Ying Zhou

Professor Ying Zhou

Professor of Human Resource Management
MPhil (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon)
+44 (0)1483 686344
50 MS 03
Tuesday (11-12.30); Wednesday (11-12.30)

Biography

Biography

Professor Ying Zhou's research focuses on occupation, job quality and employee well-being. She has won multiple research grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK government and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (with a total of £1.8 million) to examine job quality, employee performance and well-being in UK and Europe. Her research has been presented to the UK Cabinet Office, House of Commons, OECD, the European Commission, the European Council and cited in UK, French, Welsh and EU policy documents. She received Surrey Business School’s Research Impact Award in 2018 and Mid-Career Researcher of the Year Award in 2019. 

Ying's research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, Journal of Vocational Behaviour and the British Journal of Industrial Relations. Her papers on occupational mobility, unemployment and well-being were nominated as finalists for the 2017 and 2018 Academy of Management Overall Best Paper Awards (Careers Division), winning the Award in 2018. She was invited to serve on the Best Paper Award Committee for the 2019 Academy of Management Conference (Careers Division) and the 2021 Academy of Management Conference (HR Division). Prior to joining Surrey University, she worked as a human resource consultant at Towers Watson where she advised a wide range of clients on employee engagement and organizational performance. Ying received her MPhil and DPhil in Economic Sociology from the University of Oxford.

Research interests

Professor Ying Zhou's research focuses on job quality and employee well-being. Specifically, she is interested in employee involvement, skill development, work engagement, career change and subjective well-being. She is a specialist in quantitative research methods.

Teaching

Performance, Engagement and Well-being (MSc); Research Methods for Applied Psychology (MSc)

Affiliations

Member of the Academy of Management (AoM)

Research

Research interests

My publications

Highlights

Zhou Y, Felstead A, Henseke G (2020) A Response to the Department for Work and Pensions' Call for Evidence in Preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (invited for oral presentation to the DWP Committee in the House of Commons on 4th November 2020). Available on the UK Parliament website: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/7601/pdf/

Zhou Y, Wu CH, Zou M and Williams M (2020) When is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? A Longitudinal Study of the Joint Effect of Occupational Mobility and Personality on the Honeymoon-Hangover Experience during Job Change. Journal of Organizational Behaviour (Finalist for "Best Overall Paper Award" at the 77th Academy of Management Conference in Atlanta, Careers Division).

Gallie D, Zhou Y. (2020). Employee Involvement, Work Engagement and Skill Development. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (presented to Eurofound, European Council and Dutch Prime Minister's Scientific Council).

Parent-Thirion A, Biletta I, Demetriades S, Gallie D, Zhou Y (2020) [Published in English, French, German and Spanish]. How Employee Involvement Benefits Organisations. European Working Conditions Survey 2015 series, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

Zhou Y, Zou M, Woods SA, Wu CH (2019). The Restorative Effect of Work after Unemployment: An Intra-individual Analysis of Subjective Well-being Recovery through Reemployment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(9), 1195–1206 (Winner of "Best Overall Paper Award" at the 78th Academy of Management Conference in Chicago, Careers Division).

Gallie D and Zhou Y (2013) Work Organisation and Employee Involvement in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union (cited in the European Commission policy document Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2014 and featured in French newspaper Le Monde in 2018 and 2019).

Gallie D and Zhou Y (2013). ‘Job Control, Work Intensity and Work Stress. In Gallie D (ed.) Economic Crisis and the Quality of Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press (presented to the UK Cabinet Office at No.10 Downing Street and cited in the UK policy document Wellbeing and Policy Report).

Paugam S and Zhou Y (2007). 'Job Insecurity'. In Gallie D (ed.) Employment Regimes and the Quality of Work. Oxford University Press (cited in the French government policy Mesurer les facteurs psychosociaux de risque au travail pour les maitriser. Rapport du Collège d’expertise sur le suivi des risques psychosociaux au travail, faisant suite à la demande du Ministre du travail, de l’emploi et de la santé).

Publications

Zhou Y (2021). Improving International and UK Policies on Employee Involvement and Well-being. Impact Case Study Submitted to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. Presented to Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Surrey University and featured on Surrey Business School homepage: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/business-school.
Zhou Y, Wu CH, Zou M and Williams MT (2021). When is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? A Longitudinal Study of the Joint Effect of Occupational Mobility and Personality on the Honeymoon-Hangover Experience during Job Change. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 42 (4): 551-566.
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Previous research shows that job satisfaction often increases sharply upon initial entry into the new job and gradually falls back to the baseline level over time. In this study we propose that this ‘honeymoon-hangover’ pattern is affected by both the direction of occupational mobility and the individual’s personality in terms of extraversion and neuroticism. Drawing on the British Household Panel Survey which followed 10,000 individuals annually for eighteen years, this study shows that only those who move up the occupational class ladder experience significant ‘honeymoon’ effects, while those who move downwards experience dissatisfaction that lasts for several years after the transition. While the positive effect of upward mobility is not amplified by extraversion, the negative effect of downward mobility is exacerbated by neuroticism. This study highlights the importance of taking into account both situational and dispositional factors for understanding the long-term impact of career change on subjective well-being.
William M, Zhou Y, Zou, M (2021). Differentiation in Pay for Performance Within Organizations: An Occupational Perspective. International Journal of Manpower. 42 (4):537-555.
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This article addresses the question of why organizations do not uniformly apply pay for performance (PFP) throughout the organization, focusing on the wider occupational structure in which they and the jobs they create are embedded. We propose a model of ‘occupational differentiation’ whereby the probability of a job within a given organization having PFP increases with levels of monitoring difficulty and requisite human asset specificity characterizing the occupation to which a job belongs, being highest in occupations characterized by high levels of both (generally managerial and professional occupations).Using the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (a nationally-representative matched employer-employee dataset for Britain), this paper investigates this question for all 350 occupations delineated by the UK’s Office for National Statistics using regression methods that adjust for other confounding factors such as demographic factors and workplace fixed-effects. We find organizations ‘occupationally differentiate’ the use of PFP in ways consistent with the model i.e., PFP is most likely to be found in occupations characterized by both high monitoring difficulty and high requisite human asset specificity (mainly managerial and professional occupations) and least likely in occupations scoring low in both. The finding holds across PFP types (individual, group, organizational), whether organizations are large or small, and hold across most industrial sectors.    
 
Jones R J, Woods S A, Zhou Y (2021). The Effects of Coachee Personality and Goal Orientation on Performance Improvement Following Coaching: A Controlled Field Experiment. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 70 (2): 420-458.
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This study presents a field experiment to test the question: What are the individual characteristics that influence whether coaching is beneficial for people’s performance. We focus our attention on the Big Five personality traits, core self-evaluations and goal orientation. Using a control group for comparison, coaching was provided to a sample of working adults (= 84) and both self-ratings and supervisor-ratings of performance ( = 74) were measured over three time points. Our analysis indicates that individuals high in Openness and avoid goal orientation and low in core self-evaluations benefit the most from coaching. We contribute to the literatures on coaching effectiveness and the wider learning and development literatures by providing an empirically robust examination of the interaction between individual differences and coaching and the subsequent impact on performance. Furthermore, our findings suggest that coaching may be an effective development technique for individuals who tend to perform less well in other forms of instructional learning due to their individual characteristics.
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Zhou Y, Felstead A, Henseke G (2020). 'A Response to the Department for Work and Pensions' call for Evidence in Preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution'. Presented to the DWP Committee in the House of Commons on 4th November 2020. Available on the UK Parliament website: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/7601/pdf/
Felstead A, Gallie D, Green F, Zhou Y (2010). 'Employee Involvement, the Quality of Training and the Learning Environment: an Individual Level Analysis'. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21 (10): 1667-1688.
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Theories such as human capital theory, the metaphors of learning and the high-involvement work paradigm all suggest that the quality of training and learning varies along a number of axes. This article shows how these theoretical insights have been translated into questions used in a UK survey of 6,829 employees carried out in 2006. We find that the qualities of both the training experience and on-the-job learning are strongly associated with the extent and nature of employee involvement. This suggests that employee involvement is likely to play an important role in the process of upskilling the workforce, which has been accorded a central role in the economic strategies of many nation states as well as supra-national organizations such as the European Union.
Zhou Y (2020). 'Employee Involvement and Skill Development during the Pandemic'. What Works Centre for Wellbeing, Covid-19 Blog Series. May 22, 2020.
Gallie D, Zhou Y. (2020). Employee Involvement, Work Engagement and Skill Development. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
Parent-Thirion A, Biletta I, Demetriades S, Gallie D, Zhou Y (2020). [Published in English, French, German and Spanish]. How Employee Involvement Benefits Organisations. European Working Conditions Survey 2015 series, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
William M, Zhou Y, Zou, M (2020). Mapping Good Work: The Quality of Working Life Across the Occupational Structure. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
William M, Zhou Y, Zou, M (2020). Mapping Good Work Policy Briefing. Transforming Society. Bristol University Press.
Zhou Y, Zou M, Williams MT (2020). Downward Occupational Mobility and Subjective Well-Being: When Does it Hurt Less? Proceedings of the 80th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.
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Downward occupational mobility is a generally under-explored subject in career research despite its widespread occurrence. This study investigates the impact of downward occupational mobility on job satisfaction trajectory and the individual and contextual factors that moderate such impact. Drawing on a UK longitudinal sample of 10,000 individuals from 5,500 households followed over eighteen years, our analysis shows that downward occupational mobility has significant and enduring effects on job satisfaction following the transition. However, these detrimental effects are absent when individuals make downward career transitions after a spell of unemployment or when they live in regions with high unemployment rates. These results are likely to reflect the influence of self- and social comparisons, as individuals tend to evaluate their current jobs relative to their past career trajectory as well as other people’s labour market experiences. This study highlights the relativity of individuals’ well-being functions. It appears that no life event is simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for subjective well-being, as the meaning of the event is shaped by an individual’s life course and social environment.
Williams M, Zhou Y, Zou M (2020). CIPD Good Work Index 2020: UK Working Lives Survey Report. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Williams MT, Zhou Y, Zou M (2020). The Rise in Pay for Performance Among Higher Managerial and Professional Occupations in Britain: Eroding or Enhancing the Service Relationship?' Work, Employment and Society, 34 (4): 604-625.
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Higher managerial and professional occupations are now the most incentivised occupational class in Britain. It is not yet known whether the rise in pay for performance (PFP) signifies an erosion or enhancement in the ‘service relationship’ that purportedly characterises these occupations. Taking an occupational class perspective, this paper investigates the implications of the rise in PFP for the employment relationship and conditions of work across the occupational structure using two nationally-representative datasets. In fixed-effects estimates, PFP is found to heavily substitute base earnings in non-service class occupations, but not in service class occupations. PFP jobs generally have no worse conditions relative to non-PFP jobs within occupational classes. The article concludes the rise in PFP should be conceptualised more as a form of ‘rent sharing’ for service class occupations, enhancing the service relationship, and as a form of ‘risk sharing’ for non-service class occupations.
Zhou Y, Zou M, Woods SA, Wu CH (2019). 'The Restorative Effect of Work after Unemployment: An Intra-individual Analysis of Subjective Well-being Recovery through Reemployment', Journal of Applied Psychology, 104 (9): 1195–1206.
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Previous research shows that unemployment has lasting detrimental effects on individuals’ subjective well-being. However, the issue of how well-being evolves after individuals switch back into the labour force has received little theoretical and empirical attention. This study examines the extent to which reemployment restores individuals’ subjective well-being following a period of unemployment. Applying fixed effects models to the large-scale longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey, we find that recovery of subjective well-being upon reemployment is fast, complete and enduring, even when individuals take less favourable employment options to return to work. By contrast, transitions into economic inactivity following unemployment are accompanied by persistent scars on subsequent well-being trajectories. This study advances our understanding of well-being development over the entire employment-unemployment-reemployment cycle.
Jones R J, Woods S A, Zhou Y (2018). 'Boundary Conditions of Workplace Coaching Outcomes', Journal of Managerial Psychology, 33, 7/8, 475-496.
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In order to address the need for greater understanding about the occupational and practice determinants of effective workplace coaching, the purpose of this paper is to examine the associations of two coaching practice factors (coaching format and external vs internal coaching provision), and coachees’ job complexity with perceived outcomes from coaching. A survey of 161 individuals who had received workplace coaching was conducted. Participants provided data on two outcome criteria (self-reported work well-being and personal effectiveness at work). Analysis indicated that external coaches and blended format coaching were most strongly associated with work well-being outcomes. The examination of interaction effects showed that coaching provided by external coaches was more strongly associated with outcomes for individuals working in the most complex job roles. The original contribution of the authors’ findings is in terms of the implications for coaches, managers and HR practitioners by showing how coaching can be implemented differentially and most effectively based on desired outcome criteria and features of coachees’ job situations.
Purpose
Design/methodology/approach
Findings
Originality/value
Zhou Y, Zou M, Woods SA and Wu CH (2018). ‘The Restorative Effect of Work after Unemployment: An Intra-individual Analysis of Subjective Well-being Recovery through Re-employment’. Best Paper Proceedings of the 78th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago, Illinois (Winner of “2018 Best Overall Paper Award", Careers Division).
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A substantial body of research shows that unemployment has detrimental effects on individuals’ subjective well-being, which is consistent with the prediction of the theory of latent functions of employment. However, empirical research also shows that individuals generally fail to return to their baseline well-being even after exiting unemployment, a puzzle that runs counter to latent functions theory. This study argues that the ‘scarring effect’ uncovered by the previous literature is largely a statistical artefact resulting from the use of inadequate measures of baseline well-being and failure to distinguish those who follow different routes to exit unemployment. Applying fixed effect modelling to a UK longitudinal survey that followed approximately 10,000 individuals annually for eighteen years, this study shows that recovery of subjective well-being upon re-employment is fast, complete and enduring. By contrast, transitions into economic inactivity are accompanied by persistent scars on subsequent well-being trajectory. This study contributes to the literature by closing a hitherto unresolved gap in the explanatory power of latent functions theory on the temporal effects of unemployment on subjective well-being.
Zhou Y, Zou M, Williams M and Tabvuma V (2017). ‘Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side? A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Employer Change and Occupational Change on Job Satisfaction’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 99: 66–78.
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Research shows that individuals experience a honeymoon-hangover pattern when they change employers. This study provides further insight into this pattern by comparing the experience of those who change employers within and across occupations. Drawing on the longitudinal data from the British House Panel Survey 1991–2008, we find that the honeymoon effect was primarily driven by the experience of those who change employers across occupations. Patterns of post-transition adaptation also differ between the two categories of job changers. While there is evidence of adaptation of job satisfaction to employer change within occupation, those who change employers across occupations experience a steady decline of intrinsic job satisfaction which continues for at least six years after the transition.
Zhou Y (2013). 'The State of Precarious Work in China'. American Behavioural Scientist, 57 (3): 354-372.
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Precarious work which is characterized by the uncertainty and unpredictability of employment can be found in the labor market of most industrialized countries. Although precarious work was relatively rare in China until the 1980s, it has experienced a rapid growth over the past two decades. The factors underlying the diffusion of precarious work are varied and interrelated, notably reflecting the impact of changes in the structure of industry, occupations, urbanization, state policies, labor market institutions as well as employers’ manpower strategies. Although the spread of precarious work is sometimes advocated as an effective means of generating employment and increasing labor market flexibility, substantial evidence shows that such work is plagued by a series of problems, including low pay, low skill, high work intensity, poor working conditions and lack of employment protection. This article reviews research on the trends and quality of precarious work in China in the past two decades and offers insights for policymakers with respect to the ways to integrate precarious workers into the primary labor market.
Zhou Y, Wu CH, Zou M, Williams M (2017). 'A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Occupational Mobility on Job Satisfaction Trajectory: Individual Differences in Neuroticism'. Best Paper Proceedings of the 77th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Atlanta, Georgia (Finalist for “2017 Best Overall Paper Award", Careers Division).
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Previous research on job change has identified a common pattern of job satisfaction trajectory during the turnover process. Individuals often experience a sharp increase in job satisfaction upon initial entry into the new job which gradually returns to baseline levels over time. This study examines how this ‘honeymoon-hanger’ pattern is affected by the nature of the job change and the individual’s personality.  Drawing on the British Household Panel Survey, this study shows that only those who successfully move up the occupational ladder experience significant ‘honeymoon’ effects. By contrast, individuals who make lateral or downward career transitions experience no significant honeymoon effect but a lasting scar on their job satisfaction for several years after the transition. However, the pattern varies depending on the individual’s level of neuroticism. Compared to emotionally stable individuals, those high in neuroticism react more strongly to both upward and downward occupational mobility, with the job satisfaction gap between the two groups growing wider over time. These findings highlight the importance of taking into account both situational and dispositional factors for understanding individuals’ reactions to job change. 
Gallie D, Zhou Y, Felstead A, Green F, Henseke G (2017). 'The Implications of Direct Participation for Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Affective Psychological Well-Being: A Longitudinal Analysis'. Industrial Relations Journal, 48 (2): 174-191.
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The article examines the implications of direct participation for employees’ organisational commitment, job satisfaction and affective psychological well-being. It focuses on both task discretion and organisational participation. Applying fixed effect models to nationally representative longitudinal data, the study provides a more rigorous assessment of the conflicting claims for the effects of participation that have hitherto been based primarily on cross-sectional evidence. Further, it tests a range of mechanisms by which direct participation leads to improved employee outcomes. Contrary to the critical literature, it shows that even after controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, both forms of direct participation have positive effects for employees’ organisational commitment and well-being. The effects of task discretion are primarily direct, reflecting the intrinsic importance of personal control over the job task; in contrast, those of organisational participation derive to a greater extent from its indirect effect on the quality of working conditions.
Williams M and Zhou Y (2017). ‘Paying for Performance in Britain: Does the Type of Job Matter?’ Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Applied Research Conference (Featured in People Management 26 April 2017).
Inanc H, Zhou Y, Gallie D, Felstead A, Green F (2015). 'Direct Participation and Employee Learning at Work'. Work and Occupations, 42 (4): 447-475.
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The creation of a learning environment at work has been seen as an essential concomitant of the growth of an advanced economy. This article explores the implications of direct participation for different types of employee learning, drawing upon the British Skills and Employment Surveys of 2006 and 2012. It confirms that direct participation is strongly associated with enhanced learning opportunities at work but finds important differences in the benefits of specific forms of direct participation. Moreover, direct participation was found to be particularly important for those in less favorable work contexts with respect to technological level and skill.
Gallie D and Zhou Y (2013). Work Organisation and Employee Involvement in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Gallie D and Zhou Y (2013). ‘Job Control, Work Intensity and Work Stress. In Gallie D (ed.) Economic Crisis and the Quality of Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gallie D, Zhou Y, Felstead A, Green F (2012). 'Teamwork, Skill Development and Employee Welfare'. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 50 (1): 23-46.
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There has been a sharp divergence in the literature about the benefits of teamwork. Some have claimed that it is solely in the interests of management, others that it is beneficial for employees and yet others that it makes little difference to either productivity or well-being. This article draws upon the British Skills Survey Series. It shows that while teamwork did expand between the early 1990s and 2006, this was due primarily to the growth of the type of teamwork that allowed employees little in the way of decision-making power. Indeed, there was a decrease in the prevalence of self-directive teamwork. At the same time, our evidence shows that the benefits of teamwork, in terms of both enhancing work motivation and employee welfare, are confined to self-directive teams, while non-self-directive teams suppress the use of personal initiative and discretion at work.
Halldén K, Gallie D, Zhou Y (2012). 'The Skills and Autonomy of Female Part-Time Work in Britain and Sweden'. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 30 (2): 187-201.
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Most OECD countries have experienced an increase of female part-time employment in the last decades. It has been argued that part-time work may give greater employment flexibility, enabling mothers to reconcile conflicting demands of family and work and thereby facilitating their integration into the wage economy. At the same time, it has been suggested that female part-time work implies segmentation of the labour force into a core and a periphery, with marginalized, low qualified jobs for part-time employees. However, little attention has been given to the possible mediating effect of the institutional context on potential job quality disadvantages of part-timers. We examine this question by comparing the skills and autonomy of female part-time workers in two countries, Britain and Sweden, often considered as representing quite distinct forms of institutional regime. The results show that female part-time employees in Sweden hold positions of higher skill and have more autonomy compared to their equivalents in Britain. Even so, both British and Swedish part-time employees face relative disadvantage when compared to female full-time workers. We conclude that differences in the institutional systems of Sweden and Britain do have a significant effect on the absolute skill level of part-time work. However, the relative disadvantage of part-timers persists despite Swedish policies giving greater salience to improvements in the quality of work.  
Gallie D, Zhou Y. (2011). 'The Changing Job Skills of Female Part-time Workers in Britain 1992–2006'. Human Resource Management Journal, 21 (1): 28-44.
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The work situation of female part-time workers has been a central focus of diverse interpretations of labour market disadvantage. While providing rather different accounts of why this should be the case, these share a view that part-timers are largely confined to jobs with lower levels of skill than full-timers. This article, drawing on nationally representative surveys, shows that the skill requirements of female part-time jobs have improved significantly since the early 1990s relative to male full-timers. While some sectors of part-time work have benefited more than others, there is evidence of polarisation only with respect to part-timers with different working hours. The overall rise in the relative skills of part-timers poses significant issues about employer practice with respect to the wider involvement of part-timers in the organisations for which they work.
Zhou Y (2009). British Employees' Organizational Participation. Germany: VDM Verlag.
Paugam S and Zhou Y (2007). 'Job Insecurity'. In Gallie D (ed.) Employment Regimes and the Quality of Work. Oxford University Press.
Felstead A, Gallie D, Green F, Zhou Y (2007). Skills at Work, 1986-2006. Oxford: ESRC Research Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organizational Performance.
Green A, Felstead A, Gallie D, Zhou Y (2007). 'Computers and Pay'. National Institute Economic Review, 201 (1): 63-75.
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This paper describes the diffusion of computer use among jobs in Britain, and shows that the technology is having notable effects on the labour market. By 2006 three in four jobs entailed job-holders using computers, while for two in four jobs computer use was essential. Computing skills have a significant impact on pay but, in 2006, much of this effect is interactive with what we term 'influence skills'. The average effect of a unit increase in the Computing Skills index (which rangesfrom 0 to 4) is to raise pay by an estimated 5.3 per cent and 6.0 per cent for men and women spectively. For men there is an additional 19.2 per cent boost to pay in establishments where at least three quarters of workers are working with computers, compared to establishments where no one uses computers. These effects are greater for those people in jobs with above-average influence skills requirements. Our estimates allow for education, a large number of other generic skills and other conventional controls, which makes them more robust to the critique that they are overestimates because they might suffer from omitted skill bias. IV estimates show only small differences from the OLS estimates. We also find that the direct and interactive effects of computer skills and influence skills have risen over the decade, indicating increased scarcity.