Job Rotation as a Learning Mechanism

This article analyzes the costs and benefits of job rotation as a mechanism with which the firm can learn about the employees' productivities and the profitability of different jobs or activities. I compare job rotation to an assignment policy where employees specialize in one job along their career. The gains from adopting a job rotation policy are larger when there is more prior uncertainty about employees and activities. I argue that this firm learning theory fits the existing evidence on rotation better than alternative explanations based on employee motivation and employee learning.

• 저널Management Science · 47(10) · 1361–1370
• 토픽Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Economics and Econometrics
• DOI10.1287/mnsc.47.10.1361.10257
• 저자Jaime Ortega