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Wage Effects of Recruitment Methods: The Case of the Italian Social Service Sector

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  • Mosca, Michele

    (University of Naples Federico II)

  • Pastore, Francesco

    (Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli)

Abstract

This paper uses a unique data set containing detailed micro-information on organisations, managers, workers and volunteers belonging to public, private forprofit and private nonprofit institutions delivering social services in Italy. The analysis aims to estimate the determinants of wages across organisations at a sector level focusing on the role of hiring and job search methods, including informal networks. We find that, independent of the organisation type, being hired through public competitions brings with it a substantial wage premium (ranging from 7 to 32%). Informal networks bring with them a wage penalty (-6.5%) in the state sector, where formal hiring methods are common, and a wage premium (6.3%) in social cooperatives and religious institutions, where formal hiring methods are not common. Interestingly, the differences in hiring and in job search methods between state and private organisations explain from 50% to 100% of the conditional wage differentials across organisation types. Our interpretation of these findings is that nonprofit organisations prefer informal recruitment methods not for nepotistic reasons, but to better select the most motivated workers, those who share the nonprofit mission. This paper adds to the previous literature by suggesting that in addition to lower than average monetary compensations, informal recruitment methods are part of the process of self-selection of motivated workers in nonprofit organisations.

Suggested Citation

  • Mosca, Michele & Pastore, Francesco, 2008. "Wage Effects of Recruitment Methods: The Case of the Italian Social Service Sector," IZA Discussion Papers 3422, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3422
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    Cited by:

    1. Emanuela Ghignoni, 2016. "The ?great escape? from Italian Universities: Do labour market recruitment channels matter?," QUADERNI DI ECONOMIA DEL LAVORO, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(106), pages 49-75.
    2. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    3. Bilyk Olga & Sheron Iuliia, 2012. "Do informal networks matter in the Ukrainian labor market?," EERC Working Paper Series 12/11e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    4. Pierre Georges Van Wolleghem & Marina De Angelis & Sergio Scicchitano, 2023. "Do informal Networks Increase Migrants’ Over-Education? Comparing Over-Education for Natives, Migrants and Second Generations in Italy and Assessing the Role of Networks in Generating It," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 9(1), pages 175-197, March.
    5. Valentina Meliciani & Debora Radicchia, 2014. "Informal Network, Spatial Mobility and Overeducation in the Italian Labour Market," Working Papers 19, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Nov 2014.
    6. Van Wolleghem, Pierre Georges & De Angelis, Marina & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2019. "Education-occupation mismatch of migrants in the Italian labour market: the effect of social networks," GLO Discussion Paper Series 398, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social services; Italy; earnings functions; informal networks; nonprofit organisations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • L33 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Comparison of Public and Private Enterprise and Nonprofit Institutions; Privatization; Contracting Out
    • L84 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Personal, Professional, and Business Services

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