Data Envelopment Analysis Journal > Vol 5 > Issue 1

Organizational Ability and Performance in U.S. Legal Services Firms

Rajiv D. Banker, Fox School of Business, Temple University, USA, banker@temple.edu , Tracie S. Frost, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, tracie.frost@polyu.edu.hk , Muktak K. Tripathi, Fox School of Business, Temple University, USA, muktak.tripathi@temple.edu , Eunyoung Whang, Penn State Abington, USA, Exw20@psu.edu
 
Suggested Citation
Rajiv D. Banker, Tracie S. Frost, Muktak K. Tripathi and Eunyoung Whang (2021), "Organizational Ability and Performance in U.S. Legal Services Firms", Data Envelopment Analysis Journal: Vol. 5: No. 1, pp 83-113. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/103.00000032

Publication Date: 22 Jun 2021
© 2021 R. D. Banker et al.
 
Subjects
Law and Economics,  Performance measurement,  Financial reporting,  Econometric models
 
Keywords
U.S. professional (legal) servicesDEA efficiencyorganizational abilityAmerican Lawyer (AM LAW) Top 100performancestrategic choiceshuman resourcesexperience
 

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In this article:
1 Introduction 
2 Background and Literature 
3 Research Design and Method 
4 Empirical Results 
5 Conclusion 
Appendix I: Sample Procedure 
Appendix II: Variable Definitions 
References 

Abstract

We quantify organizational ability for U.S. legal services firms using the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) method of Demerjian et al. (2013). In the first stage, we estimate the DEA-based, technical efficiency of legal services firms following the production frontier approach. In the second stage, we measure organizational ability as the residual from the DEA + OLS model after controlling for efficiency determinants. We validate the measure by showing the persistence of organizational ability and the predictability of firms' future financial performance. Furthermore, we contribute to the literature examining professional service firms and organizational ability by identifying the determinants of ability through different classes of human resources and experience.

DOI:10.1561/103.00000032