Should Human Capital Development Programs be Mandatory or Voluntary? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Mentorship

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Sandvik, Jason; Saouma, Richard; Seegert, Nathan; Stanton, Christopher
• 署名单位: University of Arizona; Michigan State University; Michigan State University's Broad College of Business; Northeastern University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Harvard University; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR)
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2024.07524
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: human capital development; Mentorship; Personnel economics; Program evaluation; RCT; training

摘要

In a field experiment, we find that a mandatory mentorship program raises worker productivity, whereas a voluntary version of the program does not. A significant reason why the mandatory program results in larger gains is that the lowest-productivity employees do not participate when the program is voluntary despite their having the greatest treatment benefits. A nationally representative survey of U.S. workers shows wide variation in human capital development program participation, suggesting that understanding self-selection is important for firms' returns on these programs across a variety of settings. Our findings have implications for resource allocation, experimental design, productivity dispersion, and inequality.