Training, Communications Patterns, and Spillovers Inside Organizations
This paper examines how training affects productivity across hierarchical layers within organizations. After a randomized training program for frontline employees at a government agency, trained workers' output increased while their requests for managerial assistance fell. This freed managers to focus on strategic tasks—particularly managers with the strongest connections to trained employees. A structural model of organizational hierarchies shows that spillovers to managers account for approximately 45% of the program's total benefits, indicating that evaluations focused solely on individual trainees may substantially understate the full value of training investments.
More from NBER
In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.
