Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic
This paper uses data on private firms in 24 developing countries to show that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, firms with greater obstacles in accessing an educated workforce have lower performance than other firms. The findings are robust to the comprehensive inclusion of relevant control variables a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Borsa Istanbul Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221484502200062X |
| _version_ | 1811188629656043520 |
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| author | Omar Farooq Mukhammadfoik Bakhadirov |
| author_facet | Omar Farooq Mukhammadfoik Bakhadirov |
| author_sort | Omar Farooq |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper uses data on private firms in 24 developing countries to show that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, firms with greater obstacles in accessing an educated workforce have lower performance than other firms. The findings are robust to the comprehensive inclusion of relevant control variables and to a number of sensitivity tests. For instance, the paper shows that the alternate measures of performance (capacity utilization, layoffs, cash flows, and ability to meet obligations) are also negatively affected by a firm's inability to access educated workforce. We argue that the impact of an educated workforce on performance is through higher productivity, lower costs, increased innovation, and efficient decision making. Our findings also show that firms with greater obstacles in an accessing educated workforce did not use the government support programs efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:23:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-47d499f16d9e4537bf166996a53fc1ff |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-8450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:23:12Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Borsa Istanbul Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-47d499f16d9e4537bf166996a53fc1ff2022-12-22T04:19:00ZengElsevierBorsa Istanbul Review2214-84502022-11-0122612091220Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemicOmar Farooq0Mukhammadfoik Bakhadirov1Corresponding author.; ADA University, Baku AZ1008, AzerbaijanADA University, Baku AZ1008, AzerbaijanThis paper uses data on private firms in 24 developing countries to show that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, firms with greater obstacles in accessing an educated workforce have lower performance than other firms. The findings are robust to the comprehensive inclusion of relevant control variables and to a number of sensitivity tests. For instance, the paper shows that the alternate measures of performance (capacity utilization, layoffs, cash flows, and ability to meet obligations) are also negatively affected by a firm's inability to access educated workforce. We argue that the impact of an educated workforce on performance is through higher productivity, lower costs, increased innovation, and efficient decision making. Our findings also show that firms with greater obstacles in an accessing educated workforce did not use the government support programs efficiently during the COVID-19 pandemic.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221484502200062XEmployee skillsPerformancePandemicDeveloping countries |
| spellingShingle | Omar Farooq Mukhammadfoik Bakhadirov Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic Borsa Istanbul Review Employee skills Performance Pandemic Developing countries |
| title | Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | access to an educated workforce and the performance of private firms during the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | Employee skills Performance Pandemic Developing countries |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221484502200062X |
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