The present work aims to provide further evidence on the relationship between firms innovation activities and working conditions. The literature on such a topic, although quite scanty, has proved to be lively recently, and it is mainly focused on the linkages between organizational innovation and workers' well being, given the increasing concern about the effects of 'new work practices' or 'high performance work practices' on working condition. During the 1990s several economists and managerial scholars pointed to the positive effects on workers from the introduction of new forms of work and production organization; however, some more recent studies highlight its potential negative effects. On this basis we mainly investigate the effects of organizational changes and firm level industrial relations climate on workers' well being for two Italian local production systems, Reggio Emilia and Modena, with the further aim of not to overlook other aspects of firms' innovation activity, often neglected in previous studies. The information used come from two unique datasets.
The empirical results point to a general positive impact of organizational changes on working conditions, although with some exception. Other innovation activities in training, ICT and technological areas are positively related, when significant, with the indexes of working conditions as well.
Finally, we confirm the relationship between cooperative industrial relations at firm level and workers well being for both the local production systems.