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Towards a More Comprehensive Model of Firms' Human Capital Rents

The Academy of Management Review

Published online on

Abstract

Strategic human capital research has recently expanded to encompass other types of labor market frictions in addition to those posed by firm specific human capital. Labor market frictions inhibit trade in human capital, allowing firms that are idiosyncratically advantaged with respect to a particular friction to appropriate human capital rents. Adding to this nascent conversation, this paper describes how idiosyncratic firm resources and capabilities enable firms to garner human capital rents. By explicitly distinguishing between value creation and value capture, which together drive firm level human capital rents, this paper's theoretic framework uncovers overlooked circumstances where firms' pursuit of human capital rents differ in important ways. Theoretic propositions and implications to guide future research are discussed.