The Effects of Training on Own and Co-Worker Productivity: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Andries de Grip and Jan Sauermann

No 5976, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper analyses the effects of work-related training on worker productivity. To identify the causal effects from training, we combine a field experiment that randomly assigns workers to treatment and control groups with panel data on individual worker performance before and after training. We find that participation in the training programme leads to a 10 percent increase in performance. Moreover, we provide experimental evidence for externalities from treated workers on their untreated teammates: An increase of 10 percentage points in the share of treated peers leads to a performance increase of 0.51 percent. We provide evidence that the estimated effects are causal and not the result of employee selection into and out of training. Furthermore, we find that the performance increase is not due to lower quality provided by the worker.

Keywords: field experiment; productivity; peer effects; training (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J24 M53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2011-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-exp, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Published - published in: Economic Journal, 2012, 122 (559), 376-399

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https://docs.iza.org/dp5976.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Effects of Training on Own and Co‐worker Productivity: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2012)
Working Paper: The effects of training on own and co-worker productivity: Evidence from a field experiment (2011)
Working Paper: The Effects of Training on Own and Co-Worker Productivity: Evidence from a Field Experiment (2011)
Working Paper: The effects of training on own and co-worker productivity: evidence from a field experiment (2011)
Working Paper: The effects of training on own and co-worker productivity: evidence from a field experiment (2011)
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