The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change

Lex Borghans and Weel ,Bas ,ter
Additional contact information
Weel ,Bas ,ter: MERIT
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Bas ter Weel

No 22, Research Memoranda from Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology

Abstract: The model developed in this paper explains differences in the division of labour across firms as a result of computer technology adoption. We find that changes in the division of labour can result both from reduced production time and from improved communication possibilities. The first shifts the division of labour towards a more generic structure, while the latter enhances specialisation. Although there exists heterogeneity, our estimates for a representative sample of Dutch establishments in the period 1990-1996 suggest that productivity gains have been the main determinant for shifts in the division of labour within most firms. These productivity gains have induced skill upgrading, while in firms gaining mainly from improved communication possibilities specialisation increased and skill requirements have fallen.

Keywords: labour economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ino
Date: 2005
View list of references View citations in EconPapers

Downloads: (external link)
http://edocs.ub.unimaas.nl/loader/file.asp?id=1076 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change (2005)
Working Paper: The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change (2005)
Journal Article: The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:dgr:umamer:2005022

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Research Memoranda from Maastricht : MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology
Series data maintained by Willy Villevoye ().