Toward a More Comprehensive Model of Firms’ Human Capital Rents

Abstract

Strategic human capital research has recently expanded to encompass other types of labor market frictions in addition to those posed by firm-specific human capital. Labor market frictions inhibit trade in human capital, allowing firms that are idiosyncratically advantaged with respect to a particular friction to appropriate human capital rents. Adding to this nascent conversation, I describe how idiosyncratic firm resources and capabilities enable firms to garner human capital rents. By explicitly distinguishing between value creation and value capture, which together drive firm-level human capital rents, this article’s theoretical framework uncovers overlooked circumstances where firms’ pursuit of human capital rents differ in important ways. I discuss theoretic propositions and implications to guide future research.