The Ties That Bind Us: Social Networks and Productivity in the Factory

Amrita Dhillon; Farzana Afridi; Swati  Sharma

doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2023.12.026

The Ties That Bind Us: Social Networks and Productivity in the Factory

Amrita Dhillon, Farzana Afridi^*, Swati Sharma^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Indian Statistical Institute New Dehli

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

We use high frequency worker level productivity data from garment manufacturing units in India to study the effects of caste-based social networks on individual and group productivity when workers are complements in the production function. Using plausibly exogenous variation in the production lines' caste composition for almost 35,000 worker-days, we find that a 1 percentage point (pp) increase in the share of own caste workers in the line increases daily individual productivity by at least 0.09 pp. The least efficient worker's productivity, however, rises by almost 0.17 pp when the caste composition of the line becomes more homogeneous by 1 pp. These results are robust to unobservable heterogeneity in worker ability and line level trends. Production externalities, that induce greater effort through within-network peer effects, can potentially explain our findings.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	470-485
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Volume	218
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.12.026
Publication status	Published - Feb 2024

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title = "The Ties That Bind Us: Social Networks and Productivity in the Factory",

abstract = "We use high frequency worker level productivity data from garment manufacturing units in India to study the effects of caste-based social networks on individual and group productivity when workers are complements in the production function. Using plausibly exogenous variation in the production lines' caste composition for almost 35,000 worker-days, we find that a 1 percentage point (pp) increase in the share of own caste workers in the line increases daily individual productivity by at least 0.09 pp. The least efficient worker's productivity, however, rises by almost 0.17 pp when the caste composition of the line becomes more homogeneous by 1 pp. These results are robust to unobservable heterogeneity in worker ability and line level trends. Production externalities, that induce greater effort through within-network peer effects, can potentially explain our findings.",

author = "Amrita Dhillon and Farzana Afridi and Swati Sharma",

note = "Funding Information: This paper has benefited from suggestions by Ashwini Deshpande, James Fenske, Karla Hoff, Seema Jayachandran, Kaivan Munshi, Anant Nyshadham, Atonu Rabbani, Chris Woodruff. Nikhil Bharadwaj and Karmini Sharma provided exceptional research assistance. We are grateful to two anonymous referees for their feedback. The Policy and Planning Research Unit (PPRU) at ISI , Delhi (No. 870-BM ) (Afridi) and the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), Warwick University (Dhillon) provided financial support for this study. The usual disclaimers apply. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jebo.2023.12.026",

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AU - Dhillon, Amrita

AU - Afridi, Farzana

AU - Sharma, Swati

N1 - Funding Information: This paper has benefited from suggestions by Ashwini Deshpande, James Fenske, Karla Hoff, Seema Jayachandran, Kaivan Munshi, Anant Nyshadham, Atonu Rabbani, Chris Woodruff. Nikhil Bharadwaj and Karmini Sharma provided exceptional research assistance. We are grateful to two anonymous referees for their feedback. The Policy and Planning Research Unit (PPRU) at ISI , Delhi (No. 870-BM ) (Afridi) and the Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE), Warwick University (Dhillon) provided financial support for this study. The usual disclaimers apply. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors

PY - 2024/2

Y1 - 2024/2

N2 - We use high frequency worker level productivity data from garment manufacturing units in India to study the effects of caste-based social networks on individual and group productivity when workers are complements in the production function. Using plausibly exogenous variation in the production lines' caste composition for almost 35,000 worker-days, we find that a 1 percentage point (pp) increase in the share of own caste workers in the line increases daily individual productivity by at least 0.09 pp. The least efficient worker's productivity, however, rises by almost 0.17 pp when the caste composition of the line becomes more homogeneous by 1 pp. These results are robust to unobservable heterogeneity in worker ability and line level trends. Production externalities, that induce greater effort through within-network peer effects, can potentially explain our findings.

AB - We use high frequency worker level productivity data from garment manufacturing units in India to study the effects of caste-based social networks on individual and group productivity when workers are complements in the production function. Using plausibly exogenous variation in the production lines' caste composition for almost 35,000 worker-days, we find that a 1 percentage point (pp) increase in the share of own caste workers in the line increases daily individual productivity by at least 0.09 pp. The least efficient worker's productivity, however, rises by almost 0.17 pp when the caste composition of the line becomes more homogeneous by 1 pp. These results are robust to unobservable heterogeneity in worker ability and line level trends. Production externalities, that induce greater effort through within-network peer effects, can potentially explain our findings.

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SP - 470

EP - 485

JO - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

JF - Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization

ER -

The Ties That Bind Us: Social Networks and Productivity in the Factory

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