The kind of things that money just can't buy: The role of potential absorptive capacity in enhancing firm-level employment growth
研究了设备投资中的技术变革对企业就业增长的影响，发现潜在吸收能力能增强低技术企业和中小企业的就业效应，对政策制定者关注人力资本投资有参考价值。
This study provides new firm-level evidence on the impact of the technological change generated by investments in instrumental goods on employment growth. We posit that firms' potential absorptive capacity moderates this effect by leveraging the embodied technological change (ETC) contained in these goods. Testing our hypothesis on administrative linked employer-employee (LEED) data for a sample of 6.120 manufacturing firms over 2008–2017, we find that ETC investments have an overall positive and significant effect on employment growth. Such an effect depends on firms' technological intensity and size class, with a larger impact on high-tech and large firms. However, higher levels of potential absorptive capacity increase positively and significantly the effect for low-tech and SMEs in a way that is more compatible with a conditional role than a moderating one. Our findings imply that regional policies should consider firm-specific investments targeted to human capital accumulation and collaborative partnerships to maximize the occupational impact of ETC investments. • Focus on the impact of embodied technological change (ETC) on employment • New firm-level evidence of the impact of ETC on employment growth • Absorptive capacity moderates the effect of ETC on employment growth. • Empirical test under different firm contingencies (size and technology intensity)