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Motivating employees through career paths

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  • Bar-Isaac, Heski
  • Levy, Raphaël

Abstract

Firms have discretion over task allocations, which may dampen employees’ career prospects, and, hence, motivation. Task assignments and worker motivation interact through the extent of labor market competition; that is, the possibility of moving to another firm. More competition enhances motivation but decreases firms’ incentives to assign workers to informative tasks. One consequence is that competitive firms sometimes choose strategies that lead to intermediate competition. When the employee pool is heterogeneous, firms might choose different human resources practices that attract different kinds of workers, and differentiate themselves through the career opportunities within and beyond the firms that they offer.

Suggested Citation

  • Bar-Isaac, Heski & Levy, Raphaël, 2019. "Motivating employees through career paths," CEPR Discussion Papers 13828, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13828
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    Cited by:

    1. Marco Pagano & Luca Picariello, 2022. "Corporate Governance, Favoritism and Careers," CSEF Working Papers 643, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 06 Apr 2023.
    2. Luca Picariello, 2019. "Promotions and Training: Do Competitive Firms Set the Bar too High?," CSEF Working Papers 552, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    3. Bastani, Spencer & Giebe, Thomas & Gürtler, Oliver, 2022. "Simple equilibria in general contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 264-280.
    4. de Bettignies, Jean-Etienne & Ries, John, 2023. "When less is more: Information and the financing of innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 346-369.
    5. Simon Dato & Andreas Grunewald & Matthias Kräkel, 2021. "Worker visibility and firms' retention policies," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 168-202, February.
    6. Th'eo Durandard, 2023. "Dynamic delegation in promotion contests," Papers 2308.05668, arXiv.org.
    7. Picariello, Luca, 2017. "Organizational Design with Portable Skills," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 2/2017, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Career concerns; Task assignments; Professional service firms; Labour market competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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