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Does Employing Skilled Immigrants Enhance Competitive Performance? Evidence from European Football Clubs

Author

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  • Britta Glennon

    (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104; and National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138)

  • Francisco Morales

    (Universidad de los Andes, Santiago 7610685, Chile)

  • Seth Carnahan

    (Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

  • Exequiel Hernández

    (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104)

Abstract

We investigate the effect of employing skilled immigrants on the competitive performance of organizations by studying European football (soccer) clubs in Germany, Italy, France, England, and Spain from 1990 to 2020. Microdata from this setting offers unusual transparency about players’ birthplaces and their contributions to organizational performance. Further, country-level rules govern how many immigrant players clubs can deploy. Using changes to these rules as the basis for instrumental variables, we find that the number of immigrant players in the club’s starting lineup has a positive local average treatment effect on the club’s performance. We show that this occurs for two related reasons. First, immigrants exhibit higher individual talent. Second, immigrants play a coordinating role that enables the organization to broaden the variety of on-field strategies and actions it uses to outperform rivals. The latter mechanism is novel to the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Britta Glennon & Francisco Morales & Seth Carnahan & Exequiel Hernández, 2025. "Does Employing Skilled Immigrants Enhance Competitive Performance? Evidence from European Football Clubs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(7), pages 5746-5766, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:71:y:2025:i:7:p:5746-5766
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2021.03356
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