Not All Management Training is Created Equal: Evidence from the Training Within Industry Program

Abstract

This paper examines the separate and complementary effects of managerial practices on firm performance, using evidence from a unique historical episode, the Training Within Industry (TWI) program. The TWI program was a business training program implemented by the US government between 1940 and 1945 with the purpose of providing management consulting to firms involved in war production. Using newly collected panel data on the population of 11,575 U.S. firms that applied to the program, we estimate its causal effects by exploiting quasi-random variation in the allocation of instructors to firms. We find that receiving any TWI managerial training had a positive effect on firm performance, even though the impact is larger if firms were trained in human resources management. Human resources management is also complementary to other managerial practices. Finally, we document substantial heterogeneity in the effects of the program depending on whether top or middle managers were trained.

About the presenter’s visit

Dr Michela Giorcelli will be visiting the School of Economics on Thursday 27^th June 2019.  While here she will be using room 520A Colin Clark Building.  If you would like to meet with her or have lunch or dinner with her please contact Dr Haishan Yuan who will be her host while at The University of Queensland.  Dr Yuan can be contact on h.yuan@uq.edu.au.