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The Effect of Interpersonal Skills on Worker Performance

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  • SATO Kaori
  • NAKAMURO Makiko
  • OWAN Hideo

Abstract

Despite a great deal of narrative and anecdotal evidence that communication and interpersonal skills are important for workplace success, little is known about why those skills are important and how possibly to train those skills. This study uses personnel records of a Japanese manufacturing company as well as its training attendance records, and examines the relationship between participation in their interpersonal skills training program and job performance. We compare those who participated in the training program with those who did not using propensity score matching and difference-in-difference method. The results show that experience in the training program was significantly associated with post-training evaluation and promotion probability, suggesting that improving interpersonal skills through participation in off-the-job training programs may improve worker's post-training performance and lead to future promotion.

Suggested Citation

  • SATO Kaori & NAKAMURO Makiko & OWAN Hideo, 2019. "The Effect of Interpersonal Skills on Worker Performance," Discussion papers 19045, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
  • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:19045
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    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/19e045.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097, Elsevier.
    7. Mitchell Hoffman & Steven Tadelis, 2021. "People Management Skills, Employee Attrition, and Manager Rewards: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 129(1), pages 243-285.
    8. Humburg, M. & van der Velden, R.K.W., 2014. "Skills and the graduate recruitment process: Evidence from two discrete choice experiments," ROA Research Memorandum 002, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
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    Cited by:

    1. Efrat, Alon, 2022. "A significant improvement was found in the Emotional stability following the training. Participating in the training changed the way people associate personality traits with Interaction management," MPRA Paper 118558, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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