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Vertical disintegration and training: evidence from a matched employer–employee survey

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  • Elisabetta Magnani

Abstract

The mechanism through which outsourcing favourably impacts on workplace performance, particularly productivity, is still unclear. I explore the hypothesis that it does so by impacting workers’ training. I use AWIRS-1995, a matched employer–employee survey that reports ample information on the extent of technology and organizational change in Australian workplaces. I find that there is a positive and significant impact of outsourcing on training when I do not control for the correlation between ununobservable factors in these two binary outcomes. However, once I control for this correlation using a bivariate probit estimator, the training impact of outsourcing becomes negative. I then assess the sensitivity of the outsourcing effect to endogeneity by using the method advocated by Altonji et al. (J Polit Econ 113(1):151–184, 2005 ) to find that this latter result persists even in the presence of a low correlation between unobservables. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

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  • Elisabetta Magnani, 2012. "Vertical disintegration and training: evidence from a matched employer–employee survey," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 199-217, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jproda:v:38:y:2012:i:2:p:199-217
    DOI: 10.1007/s11123-011-0256-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Christiane Hinerasky, 2014. "Advances in Training Evaluation - Psychological, Educational, Economic, and Econometric Perspectives on the Kirkpatrick Model," Working Papers Dissertations 14, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Elisabetta Magnani, 2016. "Dissatisfaction with Working Time and Workers' Training Opportunities. Evidence from Matched Employer–Employee Data," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(2), pages 112-129, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Organizational change; Vertical disintegration; Outsourcing; Training; Older workers; D22; J24; L24;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures

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