Human Resource Development and Productivity of Japanese Firms: An empirical analysis using unique surveys on human resource management

We examined the relationship between human resource development and firm performance using two sets of data, one obtained from a questionnaire survey mailed to firms' personnel departments and another—human resource management scores based on interviews with Japanese firms—used in Miyagawa et al. (2010). We found a positive relationship between the number of training days per worker and the human resource management scores, in which higher scores reflect more performance-oriented compensation/promotion systems and greater emphasis on human resource development efforts. When we estimate a production function using man-hour data obtained from the mailed survey, we found a positive relationship between human resource management scores and firm growth. We also found a strong correlation between human resource management scores concerning off-the-job training and firm performance.