Consolidation processes of human capital in modern economic growth dynamics: an estimate based on the role of European corporate e-learning activities

AbstractIn contemporary knowledge society the contribution of highly skilled human capital has become essential in those processes which aim to achieve high efficiency in input-output relationship. This therefore is a key factor being able to take advantage of high and integrated technologies into work activities, along with a workforce characterized by high levels of education and training. But the growing attention to these two forms of productive capital, tested in many empirical studies which analyze the dynamics of modern economic growth, each requiring specific and continuous investments, is also addressed in the order of another dimension instrumental to the first one. We refer to the activities of lifelong learning, and in particular to the innovative corporate e-learning activities, which have developed considerably over the last decade. The use of new technologies in the processes of education and on-the-job training would make possible to reach more advanced levels of human capital and more efficient knowledge management, with significant savings in variable costs compared to traditional education and training techniques. However these virtuous processes need initial fixed investments, and for this reason it is useful to observe the impact on the growth paths and development of the countries in which they have incurred. In this respect, our analysis focuses in particular on the relationship between European corporate e-learning activities and the active population's education levels, and afterward we observe the relationship between these variables and trend of economic growth. The first analytical approach is crucial to track how much education can be affected by new technologies applied on training, focusing mainly on the study of elearning systems implemented by Italian enterprises. To achieve our goal we resort to the use of multivariate analysis in order to identify the ranking of countries according to their apply of corporate e-learning activities. A second approach refers to the differentiation of countries using on-the-job training systems and the dynamics of economic growth, also focusing on the evolution of corporate e-learning in order to configure the current state and carry out a potential trend estimate