The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded $181,703 to Hamilton
College for support of a project directed by Derek C. Jones, the
Irma
M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, titled "Collaborative
Research: The Nature and Effects of Human Resource Policies:
Econometric Case Studies of Firms in the U.S., China and
Finland." A
similar award (about $135,000) also went to Takao Kato, a Colgate
economics professor who is a visiting scholar in economics at Hamilton.
The NSF grant is the result of a collobarative proposal submitted by
Jones and Kato. Several students have already worked with Jones on
related issues, and this new award calls for other students to work on
this project during the next three years.
A key project focus is on the impact of different human resource policies (HRPs) on business performance through the study of a series of econometric case studies. Competing hypotheses will be examined on whether individual high performance workplace practices (e.g. employee ownership) improve levels and variability of enterprise performance and whether sets of HRPs produce improvements in enterprise performance that exceed the effect of individual organizational changes. Another aspect of this project will be the study of the channels through which firm performance might be affected by the introduction of HRPs.
A key project focus is on the impact of different human resource policies (HRPs) on business performance through the study of a series of econometric case studies. Competing hypotheses will be examined on whether individual high performance workplace practices (e.g. employee ownership) improve levels and variability of enterprise performance and whether sets of HRPs produce improvements in enterprise performance that exceed the effect of individual organizational changes. Another aspect of this project will be the study of the channels through which firm performance might be affected by the introduction of HRPs.
