Abstract
This article extends research on the relationship between employee mobility and firm performance by exploring how mobility between competitors and mobility between potential cooperators are different. We draw on social capital theory to argue that movement of employees both to and from clients may enhance firm performance, whereas only inward mobility from competitors benefits firms. We also hypothesize that it is more harmful for firms to lose social capital-laden human assets to competitors than to other potential employee destinations. We tested our hypotheses with a novel dyadic data set of patent attorney movements between law firms and Fortune 500 companies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 936-953 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Academy of Management Journal |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2008 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Business and International Management
- General Business, Management and Accounting
- Strategy and Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation