Employee Mobility and Organizational Outcomes

Abstract

A large and growing literature spanning multiple fields has identified employee mobility as a critical influence on several important organizational outcomes. However, extant research on the topic is highly fragmented and lacks a unifying theoretical framework, impeding the development of a cumulative conceptually integrated body of research. We seek to remedy this situation by undertaking a review of research on employee mobility and its organizational impacts and casting it within a novel integrative conceptual framework. As a critical foundation for this framework, we highlight how the various organizational impacts of employee mobility are ultimately engendered by different dimensions of human and/or relational capital that are conveyed by mobile individuals. Building on this foundation, we describe how multilevel contextual factors-characterized as attributes of the employee, source and destination firms, and environmental conditions-may moderate the transfer and utilization of human and rela- IntroductionOver the last two decades, a significant research literature has emerged about the interorganizational movement of personnel and its substantial individual-level, organizational, and societal impacts. Inquiry into this phenomenon has spanned diverse fields, including economics, human resource management (HRM), strategic management, and sociology. However, while each of these respective research streams has provided valuable insights into the antecedents and consequences of the interorganizational movements of talent, the result is a research literature on employee mobility that is highly fragmented and disorganized.Despite its lack of coherence, literature on employee mobility is of particular interest to strategy and management scholars because the interorganizational movement of personnel affects important organizational outcomes, such as innovation (e.g., Rao & Drazin, 2002;Song, Almeida, & Wu, 2003), learning (e.g., Singh & Agrawal, 2011), capability acquisition and divestiture (e.g., Agarwal, Echambadi, Franco, & Sarkar, 2004), market entry (Boeker, 1997), relationship management (e.g., Broschak, 2004;Carnahan & Somaya, 2013;Somaya, Williamson, & Lorinkova, 2008), and even firm failure (e.g., Phillips, 2002;Wezel, Cattani, & Pennings, 2006). Building on Arrow's observation that the "mobility of personnel among firms provides a way of spreading information" (1962: 615), both scholars and industry practitioners alike have recognized that successfully navigating the market for human resources (HR) can be an important driver of firm competitive advantage (Barney, 1991;Cappelli, 2000;Gardner, 2002;Michaels, Handfield-Jones, & Axelrod, 2001).Moreover, ongoing technological, societal, and economic changes are accelerating the tendency for employees to switch employers (Cappelli, 2000;Henderson & Bierman, 2009) and increasing the intensity with which firms compete over high caliber talent (Coff, 1997;Gardner, 2005). Additionally, employees have become increasingly strategic in managing their careers by buildi...

Is Human Capital Related to Voluntary Turnover in U.S. State Governments? Evidence from the State of Oklahoma

“…Human capital consists of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are innately embedded within individuals (McGregor, 1991), and theory asserts that it can also be cultivated through various managerial inputs, such as training and continuing education (Green & Roberts, 2012;Herremans & Isaac, 2004). In addition, a substantial body of literature suggests that human capital is associated with positive organizational performance outcomes at multiple levels (McGregor, 1991;Becker, 1964;Ndinguri, Prieto, & Machtmes, 2012;Hollenbeck & Jamieson, 2015;Mawdsley & Somaya, 2016). Logically, then, organizations are incentivized to acquire and develop human capital stock in order to achieve competitive advantages and optimal performance levels.…”

“…Though scholarship generally acknowledges that acquiring and developing human capital can prove advantageous, under certain contexts, private sector focused research has developed suggesting that unintended organizational consequences can arise as well. In particular, as organizations grow their human capital stock, through both internal and external strategies, they may also inadvertently increase their risk of employee turnover (Mawdsley & Somaya, 2016). It is important to emphasize, however, the literature linking human capital to employee mobility is exclusively private sector focused.…”

“…By doing so, employees increase their own personal value within their employing organization, as well as in the general workforce, while simultaneously increasing their likelihood of internal and external job mobility (Wei, 2014;Wright, Tartari, Huang, Di Lorenzo, & Bercovitz, 2018;Flaherty Manchester, 2012). As a result, research suggests that employees have become increasingly deliberate in managing their careers and developing their own human capital (Mawdsley & Somaya, 2016). Indeed, the monetary rewards and other career benefits associated with positions that necessitate higher levels of human capital provide significant incentives for individuals to gravitate toward such positions, either internally or externally (Lepak & Snell, 1999).…”

“…In addition, human capital levels can be further developed through strategic human capital management practices, such as training, professional development, continuing education, and mentorship initiatives (Delery & Roumpi, 2017). ISSN 2377-3294 2020 But despite the competing theoretical frameworks and measurement challenges surrounding employee human capital, Mawdsley and Somaya (2016) generally conclude, through an expansive review of the private sector employee mobility literature, that human capital holds a significant and positive relationship with voluntary turnover. Assuredly, such a relationship poses substantial implications for organizational performance and warrants further empirical investigation in the public sector, given the consequences that are associated with human capital loss through voluntary turnover (Shaw et al, 2013).…”

Development of human capital in the context of improving processes in the enterprise

“…In literature, human capital is defined in a rather broad way, taking into account different criteria, perspectives and scale. An overview of available theories allows to conclude that human capital:  is a set of specific features and properties embodied in employees that have a certain value and are a source of future income for both the employee -the owner of human capital, and for the organization that uses certain capital on certain terms [9],  is the main source of value and the factor determining the competitive position and is the only type of capital that can add to itself and by itself [10],  includes combined knowledge and innovation of employees [11], competencies important in business [12], social and personal skills [13], physical, mental, intellectual and moral characteristics shaped by predispositions and internal motivation [14], innate human abilities, specific behavioral patterns and personal energy of the employee [15],  is used as a result of synergic impact of ability, experience, creativity [6],  relates strongly to performance, especially when the human capital in question is not readily tradable in labor markets and when researchers use operational performance measures that are not subject to profit appropriation [16], requires shaping appropriate attitudes of employees [17], takes into account intellectual attributes, commitment, behaviour ethics, leadership and other social predispositions to specific organizational behaviours [8],  uses both the ability to analyze and synthesise [18] leading to the development and introduction of innovations in the enterprise [19],  cannot become the property of an enterprise because it is closely related to specific persons, it only remains in its temporary disposal [11]. The value of human capital depends to a large extent on the level of employees' involvement, the degree to which they want to and can use their own potential to achieve the company's goals.…”