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Who Wants to Improve their Management? Evidence from a Failed Experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Meng, Charlotte
  • Mizen, Paul
  • Riley, Rebecca
  • Schneebacher, Jakob

Abstract

Structured management practices are robustly correlated with superior performance, but wide dispersion of management quality persists through time. This paper asks if management practices can bring about these improvements why do we see little change in the distribution of management practices over time? And if improvements to management practices within firms are possible and seemingly profitable over short periods, why is the uptake so low? We design three linked data collection tools to understand these puzzles showing that there is positive selection due to firms’ management practices over time, their characteristics including share of management and educational level of management. These attributes along with subjective beliefs about barriers to improvement all contribute to firms’ willingness to improve and take actions to do so. Our paper shows management practices are a predictor of firm survival and offers some policy interventions to help firms improve.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng, Charlotte & Mizen, Paul & Riley, Rebecca & Schneebacher, Jakob, 2023. "Who Wants to Improve their Management? Evidence from a Failed Experiment," Discussion Papers escoe-dp-2023-22, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence.
    • Handle: RePEc:eoe:escoed:escoe-dp-2023-22
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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