Safety at Work: The relationship between occupational health and safety and firm competitive advantage from human capital.

Project Information

SAW

Grant agreement ID: 101032186

DOI

10.3030/101032186

Project closed

EC signature date 9 March 2021

Start date 15 June 2021

End date 14 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 184 707,84

EU contribution

€ 184 707,84

Coordinated by

ETABLISSEMENT D'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR CONSULAIRE HAUTES ETUDES COMMERCIALES DE PARIS
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SAW (Safety at Work: The relationship between occupational health and safety and firm competitive advantage from human capital.)

Reporting period: 2021-06-15 to 2023-06-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This project investigates the relationship between employees’ health and safety and human capital strategies by firms. Understanding this relationship is important to shed light on the trade-offs between occupational safety and the economic sustainability of business activities. While health and safety are basic and fundamental workers’ rights, attending to safety issues can be complex and demanding for firms, workers, and regulators. Firms operate under resource constraints and safety management requires the commitment of financial, human, and technological resources. Similarly, workers can experience conflicts between complying with safety guidelines and their experience, skills, bargaining power, and occupations. Moreover, regulation to incentivize and monitor occupational safety without impairing productivity is challenging to design and enforce. These tensions between safety and economic objectives are more salient than ever to managers, workers, scholars, and policy makers because of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the need to redesign jobs in the post-pandemic world of work. The objective of this project is to contribute to the literature on strategy and human resource management by providing an empirical and theoretical account of how human capital management shapes occupational health and safety. The conclusions of the action pertain the relationship between managerial decisions on human capital management and the levels of safety in which workers operate. In particular, the work shows ample scope for organizations to manage internal and external labor markets so as to minimize the hazard of accidents in the workplace with a particular focus on the management of employee internal mobility and turnover. The action was concluded in June 2023.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Throughout the duration of the research grant, substantial strides have been made in advancing our understanding of critical aspects within the realm of strategic human capital and safety. The journey embarked upon has been one of rigorous research and interdisciplinary and international collaboration, resulting in noteworthy achievements and promising outcomes. The journey commenced with gaining access to matched employer-employee French data. This entailed a meticulous process, involving data source review, application compilation, and authorization attainment. The establishment of a secure infrastructure, along with dedicated training and resource allocation, facilitated remote access to the data. The subsequent phase encompassed meticulous data preparation and cleaning, a task undertaken with a research team composed of doctoral students and a pre-doctoral research fellow. Their concerted efforts ensured the data's integrity and readiness for analysis. A comprehensive theoretical framework emerged from extensive literature reviews, underpinning a series of theoretical predictions. These predictions formed the basis for empirical testing and validation, which yielded valuable insights into the relationship between human capital management and occupational safety. The result uncover significant relationships between employee mobility and safety. Presentation of these results at esteemed conferences and seminars amplified the reach of these insights, fostering engagement with a diverse audience. Ongoing analyses and reach-out activities are continuously carried out to extend the scope and visibility of the findings.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Progress Beyond the State of the Art: The project has significantly pushed the boundaries of existing research at the intersection of strategy, human resource management, and safety, introducing novel data, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovative insights. Notably, the successful acquisition of matched employer-employee French data and the original combination of different data sources represents a major leap forward, as it provides a comprehensive and nuanced view of the relationships between human capital, firm performance, and safety measures. The project's theoretical predictions, drawing from diverse fields, foster a more comprehensive understanding of strategic human capital's impact on safety and performance, bridging gaps in existing literature.
Expected Results until the End of the Project: The project is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of organizational dynamics, shedding light on the intricate interplay between human capital, firm strategies, and safety practices. Furthermore, the refinement of working papers in collaboration with international co-authors will lead to publications that contribute to academic discourse, while the scheduled presentations at prestigious conferences will disseminate findings to a broader audience.
Potential impacts: The project's potential impacts in the managerial and socio-economic domains entail various dimensions: academic, practical, and societal. Academically, the ambition of the project is to shape discourse and advance research in strategic human capital, labor economics, and safety. Moreover, the translation of research findings into actionable insights for business and policy communities offers practical benefits. Organizations stand to gain evidence-based guidance for optimizing human capital strategies, enhancing performance, and cultivating safer work environments. Policymakers can leverage these insights to craft regulations that bolster workforce well-being and stimulate economic growth. The project also holds potential socio-economic impact. It could offer insights into how firms should allocate human capital and safety investments, with potential outcomes including heightened productivity, fewer accidents, and reduced absenteeism, ultimately benefiting the broader economy. The project's focus on safety carries broader societal implications, promising to foster safer work environments, with enhanced work and life quality for employees and their families.

Image Hec Paris