Effects of the award of public service contracts on the performance and payroll of winning firms

Author(s):  
Diego Ravenda ◽  
Maika Melina Valencia-Silva ◽  
Josep Maria Argiles-Bosch ◽  
Josep García-Blandón

Abstract We investigate the effects of an exogenous demand shock arising from the award of public service contracts by Italian public administrations in 2015 on a sample of 1782 winning small and medium firms that were not awarded any contract during the previous 3 years. Using a difference-in-differences model with continuous treatments estimated on a propensity score matched sample, our results reveal that higher awarded values enhance various performance dimensions of the winning firms as well as their average payroll per employee. Nonetheless, higher winning rebates moderate the positive effects of the award on payroll by inducing the winning firms to downward manage both salaries and social security contributions per employee to maintain their desired level of performance. The effects are mostly significant for smaller microenterprises. In addition, winning rebates negatively affect the performance of firms in the construction industry by leading these firms to downward manage the payroll of their employees more aggressively than firms in other industries. Our findings provide novel insights for the implementation of industrial policies aimed at achieving sustainable macroeconomic and social goals, within the business fabric, through the effective management of public service procurement.

2020 ◽  
pp. 98-114
Author(s):  
Evguenia V. Bessonova ◽  
Alexander G. Morozov ◽  
Natalia A. Turdyeva ◽  
Anna N. Tsvetkova

The paper considers necessary conditions for acceleration of labor productivity growth in Russia. Based on micro data, as well as aggregate data, the paper quantifies the contribution of small and medium firms to labor productivity growth. It shows that mere increase of the number of small and medium enterprises is not as important for positive effects of these programs, as qualitative improvements: development of favorable environment for growth, which is largely determined by business climate. Accelerating productivity growth involves redistribution of labor and capital from inefficient to efficient enterprises. In particular, it is necessary to create conditions, which allow a firm to grow after it enters the market instead of stagnating as a small firm with low efficiency. At the same time, it is necessary for ineffective firms, which exhausted their growth potential, to have an opportunity to exit the market easily leaving resources including labor to fast-growing companies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1258-1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liat Levontin ◽  
Anat Bardi

Research has neglected the utility of pro-social goals within achievement situations. In this article, four studies demonstrate that amity goal orientation, promoting mutual success of oneself together with others, enhances the utility of mastery goal orientation. We demonstrate this in longitudinally predicting performance (Studies 1 and 2) and in maintaining motivation after a disappointing performance (Studies 3 and 4). The studies demonstrate the same interaction effect in academic and in work achievement contexts. Specifically, whereas amity goal orientation did not predict achievement on its own, it enhanced the positive effect of mastery goal orientation. Together, these studies establish the importance of amity goal orientation while also advancing our understanding of the effects of other achievement goal orientations. We suggest future directions in examining the utility of amity goals in other contexts.


2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor L Brown ◽  
Matthew Potoski ◽  
David M Van Slyke

Author(s):  
Ashok Kumar Shah ◽  
Yu Jintian ◽  
Dinesh Sukamani ◽  
Manita Kusi

Research on environment management in construction industry is as topic of debate globally. Thus, this study examined how green transformational leadership played for green building sustainability via green creativity and green procurement. We developed an assimilated research model to examine the impact of green transformational leadership, green creativity and green procurement on sustainability in construction industry by accessing resources-based view theory and componential theory of creativity. The sample included from 305 project team member of construction firm in Nepal. Structural equation model (SEM) using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0 have been applied to find empirical results. The results revealed direct positive effects of green transformational leadership, green creativity and green procurement on sustainability. Green transformational leadership also appeared as predictor of green creativity and green procurement. Moreover, green creativity and green procurement found partial mediators of the relationship between green transformational leadership and sustainability in construction industry. Discussed future research direction along with theoretical implication and practical implication for environment policymakers and researcher attentive in promoting sustainability in construction industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Plous Kresch

This paper documents how regulatory uncertainty may undermine public service when different levels of government share a mandate on public service provision. I examine the Brazilian water and sanitation sector, which presents a natural experiment of shared provision between state and municipal companies. Using a difference-in-differences framework, I study a legal reform that clarified the relationship between municipal and state providers and eliminated any takeover threat by state companies. I find that after the reform, municipal companies almost doubled their total system investment, leading to significant increases in system access and decreases in child mortality. (JEL H77, L95, O13, O18, Q53)


Author(s):  
Joel Stafford

Background with rationaleIt is commonplace in policy discussions concerning administrative data linkage to presuppose that the data referred to is government services data. But this is not always the case. Much of the data public services hold is now collected via intermediaries, such as Non-Government Organisations, operating under service contracts with one or multiple government departments. Nor are these the only administrative data holdings applicable to clients of government services. There are also vast private administrative data holdings – including utility data, and consumer behaviour data. Creating and amending legislation that governs public service practices in this domain is increasingly made complex when private companies partner with governments agencies on policy development and evaluation work. Understanding the concept of public data for public good in light of this expanded sense of administrative data opens the door to deeper questions about the role linked data can play in government decision making. Main aimThe paper problematizes how legislation governing the linking of government administrative data is scoped and discusses how public service work can be affected by the opaque communication networks that increasingly span the public-private sector divide. Methods/ApproachAfter contextualising the challenge of legislating for administrative data linkage in the current work of the Office of the National Data Commissioner (ONDC) in Australia, this paper tests aspects of the proposed legislation against the extent to which it permits the possibility of ‘data laundering’. ResultsThe presentation demonstrates the need for greater sophistication in the specification of data linkage and sharing legislation in service of the public good. Conclusions This paper indicates that contemporary practices governing the linkage of government administrative data holdings is porous to the aims of extra-governmental organisations and may benefit by better incorporating legislative structures that govern private analytical services entities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (4) ◽  
pp. 1050-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER SELB ◽  
SIMON MUNZERT

Hitler’s rise to power amidst an unprecedented propaganda campaign initiated scholarly interest in campaign effects. To the surprise of many, empirical studies often found minimal effects. The predominant focus of early work was on U.S. elections, though. Nazi propaganda as the archetypal and, in many ways, most likely case for strong effects has rarely been studied. We collect extensive data about Hitler’s speeches and gauge their impact on voter support at five national elections preceding the dictatorship. We use a semi-parametric difference-in-differences approach to estimate effects in the face of potential confounding due to the deliberate scheduling of events. Our findings suggest that Hitler’s speeches, while rationally targeted, had a negligible impact on the Nazis’ electoral fortunes. Only the 1932 presidential runoff, an election preceded by an extraordinarily short, intense, and one-sided campaign, yielded positive effects. This study questions the importance of charismatic leaders for the success of populist movements.


2019 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 1032-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Hjort ◽  
Jonas Poulsen

To show how fast Internet affects employment in Africa, we exploit the gradual arrival of submarine Internet cables on the coast and maps of the terrestrial cable network. Robust difference-in-differences estimates from 3 datasets, covering 12 countries, show large positive effects on employment rates—also for less educated worker groups—with little or no job displacement across space. The sample-wide impact is driven by increased employment in higher-skill occupations, but less-educated workers’ employment gain less so. Firm-level data available for some countries indicate that increased firm entry, productivity, and exporting contribute to higher net job creation. Average incomes rise. (JEL F14, J23, J24, J63, L86, O15, O33)


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