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Can They Take It With Them? The Portability of Star Knowledge Workers' Performance

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Boris Groysberg

    ()

    (Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163)

  • Linda-Eling Lee

    ()

    (Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163)

  • Ashish Nanda

    ()

    (Harvard Law School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138)

Registered author(s):

    Abstract

    This paper examines the portability of star security analysts' performance. Star analysts who switched employers experienced an immediate decline in performance that persisted for at least five years. This decline was most pronounced among star analysts who moved to firms with lesser capabilities and those who moved solo, without other team members. Star analysts who moved between two firms with equivalent capabilities also exhibited a drop in performance, but only for two years. Those who switched to firms with better capabilities and those who moved with other team members exhibited no significant decline in short-term or long-term performance. These findings suggest that firm-specific skills and firms' capabilities both play important roles in star analysts' performance. In addition, we find that firms that hire star analysts from competitors with better capabilities suffered more extreme negative stock-market reactions than those that hire from comparable or lesser firms. These findings suggest that hiring stars may be perceived as value destroying and may not improve a firm's competitive advantage.

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    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1070.0809
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    Article provided by INFORMS in its journal Management Science.

    Volume (Year): 54 (2008)
    Issue (Month): 7 (July)
    Pages: 1213-1230

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    Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:54:y:2008:i:7:p:1213-1230
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    Keywords: firm-specific performance; team-specific performance; firm capabilities; productivity; mobility; knowledge workers;

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    Cited by:

    1. Klein, Peter G. & Mahoney, Joseph T. & McGahan, Anita M. & Pitelis, Christos N., 2012. "Who Is in Charge? A Property Rights Perspective on Stakeholder Governance," Working Papers 12-0102, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    2. Jasjit Singh & Ajay Agrawal, 2011. "Recruiting for Ideas: How Firms Exploit the Prior Inventions of New Hires," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 129-150, January.
    3. Zhang, Gupeng & Duan, Hongbo & Zhou, Jianghua, 2017. "Network stability, connectivity and innovation output," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 339-349.
    4. Han, Xue & Niosi, Jorge, 2016. "Star scientists in PV technology and the limits of academic entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(5), pages 1707-1711.
    5. Shad Morris & Scott Snell & Ingmar Björkman, 2016. "An architectural framework for global talent management," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(6), pages 723-747, August.
    6. Chen, Pao-Lien & Tan, Danchi & Jean, Ruey-Jer “Bryan”, 2016. "Foreign knowledge acquisition through inter-firm collaboration and recruitment: Implications for domestic growth of emerging market firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 221-232.
    7. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier.
    8. Bradley, Daniel & Choi, Hyung-Suk & Clarke, Jonathan, 2011. "Working for the enemy? The impact of investment banker job changes on deal flow," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 585-596, September.
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    12. Bäker, Agnes, 2015. "Non-tenured post-doctoral researchers’ job mobility and research output: An analysis of the role of research discipline, department size, and coauthors," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 634-650.
    13. Agrawal, Ajay & McHale, John & Oettl, Alexander, 2017. "How stars matter: Recruiting and peer effects in evolutionary biology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 853-867.
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    18. Hohberger, Jan, 2016. "Does it pay to stand on the shoulders of giants? An analysis of the inventions of star inventors in the biotechnology sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 682-698.
    19. Godechot, Olivier, 2013. "Can the immobile stop the mobile?," economic sociology_the european electronic newsletter, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 14(3), pages 27-33.

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