数字服务投入、行业竞争程度与劳动力要素错配

Digital Service Input,Industry Competition,and Labor Factor Misallocation

借数字化变革契机,推动先进制造业和现代服务业深度融合是中国应对劳动力要素优势渐趋弱化的重要途径。本文从制造业投入数字服务化视角,以互补理论和不完全信息理论作为分析基础,探讨企业数字服务投入对劳动力要素错配的非线性影响,以及行业竞争程度所起的调节作用。研究发现,伴随数字服务投入增加,会产生企业数字服务的“初始投入期”“内化调整期”“深度利用期”,相应阶段劳动力要素错配呈现先缓解、再加剧、再度缓解的演变特征;行业竞争程度有助于改善劳动力要素错配,但与数字服务投入的交互作用为负;国外来源数字服务、资本(技术)密集型企业、信息技术服务在改善劳动力要素错配上更为有效。本文建议加大力度利用数字服务深化企业专业分工、优化劳动力技能结构,以持续改善劳动力要素错配。

In the context of the gradual weakening of China's labor comparative advantage,the development of the digital service industry plays an important role in improving the quality and efficiency of the manufacturing industry.What is the impact of digital services on the allocation efficiency of non-service input factors in the manufacturing industry? It is of great significance to focus on the impact of digital service input on labor factor distortion.From the perspective of digital servitization of the manufacturing industry,this paper takes complementary theory and incomplete information as the basis of analysis,and integrates enterprise behavior and industry competition into a unified analytical framework.By applying the financial report data of listed companies in China's manufacturing industry and the world input-output tables,this paper measures the digital service input and labor factor misallocation indicators at the manufacturing enterprise level from 2007 to 2018.Through constructing a dynamic semiparametric partial linear model,this paper empirically analyzes the nonlinear impact of digital service input on the labor factor misallocation and the moderating effect of industry competition.As for the influence mechanism of digital service input on labor factor distortion,from the perspective of internal operation and management of enterprises,digital service leads to changes in the efficiency of labor factor allocation by empowering manufacturing enterprises to upgrade their production methods.At the same time,from the perspective of the external information environment of enterprises,industry competition reflects the cognition of enterprises on the market information environment.The impact of the falling profits negatively affects the enterprise investment in digital services,thus producing a moderating effect.Combined with the cost structure for the unit product,as the coordination cost belongs to the category of enterprise transaction cost,the production cost is generally higher than the labor coordination cost.With the continuous penetration of digital service input,the reduction effect of the professional division of labor generated by digital service through the channel of labor productivity will dominate,resulting in the aggravation of the labor factor misallocation.When the investment in digital service is further increased and the integration with entity enterprises is deepened,the quality of digital service plays a positive role in optimizing the labor skill structure;especially,for industries with high communication and collaboration requirements,the effect of improving the labor factor misallocation will be more prominent.The findings of this paper show that there is a significantly nonlinear relationship between digital service input and the labor factor misallocation.With the gradual increase of digital service input,there will be the “initial input period”,“internalized adjustment period” and “deep utilization period”.Corresponding to each stage,the labor factor misallocation shows the evolution characteristics of first alleviating,then aggravating,and then alleviating again.Industry competition helps to improve labor factor misallocation,but the interaction with digital service input is negative.Heterogeneity and extended analyses show that digital services of foreign sources,capital-and technology-intensive enterprises,and information technology services are more effective in alleviating the labor factor misallocation.Strengthening the use of digital services to deepen the professional division of labor and optimize the structure of labor skills are main ways to alleviate the labor factor misallocation.The conclusion of this paper reveals the internal and external conditions of digital services to alleviate the labor factor misallocation,which can provide reference for the digital transformation of Chinese manufacturing enterprises.