IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v60y2021i6d10.1007_s00181-020-01946-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the effect of management on production: a two-tier stochastic frontier approach

Author

Listed:
  • Alecos Papadopoulos

    (Athens University of Economics and Business)

Abstract

We revisit the production frontier of a firm, and we examine the effects that the firm’s management has on output. In order to estimate these effects using a cross-sectional sample while avoiding the costly requirement of obtaining data on management as a production factor, we develop a two-tier stochastic frontier model where management is treated as a latent variable. The model is consistent with the microeconomic theory of the firm, and it can estimate the effect of management on the output of a firm in monetary terms from different angles, separately from inefficiency. The approach can thus contribute to the cost–benefit analysis related to the management system of a company, and it can facilitate research related to management pay and be used in studies of the determinants of management performance. We also present an empirical application, where we find that the estimates from our latent-variable model align with the results obtained when we use the World Management Survey scores that provide a measure of management.

Suggested Citation

  • Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "Measuring the effect of management on production: a two-tier stochastic frontier approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(6), pages 3011-3041, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:60:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s00181-020-01946-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-020-01946-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-020-01946-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00181-020-01946-9?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shasha Liu & Robin Sickles, 2021. "The agency problem revisited: a structural analysis of managerial productivity and CEO compensation in large US commercial banks," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 391-418, January.
    2. Sandra Broszeit & Marie‐Christine Laible & Ursula Fritsch & Holger Görg, 2019. "Management Practices and Productivity in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 20(4), pages 657-705, November.
    3. Stefan Bender & Nicholas Bloom & David Card & John Van Reenen & Stefanie Wolter, 2018. "Management Practices, Workforce Selection, and Productivity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 371-409.
    4. Kerstens, Kristiaan & O’Donnell, Christopher & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2019. "Metatechnology frontier and convexity: A restatement," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(2), pages 780-792.
    5. Nicholas Bloom & Benn Eifert & Aprajit Mahajan & David McKenzie & John Roberts, 2013. "Does Management Matter? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 1-51.
    6. Gathon, H. -J. & Pestieau, P., 1995. "Decomposing efficiency into its managerial and its regulatory components: The case of European railways," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 500-507, February.
    7. Battese, George E. & Coelli, Tim J., 1988. "Prediction of firm-level technical efficiencies with a generalized frontier production function and panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 387-399, July.
    8. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    9. Subal Kumbhakar & Christopher Parmeter, 2010. "Estimation of hedonic price functions with incomplete information," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 1-25, August.
    10. John Forth & Alex Bryson, 2019. "Management practices and SME performance," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 66(4), pages 527-558, September.
    11. Christos Genakos, 2018. "The tale of the two Greeces: Some management practice lessons," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(8), pages 888-896, December.
    12. Bowden, Roger J, 1973. "The Theory of Parametric Identification," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(6), pages 1069-1074, November.
    13. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Why Do Management Practices Differ across Firms and Countries?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 203-224, Winter.
    14. Van Reenen, John & Bloom, Nicholas & Sadun, Raffaella, 2016. "Management as a Technology," CEPR Discussion Papers 11312, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Robin C. Sickles & Kai Sun & Thomas P. Triebs, 2021. "The optimal use of management," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1346-1363, July.
    16. Buffington, Catherine & Foster, Lucia & Jarmin, Ron & Ohlmacher, Scott & Ohlmacher, Scott, 2017. "The management and organizational practices survey (MOPS): An overview1," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 1, pages 1-26.
    17. Page, John M, Jr, 1980. "Technical Efficiency and Economic Performance: Some Evidence from Ghana," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 319-339, July.
    18. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 2008. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183528.
    19. Bill Greene with Antonio Alvarez (Univ. of Oviedo) & Carlos Arias (Univ. of Leon), 2004. "Accounting For Unobservables In Production Models: Management And Inefficiency," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 341, Econometric Society.
    20. Nicholas Bloom & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lucia Foster & Ron Jarmin & Megha Patnaik & Itay Saporta-Eksten & John Van Reenen, 2017. "What drives differences in management?," CEP Discussion Papers dp1470, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    21. Alecos Papadopoulos & Christopher F. Parmeter & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2021. "Modeling dependence in two-tier stochastic frontier models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 85-101, December.
    22. Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas G. & Dunn, Elizabeth G., 1995. "Technical Efficiency, Managerial Ability And Farmer Education In Guatemalan Corn Production: A Latent Variable Analysis," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 24(1), pages 1-11, April.
    23. Sickles,Robin C. & Zelenyuk,Valentin, 2019. "Measurement of Productivity and Efficiency," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107036161.
    24. François-Charles Wolff & Dale Squires & Patrice Guillotreau, 2013. "The Firm's Management in Production: Management, Firm, and Time Effects in an Indian Ocean Tuna Fishery," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(3), pages 547-567.
    25. Antonio Alvarez & Carlos Arias, 2003. "Diseconomies of Size with Fixed Managerial Ability," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(1), pages 134-142.
    26. Christopher F. Parmeter, 2018. "Estimation of the two-tiered stochastic frontier model with the scaling property," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 37-47, February.
    27. Polachek, Solomon W & Yoon, Bong Joon, 1996. "Panel Estimates of a Two-Tiered Earnings Frontier," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(2), pages 169-178, March-Apr.
    28. Triebs, T.P. & Kumbhakar, S.C., 2013. "Productivity with general indices of management and technical change," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 18-22.
    29. George F. Patrick & Ludwig M. Eisgruber, 1968. "The Impact of Managerial Ability and Capital Structure on Growth of the Farm Firm," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 50(3), pages 491-506.
    30. Peter J. Sloane, 2015. "The Economics of Professional Football Revisited," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-7, February.
    31. H. Fried & C. Lovell & S. Schmidt & S. Yaisawarng, 2002. "Accounting for Environmental Effects and Statistical Noise in Data Envelopment Analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 157-174, January.
    32. Richard E. Caves, 1992. "Industrial Efficiency in Six Nations," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262031930, December.
    33. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    34. Yaron, Dan, 1960. "Resource allocation for dairy and field crops in the Negev area of Israel," ISU General Staff Papers 196001010800003804, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    35. Yair Mundlak, 1961. "Empirical Production Function Free of Management Bias," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 44-56.
    36. W. Stanley Siebert & Nikolay Zubanov, 2010. "Management Economics in a Large Retail Company," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(8), pages 1398-1414, August.
    37. Polachek, Solomon W & Yoon, Bong Joon, 1987. "A Two-tiered Earnings Frontier Estimation of Employer and Employee Information in the Labor Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(2), pages 296-302, May.
    38. Thomas P. Triebs & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2018. "Management in production: from unobserved to observed," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 111-121, June.
    39. Daniel A. Sumner & James D. Leiby, 1987. "An Econometric Analysis of the Effects of Human Capital on Size and Growth among Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 69(2), pages 465-470.
    40. Ford, Stephen A. & Shonkwiler, J. S., 1994. "The Effect of Managerial Ability on Farm Financial Success," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(2), pages 150-157, October.
    41. Delis, Manthos D. & Tsionas, Mike G., 2018. "Measuring management practices," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 65-77.
    42. Tran, Kien C. & Tsionas, Efthymios G., 2015. "Endogeneity in stochastic frontier models: Copula approach without external instruments," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 85-88.
    43. Peter Dawson & Stephen Dobson, 2002. "Managerial efficiency and human capital: an application to English association football," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(8), pages 471-486.
    44. Kalaitzandonakes, N.G. & Dunn, E.G., 1995. "Technical Efficiency, Managerial Ability and Farmer Education in Guatemalan Corn Production: A Latent Variable Analysis," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 36-46, April.
    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. Robin C. Sickles & Kai Sun & Thomas P. Triebs, 2021. "The optimal use of management," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1346-1363, July.
    2. Thomas Triebs & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2012. "Management Practice in Production," ifo Working Paper Series 129, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    3. Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 37(2), pages 302-322.
    4. Marcus Biermann, 2022. "The role of management practices in acquisitions and the FDI location decision," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 137-165, February.
    5. Sivropoulos-Valero, Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114436, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Alecos Papadopoulos, 2021. "Stochastic frontier models using the Generalized Exponential distribution," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 15-29, February.
    7. Andy Feng & Anna Valero, 2020. "Skill-Biased Management: Evidence from Manufacturing Firms," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(628), pages 1057-1080.
    8. Anna Valero, 2021. "Education and management practices," POID Working Papers 007, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2022. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Foundations and Advances I," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 8, pages 331-370, Springer.
    10. Delis, Manthos D. & Tsionas, Mike G., 2018. "Measuring management practices," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 65-77.
    11. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    12. Ohlsbom, Roope, 2021. "Management Practices Drive Productivity – But Not Without Human Capital," ETLA Working Papers 88, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    13. Broszeit, Sandra & Laible, Marie-Christine, 2017. "Examining the link between health measures, management practices and establishment performance," IAB-Discussion Paper 201726, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Aydede, Yigit & Dar, Atul A., 2022. "Native-born-immigrant wage gap revisited: The role of market imperfections in Canada," CLEF Working Paper Series 50, Canadian Labour Economics Forum (CLEF), University of Waterloo.
    15. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge A. Tamayo, 2019. "Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics," NBER Working Papers 25852, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Namrata Kala & Anant Nyshadham, 2019. "Management and Shocks to Worker Productivity," NBER Working Papers 25865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Thomas P. Triebs & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2018. "Management in production: from unobserved to observed," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 111-121, June.
    18. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    19. Kambayashi, Ryo & Ohyama, Atsushi & Hori, Nobuko, 2021. "Management practices and productivity in Japan: Evidence from six industries in JP MOPS," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    20. Henderson, Benjamin B. & Kingwell, Ross S., 2001. "An Investigation of the Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Broadacre Farmers," 2002 Conference (46th), February 13-15, 2002, Canberra, Australia 125109, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Management; Two-tier stochastic frontier; Efficiency; Endogeneity; Copula;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:empeco:v:60:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s00181-020-01946-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.