The Economic and Workforce Development Activities of American Business Associations

Lynn E. McCormick, Joshua D. Hawley and Edwin Meléndez
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Lynn E. McCormick: Hunter College, City University of New York
Joshua D. Hawley: The Ohio State University
Edwin Meléndez: Hunter College, City University of New York

Economic Development Quarterly, 2008, vol. 22, issue 3, 213-227

Abstract: Renewed scholarly interest in clusters of firms has increased attention on institutions—including business associations—that serve them. Scholars investigating “labor market intermediaries†also wonder to what extent employers' associations conduct workforce development. Much research has been done on business associations in Europe and less developed countries; less studied are those in the United States. This article fills this gap by reporting survey results from 716 American business associations. The article asks, To what extent do American business associations engage in economic development activities beyond lobbying? Does involvement in economic development predict involvement in workforce development? and Are those who engage in more strategic economic development activities more likely to conduct strategic workforce development? Using regression analysis, we find that a substantial share are involved in more strategic economic and workforce development activities and that economic development—specifically, more strategic activities—is a strong predictor of engagement in workforce-related activities.

Keywords: economic development; workforce development; regional development; business associations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecdequ:v:22:y:2008:i:3:p:213-227

DOI: 10.1177/0891242408321694

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