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Is There a Wage Payoff to Innovative Work Practices?

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  • Michael J. Handel
  • Maury Gittleman

Abstract

During the 1980s, wage inequality increased dramatically and the American economy lost many high wage, low- to medium-skill jobs, which had provided middle class incomes to less skilled workers. Increasingly, less skilled workers seemed restricted to low wage jobs lacking union or other institutional protections. Although "good" jobs for less skilled workers are unlikely to return in their previous form, a number of sociologists, economists, and industrial relations scholars have suggested that a new paradigm of work, often called "high performance," is emerging, which offers such workers more skilled jobs and higher wages. Using a unique national data set we find little evidence that high performance work systems are associated with higher wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael J. Handel & Maury Gittleman, 1999. "Is There a Wage Payoff to Innovative Work Practices?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_288, Levy Economics Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_288
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    Cited by:

    1. Petri Böckerman & Alex Bryson & Pekka Ilmakunnas, 2013. "Does high involvement management lead to higher pay?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 176(4), pages 861-885, October.
    2. Ferreira, Pedro & Porto, Nelida & Portela, Marta, 2010. "Women's participation in high performance work practices: a comparative analysis of Portugal and Spain," MPRA Paper 36404, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2010.
    3. Derek C. Jones & Srecko Goic, 2010. "Do innovative workplace practices foster mutual gains? Evidence from Croatia," Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms, in: Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory & Labor-Managed Firms, pages 23-68, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Douglas L. Kruse & Joseph R. Blasi & Richard B. Freeman, 2012. "Does Linking Worker Pay to Firm Performance Help the Best Firms Do Even Better?," NBER Working Papers 17745, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Douglas L. Kruse & Richard B. Freeman & Joseph R. Blasi, 2010. "Do Workers Gain by Sharing? Employee Outcomes under Employee Ownership, Profit Sharing, and Broad-Based Stock Options," NBER Chapters, in: Shared Capitalism at Work: Employee Ownership, Profit and Gain Sharing, and Broad-based Stock Options, pages 257-289, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bellmann, Lutz & Cornelißen, Thomas & Hübler, Olaf & Pahnke, André, 2008. "Betriebliche Reorganisation, Entlohnung und Beschäftigungsstabilität (Organisational change, wages and job stability)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 259-285.
    7. Peter Skott & Frederick Guy, 2005. "Power-Biased Technological Change and the Rise in Earnings Inequality," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2005-17, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    8. Joseph R. Blasi & Douglas L. Kruse & Richard B. Freeman, 2010. "Epilogue (and Prologue)," NBER Chapters, in: Shared Capitalism at Work: Employee Ownership, Profit and Gain Sharing, and Broad-based Stock Options, pages 377-386, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Tushar Kanti Nandi, 2006. "Employee Participation and Wages: An Empirical Investigation with Selectivity Correction," Department of Economics University of Siena 483, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    10. Bauer, Thomas K. & Bender, Stefan, 2001. "Flexible Work Systems and the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," IZA Discussion Papers 353, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Annalisa Cristini & Tor Eriksson & Dario Pozzoli, 2013. "High-Performance Management Practices and Employee Outcomes in Denmark," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(3), pages 232-266, July.
    12. Suzanne Konzelmann & Neil Conway & Linda Trenberth & Frank Wilkinson, 2005. "Corporate governance, stake-holding and the nature of employment relations within the firm," Working Papers wp313, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    13. Maurizio Pugno & Sara Depedri, 2010. "Job Performance and Job Satisfaction: An Integrated Survey," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 175-210.
    14. Peter Cappelli & William H. Carter, 2000. "Computers, Work Organization, and Wage Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 7987, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Marisa Ratto, 2013. "Work Practices as Implicit Incentives to Cooperate / Pratiques de travail et coopération entre collègues," Working Papers halshs-00966235, HAL.
    16. Richard J. Long & Tony Fang, 2012. "Do Employees Profit from Profit Sharing? Evidence from Canadian Panel Data," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(4), pages 899-927, October.
    17. Andries de Grip & Inge Sieben, 2005. "The effects of human resource management on small firms' productivity and employees' wages," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(9), pages 1047-1054.
    18. Ng, Stephen C.H. & Rungtusanatham, Johnny M. & Zhao, Xiande & Lee, T.S., 2015. "Examining process management via the lens of exploitation and exploration: Reconceptualization and scale development," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Peter Cappelli & David Neumark, 2001. "Do “High-Performance†Work Practices Improve Establishment-Level Outcomes?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(4), pages 737-775, July.
    20. Bellmann, Lutz & Cornelißen, Thomas & Hübler, Olaf & Pahnke, André, 2008. "Betriebliche Reorganisation, Entlohnung und Beschäftigungsstabilität (Organisational change, wages and job stability)," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 41(2/3), pages 259-285.

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