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Weaker jobs, weaker innovation. Exploring the temporary employment-product innovation nexus

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  • Armanda Cetrulo
  • Valeria Cirillo
  • Dario Guarascio

Abstract

This work explores the relationship between temporary employment and product innovation focusing on five major European economies (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands) observed between 1998 and 2012. Building on the conceptual framework proposed by Kleinknecht et al. (2014), the analysis distinguishes sectors according to their technological characteristics and regimes finding that industries using temporary employment tend to have a weaker product innovation propensity. The negative correlation between temporary employment and innovation is stronger in medium and hightech sectors, identified using both the "Cumulativeness" proxy stemming from Peneder's classification (Peneder, 2010) as well as distinguishing between different Schumpeterian regimes - Schumpeter Mark I vs II - of knowledge accumulation.

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  • Armanda Cetrulo & Valeria Cirillo & Dario Guarascio, 2018. "Weaker jobs, weaker innovation. Exploring the temporary employment-product innovation nexus," LEM Papers Series 2018/06, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2018/06
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    Cited by:

    1. Nascia, Leopoldo & Pianta, Mario, 2018. "Research and innovation policy in Italy," MPRA Paper 89510, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Grande, Rafael & Muñoz de Bustillo, Rafael & Fernández Macías, Enrique & Antón, José Ignacio, 2020. "Innovation and job quality. A firm-level exploration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 130-142.
    3. Lucrezia Fanti & Dario Guarascio & Matteo Tubiana, 2019. "Skill Gap, Mismatch, and the Dynamics of Italian Companies' Productivity," LEM Papers Series 2019/30, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    4. Alexander Cuntz, 2018. "Creators’ Income Situation in the Digital Age," LIS Working papers 755, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    5. Aistleitner, Matthias & Gräbner, Claudius & Hornykewycz, Anna, 2021. "Theory and empirics of capability accumulation: Implications for macroeconomic modeling," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    6. Canale, Rosaria Rita & Liotti, Giorgio & Musella, Marco, 2022. "Labour market flexibility and workers’ living conditions in Europe," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 441-450.

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    product innovation; labor market flexibility; temporary employment;
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