routine tasks.

Suggested Citation

  • Uschi Backes-Gellner & Stephan Veen, 2013. "Positive Effects of Ageing and Age-Diversity in Innovative Companies - Large Scale Evidence on Company Productivity," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0093, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    • Handle: RePEc:iso:educat:0093
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Simone N. Tuor, 2010. "Avoiding Labor Shortages by Employer Signaling: On the Importance of Good Work Climate and Labor Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 63(2), pages 271-286, January.
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    6. Christian Grund & Niels Westergaard‐Nielsen, 2008. "Age structure of the workforce and firm performance," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(5), pages 410-422, August.
    7. Haltiwanger, John C. & Lane, Julia I. & Spletzer, James R., 2007. "Wages, productivity, and the dynamic interaction of businesses and workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 575-602, June.
    8. Jacques Cremer, 1986. "Cooperation in Ongoing Organizations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(1), pages 33-49.
    9. Scott E. Page, 2007. "Prologue to The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies," Introductory Chapters, in: The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Princeton University Press.
    10. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1713 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Martin R. Schneider & Stephan Veen, 2011. "Effect of Workforce Age on Quantitative and Qualitative Organizational Performance: Conceptual Framework and Case Study Evidence," Working Papers 0143, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
    12. Alda, Holger & Bender, Stefan & Gartner, Hermann, 2005. "The linked employer-employee dataset of the IAB (LIAB)," IAB-Discussion Paper 200506, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Hunkler, Christian & Weiss, Matthias, 2021. "Big data at work: Age and labor productivity in the service sector," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    2. Darwin Joseph R. & Palanisamy Chinnathambi Selvaraj, 2015. "The Effects of Work Force Diversity on Employee Performance in Singapore Organisations," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(2), pages 17-29, March.
    3. Boockmann, Bernhard & Fries, Jan & Göbel, Christian, 2018. "Specific measures for older employees and late career employment," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 159-174.
    4. Zheng Guo & Linchen Liu & Xuan Liu, 2016. "Population Aging, Marginal Propensity to Consume, and Economic Growth," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 6(9), pages 534-546, September.
    5. Chris C. Gernreich, 2018. "What Employees Really Want: Demands For Individual Idea Development," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(08), pages 1-28, December.
    6. Balázs Zélity, 2023. "Age diversity and aggregate productivity," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(3), pages 1863-1899, July.
    7. Lei Jiang & Xingyu Chen & Yang Jiang & Bo Zhang, 2023. "Exploring the Direct and Spillover Effects of Aging on Green Total Factor Productivity in China: A Spatial Econometric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Helen Gray & Lucy Stokes, 2020. "Does Employing Older Workers Affect Workplace Performance?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 532-562, October.
    9. John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2015. "The German Labor Market for Older Workers in Comparative Perspective," Research Papers in Economics 2015-02, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    10. Mohsin Bashir & Ammarah Hameed & Muhammad Waseem Bari & Raza Ullah, 2021. "The Impact of Age-Diverse Workforce on Organization Performance: Mediating Role of Job Crafting," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, March.
    11. Liis Roosaar & Jaan Masso & Urmas Varblane, 2017. "The Structural Change And Labour Productivity Of Firms: Do Changes In The Age And Wage Structure Of Employees Matter?," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 103, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    12. John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2016. "The hiring and employment of older workers in Germany: a comparative perspective [Die Beschäftigung und Neueinstellung älterer Arbeitnehmer in Deutschland: Eine vergleichende Perspektive]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(4), pages 349-366, December.
    13. Tomasz Sosnowski & Anna Wawryszuk-Misztal, 2019. "Diversity on management and supervisory board and accuracy of management earnings forecasts in IPO prospectuses," Ekonomia i Prawo, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 18(3), pages 347-363, September.
    14. Arntz, Melanie & Gregory, Terry, 2014. "What old stagers could teach us: Examining age complementarities in regional innovation systems," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Caroline Mothe & Thuc Uyen Nguyen-Thi, 2021. "Does age diversity boost technological innovation? Exploring the moderating role of HR practices," Post-Print hal-03969462, HAL.
    16. Dettmann, Eva & Titze, Mirko & Weyh, Antje, 2017. "Who benefits from GRW? Heterogeneous employment effects of investment subsidies in Saxony Anhalt," IWH Discussion Papers 27/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).

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    Keywords

    Age Diversity; Company Performance; Productivity in Innovative Industries; Aging Societies;
    All these keywords.

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