Abstract
This paper aims to study the impact of salesperson human capital investment on the export performance of heterogeneous enterprises in China. To distinguish the different effects on the staff level and the management level, we define the human capital investment for the overall salespersons as human capital investment I and the human capital investment for the sales managers as human capital investment II, respectively measured by the salary of the ordinary salespersons and the ratio of expenses to sales. We find that human capital investment I has a significant positive effect on export performance, while human capital investment II shows a “positive U-shaped” relationship with export performance. Considering the heterogeneity of enterprise, the positive effect of human capital investment I is more significant than that of human capital investment II in enterprises with high R&D intensity. Moreover, with the improvement of technology intensity, both the promotion of human capital investment I and human capital investment II would generate greater influence on export performance.
Highlights
The export competitiveness is closely related to the export performance for export enterprises engaged in international trade
This study examines the linkage between salesperson human capital investment and export performance for Chinese A-share listed enterprises during the period 2011−2015
The human capital investment on salespersons is divided into the human capital investment I on overall salespersons, represented by the salesperson salary, and the human capital investment II on sales managers, calculated by the ratio of expenses to sales
Summary
The export competitiveness is closely related to the export performance for export enterprises engaged in international trade. With the deepening of international trade and the continuous improvement of the productivity level, enterprises no longer rely solely on the input of cheap labor force and natural resources to gain the export competitiveness. Instead, they pay more attention to exporting products with high knowledge intensity and high technology added value. Enterprises engaged in labor-intensive industries are gradually shrinking around the world They struggle to survive in the international market by transformation into technology-intensive enterprises so as to obtain a higher export competitive advantage.
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