Nordic success may partly be caused by the autonomy and learning capabilities of the employees

In my post on the Norwegian Puzzle – i.e. the fact that Norway is one of the richest and most productive countries in the world in spite of seemingly low R&D investments — I pointed out that there may be socio-cultural explanations for the Norwegian ability to innovate and modernize.

However, I also noted that we have no statistics that can underpin such arguments.

It actually turns out that we have!

In a chapter in a forthcoming book from Edgar (Caraianniss, Kaloudis og Mariussen 2008) Åge Mariussen of NIFU STEP will present research based on the European Working Condition Survey.

In this survey approximately 1000 employed or self-employed in each country are asked about their work (27 countries all in all).

They are for instance asked about who determines the pace of work.

“At this point,” Åge points out, “most Nordics (73% in Denmark, 78% in Norway) say that some external actor, such as the customer, determines their deadlines, as opposed to 68% in the entire EU27. In a somewhat more restricted form of work organization, which may have similarities to a hierarchical organization, one would expect the boss (a superior) to be monitoring progress.”

The percentage of Europeans reporting that their boss is monitoring their progress (35.7% in EU27, 47% in UK) is indeed much higher than in the Nordic area. (Sweden, 16.4%, Finland 15.5%.)

Åge argues that autonomous actors more easily will learning new things and apply new ideas at work, thus making the organization more flexible and innovative:

“On the question of whether you are learning new things as a part of the main job, 90% of the Finns and 89.3% of the Swedes agree, (with Danes and Norwegians right behind). as opposed to just 66% of the Germans and 69% of respondents in the EU27.”

Nordics are also allowed to apply their own ideas at work to a greater extent than other Europeans.

Based on these questions, Åge has developed a composite indicator for “market learning”, consisting on indicators for

• Pace of work determined by customers
• Pace of work determined by boss
• Learning new things at work
• Applying own ideas at work
• Paid training during last 12 months

Here is a figure that summarizes these findings (courtesy of Åge):

The fact that Norway is in the upper right hand side of the quadrant means that Norway is the most wealthy economy AND that the workers display a high level of learning and autonomy.

Norway’s high ranking as regards GDP is partly caused by high petroleum prizes. Still, the figure tells us that countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Denmark have something in common that probably influences their wealth creation.

So, it seems we have documentation underpinning one of the hypotheses explaining the Norwegian Puzzle.