Innovation and job quality. A firm-level exploration

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relation between innovation and job quality at the firm level for a large sample of companies in 32 European countries. Using data from the Third European Company Survey (ECS-2013) we develop indices of innovation and job quality that are later used to quantitatively explore their relationship. The results show significant differences in the relationship between the type of innovation (process, product, marketing and organizational) at the firm level and job quality, with a clear positive association only in the case of process innovation. Labor relations, the evolution of employment, outsourcing or the demographic characteristics of firm are important mediating factors. In particular, the analysis suggests that union representation plays an important role in facilitating the translation of innovation into higher job quality in the firm.