Domkina O. Estimation of risks of investment in the development of the personnel of a firm.

The dissertation is dedicated to the research of theoretical and practical aspects of risks of investment in the development of the personnel of a firm in the information technology sector. It improves the definition of the risk of investment in personnel. In particular, three main factors of risk are singled out: related to the employee, firm, and external environment. Different methodological approaches to risk assessment are analyzed and it is determined that the most appropriate methods for the evaluation of the risks of investment in staff development in the current circumstances are expert methods. The estimation of risks of investment in the development of human capital of a firm is based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process that includes a pairwise comparison of risk factors to determine their importance. It is found that the most important source of the risks of investment in staff development in information technology sector is deficiencies of the firm's activity in the HR and general management areas. The model of estimation of the risks of investment in the development of the human capital is implemented at five IT companies, and each one has been graded with an average level of risk. The following practical improvement measures for decreasing the risks of investment in the personnel of a firm are proposed and justified: introduction of effective management approaches; application of the general-purpose risk-management methods; improvement of the risk estimation process; social partnership-based cooperation.