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Recruiting for Small Business Growth: Micro-level Evidence

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Abstract

We examine the link between new employees in leading positions and subsequent productivity in small- and medium-sized (SME) enterprises. Managers and professionals are likely to possess important tacit knowledge. They are also in a position to influence the employing firm. Exploiting rich and comprehensive panel data for Sweden in the 2001-2010 period and employing semi-parametric and quasi-experimental estimation techniques, we find that newly recruited leading personnel have a positive and statistically significant impact on the productivity of the hiring SME. Interestingly, our results suggest that professionals with experience from international firms and enterprise groups contribute the most to total factor productivity. Overall, the findings suggest the importance of mobility of leading personnel for productivity-enhancing knowledge spillovers to SMEs.

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  • Gidehag, Anton & Lodefalk, Magnus, 2016. "Recruiting for Small Business Growth: Micro-level Evidence," Working Papers 2016:6, Örebro University, School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2016_006
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    Cited by:

    1. Lodefalk, Magnus & Tang, Aili, 2017. "The Effect of Hiring Top Workers on Productivity: What is the Role of Absorptive Capacity?," Working Papers 2017:2, Örebro University, School of Business.
    2. Iovino, Felicetta & Migliaccio, Guido, 2019. "Energy companies and sizes: An opportunity? Some empirical evidences," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 431-439.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • 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
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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