Die Sicherung von Humankapitalinvestitionen über Rückzahlungsklauseln : Ergebnisse einer empirischen Untersuchung (The safeguarding of human capital investments via repayment clauses : results of an empirical study)

"Employer-funded investments in human capital are associated with risks for firms which are difficult to calculate and which result from the unsecured binding to the firm of the employees in question. From a theoretical point of view the employer-side funding of investments in general or transferable human capital can be a rational strategy of the employers if repayment clauses are used at the same time. This can be derived on the basis of a human capital theory approach which is augmented by risk and incentive aspects. A survey conducted among just under 330 firms in various sectors proves that repayment clauses are clearly preferred to employees sharing the costs. According to the results of the logistic regression models, the employer's investment risk plays a key role in this respect. Cost-sharing by the employees in the form of direct monetary integration or the use of leisure time are in some cases used complementary to repayment clauses at firm level. Furthermore great differences in use between the sectors become apparent. Repayment clauses are very common in the financial intermediation sector and in commerce. Future theoretical and empirical research work should take into account employment system effects and processes institutionalising certain personnel-policy practices more intensively than has been the case to date in order to be able to record in a more differentiated form the possible effects of the personnel-policy instruments in the particular concrete (personnel management and industry-specific) environment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))