Colleagues for Life? Post-Employment Citizenship among Big 4 Alumni

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Using a sample of 2,533 Big 4 alumni, we examine factors associated with alumni's proclivity to benefit their former firm (post-employment citizenship). Based on social exchange theory, we predict and find that alumni who perceive their firm treated them fairly and adequately supported them during their time with the firm are more inclined to engage in post-employment citizenship. We provide theoretical and practical contributions to the literature by also investigating the role of post-employment experiences on alumni's commitment to the firm and citizenship behavior. Although we predict and find that firm commitment decreases after individuals exit the firm, we find that formal and informal alumni outreach activities appear to help mitigate this decline. Although most prior research on public accounting alumni models “alumni affiliation” as a binary trait, we illustrate that the nature and quality of alumni affiliation is variable and identify some of the underlying mechanisms influencing alumni behavior.

Big 4 Alumni's Attitudes and Behavior Toward their Former Firm

“…T his article summarizes the motivation, method, results, and takeaways of a recently published academic study (Cannon, Herda, and Puffer 2019) examining the predictors of Big 4 alumni's propensity to benefit their former firm (e.g., by sending the firm more business). We label alumni's proclivity to benefit their ''alma mater'' firm as post-employment citizenship.…”