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Human Capital and Firm Performance: An Analysis of the Hotel Sector in Majorca

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Impact Assessment in Tourism Economics

Abstract

Many efforts have been devoted in economics literature to discussing the importance of human capital variables in the economic performance of economic agents. In tourism literature, a number of studies have addressed these relationships. However, studies focusing on the direct impact of human capital on firm performance in the industry are scarce. Starting from previous works showing the positive correlation between human capital, innovation and some performance indicators for a representative sample of hotels in Majorca, this paper expands the analysis by means of an econometric approach. The results show that different education and training variables, and also the manager’s attitude towards human capital, positively impact most of the performance indicators analyzed, even when other key variables such as quality and size are controlled for. These impacts, however, are very much dependent on the performance indicators used, and the results cannot be generalized. Thus, it can be affirmed that human capital variables are important competitive elements in the hotel industry.

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Correspondence to María Tugores .

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García, D., Tugores, M. (2016). Human Capital and Firm Performance: An Analysis of the Hotel Sector in Majorca. In: Matias, Á., Nijkamp, P., Romão, J. (eds) Impact Assessment in Tourism Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14920-2_8

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