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Screening, Competition, and Job Design Economic Origins of Good Jobs

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  • Bartling, Björn
  • Fehr, Ernst
  • Schmidt, Klaus M.

Abstract

High-performance work systems give workers more discretion, thereby increasing effort productivity but also shirking opportunities. We show experimentally that screening for work attitude and labor market competition are causal determinants of the viability of high-performance work systems, and we identify the complementarities between discretion, rent-sharing, and screening that render them profitable. Two fundamentally distinct job designs emerge endogenously in our experiments: \"bad\" jobs with low discretion, low wages, and little rent-sharing, and \"good\" jobs with high discretion, high wages, and substantial rent-sharing. Good jobs are profitable only if employees can be screened, and labor market competition fosters their dissemination.
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Suggested Citation

  • Bartling, Björn & Fehr, Ernst & Schmidt, Klaus M., 2009. "Screening, Competition, and Job Design Economic Origins of Good Jobs," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 297, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:trf:wpaper:297
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    job design; high-performance work systems; screening; reputation; competition; trust; control; social preferences; complementarities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law

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