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Michael Beckmann

University of Basel, Switzerland, and IAB, Germany

I like the idea of evidence-based policy making. IZA World of Labor is a communication medium that makes state-of-the-art research accessible to decision-makers in management and politics. Especially in uncertain times, these decision-makers should benefit a lot from studying IZA World of Labor contributions

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Professor of Human Resources and Organization, University of Basel

Research interest

Personnel and organizational economics

Website

https://wwz.unibas.ch/en/persons/michael-beckmann/

Past positions

Professor, Institute for Human Resource Education and Management, University of Munich

Qualifications

Postdoctoral lecture qualification, 2004

Selected publications

  • “Internal rent seeking, works councils, and optimal establishment size.” European Economic Review 56:4 (2012): 711–726 (with M. Kräkel).

  • “Rent seeking, employment security and works councils: Theory and evidence for Germany.” Schmalenbach Business Review 62 (2010): 2–40 (with S. Föhr and M. Kräkel).

  • “The returns to continuous training in Germany: New evidence from propensity score matching estimators.” Review of Managerial Science 1:3 (2007): 209-235 (with G. Muehler and B. Schauenberg).

  • “Betriebliche Innovationen und geschlechterspezifische Arbeitsnachfrage.” Die Betriebswirtschaft 66:3 (2006): 287–306 (with B. Schauenberg and A. Timmermann).

  • “Art auctions and bidding rings: Empirical evidence from German auction data.” Journal of Cultural Economics 28:2 (2004): 125–141.

article(s)

  • Working-time autonomy as a management practice

    Giving workers control over their working hours increases their commitment and benefits firm performance

    Michael Beckmann, January 2016
    Allowing workers to control their work hours (working-time autonomy) is a controversial policy for worker empowerment, with concerns that range from increased shirking to excessive intensification of work. Empirical evidence, however, supports neither view. Recent studies find that working-time autonomy improves individual and firm performance without promoting overload or exhaustion from work. However, if working-time autonomy is incorporated into a system of family-friendly workplace practices, firms may benefit from the trade-off between (more) fringe benefits and (lower) wages but not from increased productivity.
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