The impact of Middle Manager Training on productivity: a test on Italian companies

This paper presents panel evidence on the productivity effects of middle managers’ off-the-job formal training in Italy. It is based on a rich and reliable panel dataset covering all sectors of the Italian economy over the period 2006-2011. We employ panel data techniques and self selection models to show that off-the-job formal training for middle management has a significant non-linear exogenous effect on total factor productivity. Moreover, results indicate that middle manager’s off-the-job formal training is more effective in larger firms and that different training methods have heterogeneous effects on productivity.