Research Associate in King's Business School

Job ID: 022224

Salary: £38,304 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance

Posted: 07-May-2021

Closing date: 15-Jun-2021

Business unit: King's Business School

Department: Human Resource Management

Contact details: Dr Chiara Benassi , chiara.benassi@kcl.ac.uk

Strand Campus   Research    

Job description
This is an exciting opportunity for a post-doctoral researcher to carry out applied empirical research in comparative political economy within an interdisciplinary team of scholars at King’s College London. The research associate (RA) will support research activities related to the Leverhulme Trust Grant “The Political Economy of Growth Models in an Age of Stagnation”. The RA will be working in a team led by Professor Engelbert Stockhammer, Dr Karsten Kohler, Dr Inga Rademacher (Department of European & International Studies) and Dr Chiara Benassi (King’s Business School). 

The project analyses the institutional and macroeconomic sources of divergent growth performances between Anglo-Saxon, northern, and southern European countries after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. It engages with the recent growth models approach to Comparative Political Economy and combines macroeconomic and institutionalist analyses.
 
The researcher will contribute to Work Package 2 (WP2) led by Dr Chiara Benassi. WP2 explores the institutional origins of divergent export strategies in the recent post-crisis period in Europe: While Northern and Anglo-Saxon countries captured high-quality market shares in manufacturing and services, Southern countries have been competing in more price-sensitive markets. 
 
The working hypotheses is that resilient or shifting labour market institutions as well as skill policies affect dominant human resource practices at the sectoral level and therefore also export performance. The latter is conceptualised through different proxies for (non)price competitiveness: 1) the complexity of products/services; 2) the unit labour costs; 3) the degree and type of sectoral innovation.
 
To test these hypotheses, WP2 unfolds in three steps. First, it identifies distinctive national export profiles in selected EU countries through descriptive empirical analysis. Second, it examines how institutions have contributed to export performance in the post-crisis period through comparative qualitative case studies of selected countries, which are representative of the distinctive export profiles. Third, WP2 explores in greater detail the relationship between labour market institutions and skill policies, on the one hand, and export performance at the sectoral level in different countries on the other hand. It particularly investigates the mediating role of dominant HR practices at sectoral level, such as internal vs. external flexibility, type of training or labour turnover. Cross-country panel regression analysis will be estimated. To conduct the analysis, an industry-level dataset will be built drawing on the cross-national databases as well as on national companies’ surveys.
 
WP2 aims to deliver at least two publications in highly ranked sociology and/or political economy journals.
 
The researcher will be based in the King’s Business School, located in the iconic Bush House in the heart of London, which offers a thriving and interdisciplinary research environment. Given the inter-departmental nature of the project, the researcher is also welcome to attend seminars and other events in the Department of European Studies.
 
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2018 QS World University Rankings) and the fourth oldest university in England, with nearly 30,000 students from some 150 countries, and 8,000 employees. King’s Business School is the ninth and newest faculty having recently emerged out of the renowned School of Management & Business. King’s Business School is a leading research-intensive faculty, a hub for engagement with business, the City, social enterprise, government and the public sector.  
 
This is a full-time, fixed term contract from 01/10/2021 to 31/03/2023 (18 months)

Key responsibilities

• Compile a cross-country dataset from sources such as the OECD, EU-KLEMS and country-level surveys
• Data cleaning and management
• Independently undertake statistical analyses
• Prepare short reports with empirical results
• Contribute to literature review on the role of labour market and skill policy for divergent export performance
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications
• Lead, attend and contribute to relevant meetings
• Maintain good relations with members of the research project and other colleagues, facilitating research, research evaluation and dissemination.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge and experience

Essential criteria

1. PhD (completed or near completion) in sociology, political economy, economics, industrial relations or related field
2. Experience in applied empirical research and data management
3. Good practical knowledge of statistical packages such as Stata or R
4. Interest in comparative labour market research
5. Ability to work independently and as part of a team
6. Excellent written and oral communication skills 

Desirable criteria

1. Familiarity with cross-country panel regression analysis
2. Familiarity with (comparative) institutionalist research

Please note that this is a PhD level role but candidates who have submitted their thesis and are awaiting award of their PhDs will be considered. In these circumstances the appointment will be made at Grade 5, spine point 30 with the title of Research Assistant. Upon confirmation of the award of the PhD, the job title will become Research Associate and the salary will increase to Grade 6.
 
For an informal discussion to find out more about the role please contact Dr Chiara Benassi (chiara.benassi@kcl.ac.uk) 
 
We anticipate to interview candidates on 30th June 2021.