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Technological innovations in monitoring and evaluation: Evidence of performance impacts among Major League Baseball umpires

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  • Mills, Brian M.

Abstract

This paper examines the performance-enhancing role of changes in monitoring, evaluation, and training technology in an experience-diverse expert workforce: Major League Baseball umpires. I find improvements in job performance across the league that is consistent with the timing of innovations in monitoring technology and later enhancements in training and feedback. Performance improvements associated with increased training and immediate feedback are more pronounced for younger umpires. Implications for the differential effects of evaluation and feedback across experience levels of firm employees are discussed.

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  • Mills, Brian M., 2017. "Technological innovations in monitoring and evaluation: Evidence of performance impacts among Major League Baseball umpires," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 189-199.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:46:y:2017:i:c:p:189-199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2016.10.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Dawson, Peter & Massey, Patrick & Downward, Paul, 2020. "Television match officials, referees, and home advantage: Evidence from the European Rugby Cup," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 443-454.
    2. Terri L. Griffith & Emma S. Nordbäck & John E. Sawyer & Ronald E. Rice, 2018. "Field study of complements to supervisory leadership in more and less flexible work settings," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Deshpande Sameer K. & Wyner Abraham, 2017. "A hierarchical Bayesian model of pitch framing," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 95-112, September.
    4. Mills, Brian M. & Salaga, Steven, 2018. "A natural experiment for efficient markets: Information quality and influential agents," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 23-39.
    5. Finigan, Duncan & Mills, Brian M. & Stone, Daniel F., 2020. "Pulling starters," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    6. Hunter David J., 2018. "New metrics for evaluating home plate umpire consistency and accuracy," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 14(4), pages 159-172, December.
    7. John Charles Bradbury, 2019. "Monitoring and Employee Shirking: Evidence From MLB Umpires," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(6), pages 850-872, August.
    8. Eric Fesselmeyer, 2021. "The impact of temperature on labor quality: Umpire accuracy in Major League Baseball," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(2), pages 545-567, October.
    9. Ulrike Holder & Thomas Ehrmann & Arne König, 2022. "Monitoring experts: insights from the introduction of video assistant referee (VAR) in elite football," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 285-308, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Performance monitoring; Performance evaluation; Baseball; Sports officials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z22 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Labor Issues
    • M50 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - General
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • J59 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Other

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