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Which boundaries? How mobility networks across countries and status groups affect the creative performance of organizations

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  • Andrew Shipilov
  • Frédéric C. Godart
  • Julien Clement

Abstract

Research summary: Losing key employees to competitors allows an organization to engage in external boundary‐spanning activities. It may benefit the organization through access to external knowledge, but may also increase the risks of leaking knowledge to competitors. We propose that the destination of departed employees is a crucial contingency: benefits or risks only materialize when employees leave for competitors that differ from the focal organization along significant dimensions, such as country or status group. In the context of the global fashion industry, we find that key employees' moves to foreign competitors may increase (albeit at a diminishing rate) their former employers' creative performance. Furthermore, firms may suffer from losing key employees to higher‐ or same‐status competitors, but may benefit from losing them to lower‐status competitors. Managerial summary: Losing key employees to competitors can provide organizations with access to external knowledge, but increase risks of leaking knowledge to competitors. We find that an organization's access to external knowledge and its risks of knowledge leakage through employee mobility may be affected by whether its employees leave for competitors in a foreign country or in a different status group. In the context of the global fashion industry, we show that key employees' moves to foreign competitors increase (up to a point) their former employers' creative performance. Furthermore, firms may suffer from losing key employees to higher‐ or same‐status competitors, but benefit from losing them to lower‐status competitors. Hence, executives in creative industries and possibly beyond could welcome losing employees to competitors in foreign countries or to lower‐status competitors. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Andrew Shipilov & Frédéric C. Godart & Julien Clement, 2017. "Which boundaries? How mobility networks across countries and status groups affect the creative performance of organizations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 1232-1252, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:stratm:v:38:y:2017:i:6:p:1232-1252
    DOI: 10.1002/smj.2602
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    4. Yi-Ying Chang & Paul Hughes & Ian Hodgkinson & Che-Yuan Chang & Yi-Tai Seih, 2022. "The antecedents of corporate entrepreneurship: multilevel, multisource evidence," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 355-390, February.
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    6. Dhayanithy, Deepak & Mukherjee, Subhasree, 2020. "Network memory, cultural distance and the ebb and flow of international resources – Evidence from 20 years of professional player transfers to big-five European soccer leagues," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 255-266.
    7. Castellani, Davide & Perri, Alessandra & Scalera, Vittoria G., 2022. "Knowledge integration in multinational enterprises: The role of inventors crossing national and organizational boundaries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(3).
    8. Dharmani, Pranav & Das, Satyasiba & Prashar, Sanjeev, 2021. "A bibliometric analysis of creative industries: Current trends and future directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 252-267.
    9. Ting Liu & Liu Tang, 2020. "Open innovation from the perspective of network embedding: knowledge evolution and development trend," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(2), pages 1053-1080, August.
    10. Namgyoo K. Park & Monica Youngshin Chun & Jeonghwan Lee, 2019. "How Do Mobility Direction and Human Assets of Mobile Engineers Affect Joint Knowledge Creation after M&As?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-21, August.
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