Yiu, Shun, Rob Seamans, Manav Raj, and Ted Liu*. Strategic Responses to Technological Change: Evidence from ChatGPT and Upwork

Revise and Resubmit at Organization Science.

[SSRN]

Abstract

AI technologies affect labor markets by reducing the demand for some skills while increasing demand for others. Such changes may have important implications for the ways in which workers seek jobs and position themselves. In this project, we examine how freelancers changed their strategic behavior on an online work platform following the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. We first document changes in behaviors by incumbent freelancers on the platform, presenting evidence that, in response to technological change, freelancers bid on fewer jobs and were more likely to reposition themselves by changing their work specialization, differentiating their distribution of bids relative to their prior behavior, and embracing AI. We then explore how freelancer experience and skill level shaped those actions. Relative to their peers, both higher-skilled and more-experienced freelancers were quicker to embrace AI and less likely to differentiate post-ChatGPT. Further, because ChatGPT enables new entry and increases competition, both higher-skilled and more-experienced freelancers bid for a smaller percentage of high-value jobs. We integrate our results to develop contributions to the literature that examines workers’ supply-side responses to technological change. 

Yiu, Shun, Matthew Bidwell, and JR Keller. Pipelines and Sprinkler Systems: Documenting the Speed/Flexibility Tradeoff In How Jobs Shape Promotion

Conditional Accept at Academy of Management Journal.

Abstract

Internal human capital pipelines are defined as a sequenced flow, repeated over time, of people between specific pairs of jobs. We explore the implications of these internal pipelines for individual careers. We argue that mobility patterns within large organizations can combine pipelines of repeated moves between particular jobs with much more diffuse patterns of moves out of other jobs. We demonstrate the importance of job-level structures such as pipelines by showing that the extent to which people make typical versus atypical moves is largely shaped by job-level rather than individual-level characteristics. We further suggest that pipeline jobs create a speed/flexibility tradeoff, as workers within them have less flexibility in where they could move next but are promoted more rapidly. We test these ideas with internal personnel data from a large corporation.

Cappelli, Peter and Shun Yiu (2024). The Future of Recruitment and the Role of Technology. In Allen, D. & Slaughter, J. (Ed.). Essentials of Employee Recruitment. Routledge.

[Link]