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Age-biased technological and organizational change: firm-level evidence and management implications

Author

Listed:
  • Beckmann, Michael

    (University of Basel)

  • Schauenberg, Bernd
Abstract
This paper examines the question, whether the growing use of new technologies and decentralized forms of work organization affects the age structure of workforces within firms. The initial idea behind this relationship is that technological and organizational change may not only be skill-biased, but also age-biased. Based on human capital theoretical explanations that mainly focus on skill obsolescence in association with the need to acquire new skills, the hypothesis of an age-biased technological and organizational change (ABTOC) is derived and tested econometrically using German firm-level data. The empirical results show that the adoption of technological and organizational innovations decreases the firms' demand for older workers and increases the demand for younger workers. Hence, ABTOC is found to be at the expense of older workers. Since ABTOC does not fit to the current development in terms of age-specific labor supply, this paper also suggests human resource management practices that encourage firms to combine the use of new technologies and organizational forms with an ageing workforce.

Suggested Citation

  • Beckmann, Michael & Schauenberg, Bernd, 2007. "Age-biased technological and organizational change: firm-level evidence and management implications," Working papers 2007/05, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    • Handle: RePEc:bsl:wpaper:2007/05
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Fries, Jan, 2014. "Age and skill bias of trade liberalisation? Heterogeneous employment effects of EU Eastern Enlargement," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-113, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Michele Battisti & Christian Dustmann & Uta Schönberg, 2023. "Technological and Organizational Change and the Careers of Workers," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 1551-1594.
    4. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Stephan Veen, 2008. "Ageing Workforces and Challenges to Human Resource Management in German Firms," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harald Conrad & Viktoria Heindorf & Franz Waldenberger (ed.), Human Resource Management in Ageing Societies, chapter 2, pages 13-28, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Barth, Erling & Davis, James C. & Freeman, Richard B. & McElheran, Kristina, 2023. "Twisting the demand curve: Digitalization and the older workforce," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 443-467.
    6. Pierre-Jean Messe & Eva Moreno-Galbis & François-Charles Wolf, 2014. "Retirement intentions in the presence of technological change: Theory and evidence from France," TEPP Working Paper 2014-04, TEPP.
    7. Даниелян, Владимир, 2016. "Детерминанты Пенсионного Возраста: Обзор Исследований [Determinants of Retirement Age: A Review of Research]," MPRA Paper 73865, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Boockmann, Bernhard & Fries, Jan & Göbel, Christian, 2018. "Specific measures for older employees and late career employment," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 159-174.
    9. Jenny Meyer, 2011. "Workforce age and technology adoption in small and medium-sized service firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 305-324, October.
    10. Luc Behaghel & Eve Caroli & Muriel Roger, 2014. "Age-biased Technical and Organizational Change, Training and Employment Prospects of Older Workers," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(322), pages 368-389, April.
    11. Guerrazzi, Marco, 2014. "Workforce ageing and the training propensity of Italian firms: cross-sectional evidence from the INDACO survey," MPRA Paper 56826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Yashiro, Naomitsu & Kyyrä, Tomi & Hwang, Hyunjeong & Tuomala, Juha, 2020. "Technology, Labour Market Institutions and Early Retirement: Evidence from Finland," IZA Discussion Papers 13990, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Bellmann, Lutz & Dummert, Sandra & Leber, Ute, 2013. "Betriebliche Weiterbildung für Ältere – eine Längsschnittanalyse mit den Daten des IAB-Betriebspanels," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(4), pages 311-330.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ageing workforces; new technologies; decentralized work organization; skill obsolescence; skill adaptation; productivity-wage-differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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