Trust-based working time and organizational performance: evidence from German establishment-level panel data

This paper empirically examines the impact of trust-based working time on firm performance using panel data from German establishments. Trust-based working time is a human resource management practice that involves a high degree of worker autonomy in terms of scheduling individual working time. From the theoretical viewpoint, trust-based working time may affect worker motivation positively as well as negatively. Therefore, at the establishment level the performance effects of trust-based working time remain an open question. The analysis shows that both establishment productivity and profitability increase with the diffusion of trust-based working time. Referring only to establishments with trust-based working time arrangements, both performance effects are estimated at about 1-2 percent, while in the full sample both performance effects are stronger ranging between about 2.5 and 5 percent.