Returns to Computer Use and Organizational Practices of the Firm

Benoit Dostie () and Mathieu Trépanier
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Mathieu Trépanier: Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

No 1541, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: In this paper, we test the hypothesis that computer use will lead to productivity gains only if the firm uses an appropriate set of organizational practices. Detailed data on organizational practices and workers’ compensation are obtained through a Canadian longitudinal linked employer-employee database called the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES). Linked data allow us to take into account both worker and firm unobserved heterogeneity through the estimation of a linear mixed model of wage determination. Our results suggest a small but positive computer-wage premium whose size is related to a set of organizational practices.

Keywords: wage determination; human capital; computers; mixed models; linked employer-employee data; organizational practices of the firm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D21 J30 J31 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec
Date: 2005-03
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Working Paper: Return to Computer Use and Organizational Practices of the firm (2004)
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