The evolution of division of labour in structured and unstructured groups.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Cooper GA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8789276 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Labour market regulation constrains small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) ability to minimize redundant labour. However, it is often neglected that many SMEs might circumvent these constraints by accessing a business group’s internal labour market (ILM). In this study, we analyse whether SMEs with ILM access—i.e., with an increasing number of sister group companies in the same subnational region-industry—enjoy a labour productivity premium and whether this potential productivity premium depends on the bargaining power of labour. Because intra-group reallocation of redundant personnel often involves substantial changes in employment conditions, we argue that the value of ILM access might be reduced when the bargaining power of workers is high as they can oppose the reallocation or demand significant compensation. Using a panel of 119,801 European SMEs during 2011–2019 (639,675 firm-year observations), we find that SMEs with ILM access show relatively higher labour productivity. Further, our findings suggest that this productivity premium is higher in those contexts associated with lower labour bargaining power. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11187-023-00780-4. Intra-group reallocation of unused labour can enhance SME labour productivity, but its feasibility and value-adding potential depend on labour bargaining power. This article explores differences in SME labour productivity attributed to internal labour market access, that is, the flexibility to reallocate unproductive labour to other sister companies in the group network. We also analyse if any potential productivity premium associated with internal labour market access depends on the bargaining power of labour. Our statistical analysis shows a labour productivity premium associated with internal labour market access. Furthermore, it is especially significant in contexts associated with low employee bargaining power. For instance, when collective bargaining coverage is low (very low) we predict a labour productivity premium of 3.3% (4.5%) for all SMEs embedded in a network of 10 companies in the same region-industry. Thus, our study contributes to sharpening our understanding of SME productivity and the value they receive from group affiliation. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11187-023-00780-4.
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Project description:Division of labour is central to the ecological success of eusocial insects, yet the evolutionary factors driving increases in complexity in division of labour are little known. The size-complexity hypothesis proposes that, as larger colonies evolve, both non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour become more complex as workers and queens act to maximize inclusive fitness. Using a statistically robust phylogenetic comparative analysis of social and environmental traits of species within the ant tribe Attini, we show that colony size is positively related to both non-reproductive (worker size variation) and reproductive (queen-worker dimorphism) division of labour. The results also suggested that colony size acts on non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour in different ways. Environmental factors, including measures of variation in temperature and precipitation, had no significant effects on any division of labour measure or colony size. Overall, these results support the size-complexity hypothesis for the evolution of social complexity and division of labour in eusocial insects. Determining the evolutionary drivers of colony size may help contribute to our understanding of the evolution of social complexity.
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