IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp2118.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Poaching, raids, and managerial compensation

Author

Listed:
  • Yi Chen
  • Fabiano Dal-Ri
  • Thomas Jungbauer
  • Daniela Scur

Abstract

This paper presents a model of employee poaching with asymmetric employer learning. Firms poach managers not only due to their track record but also for their personnel-specific information about workers. In equilibrium, more productive firms poach managers, whose compensation increases in the quality of their information about workers. While poaching reassigns more able workers to more productive firms, efficiency does not obtain due to information frictions. Drawing on the universe of contracts in Brazil's formal labor market, we test implications of our model and show they are consistent with manager and worker movements and their compensation histories.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi Chen & Fabiano Dal-Ri & Thomas Jungbauer & Daniela Scur, 2025. "Poaching, raids, and managerial compensation," CEP Discussion Papers dp2118, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp2118.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Dustmann & Albrecht Glitz & Uta Schönberg & Herbert Brücker, 2016. "Referral-based Job Search Networks," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 514-546.
    2. Lori Beaman & Jeremy Magruder, 2012. "Who Gets the Job Referral? Evidence from a Social Networks Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3574-3593, December.
    3. Jan Eeckhout & Philipp Kircher, 2011. "Identifying Sorting--In Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 78(3), pages 872-906.
    4. Lucia Foster & John Haltiwanger & Chad Syverson, 2008. "Reallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(1), pages 394-425, March.
    5. Chad Syverson, 2004. "Market Structure and Productivity: A Concrete Example," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1181-1222, December.
    6. John M. Abowd & Francis Kramarz & David N. Margolis, 1999. "High Wage Workers and High Wage Firms," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 67(2), pages 251-334, March.
    7. Daniel Ferreira & Radoslawa Nikolowa, 2023. "Talent Discovery and Poaching Under Asymmetric Information," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(649), pages 201-234.
    8. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.
    9. Michael Lipsitz & Evan Starr, 2022. "Low-Wage Workers and the Enforceability of Noncompete Agreements," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 143-170, January.
    10. Stephen V. Burks & Bo Cowgill & Mitchell Hoffman & Michael Housman, 2015. "The Value of Hiring through Employee Referrals," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 805-839.
    11. Michael Waldman, 1984. "Job Assignments, Signalling, and Efficiency," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(2), pages 255-267, Summer.
    12. Bruce C. Greenwald, 1986. "Adverse Selection in the Labour Market," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 53(3), pages 325-347.
    13. Stefan Bender & Nicholas Bloom & David Card & John Van Reenen & Stefanie Wolter, 2018. "Management Practices, Workforce Selection, and Productivity," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 371-409.
    14. Oriana Bandiera & Iwan Barankay & Imran Rasul, 2009. "Social Connections and Incentives in the Workplace: Evidence From Personnel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(4), pages 1047-1094, July.
    15. repec:cdl:indrel:qt3kh1x11r is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Liyan Shi, 2023. "Optimal Regulation of Noncompete Contracts," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(2), pages 425-463, March.
    17. Robert Gibbons & Michael Waldman, 1999. "A Theory of Wage and Promotion Dynamics Inside Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1321-1358.
    18. Matt Marx & Bram Timmermans, 2017. "Hiring Molecules, Not Atoms: Comobility and Wages," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(6), pages 1115-1133, December.
    19. Conrad Miller & Ian Schmutte, 2021. "The Dynamics of Referral Hiring and Racial Inequality: Evidence from Brazil," Upjohn Working Papers 21-352, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    20. Ferreira, Daniel & Nikolowa, Radoslawa, 2023. "Talent discovery and poaching under asymmetric information," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116044, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    21. Tavis Barr & Raicho Bojilov & Lalith Munasinghe, 2019. "Referrals and Search Efficiency: Who Learns What and When?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(4), pages 1267-1300.
    22. Natarajan Balasubramanian & Jin Woo Chang & Mariko Sakakibara & Jagadeesh Sivadasan & Evan Starr, 2022. "Locked In? The Enforceability of Covenants Not to Compete and the Careers of High-Tech Workers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(S), pages 349-396.
    23. Meta Brown & Elizabeth Setren & Giorgio Topa, 2016. "Do Informal Referrals Lead to Better Matches? Evidence from a Firm's Employee Referral System," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 161-209.
    24. Prendergast, Canice & Topel, Robert H, 1996. "Favoritism in Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 958-978, October.
    25. Rachel Heath, 2018. "Why Do Firms Hire Using Referrals? Evidence from Bangladeshi Garment Factories," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1691-1746.
    26. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Mitchell Hoffman & Nick Zubanov, 2023. "What Do Employee Referral Programs Do? Measuring the Direct and Overall Effects of a Management Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 633-686.
    27. Milgrom, Paul R & Weber, Robert J, 1982. "A Theory of Auctions and Competitive Bidding," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(5), pages 1089-1122, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Emre Ekinci, 2022. "Monetary rewards in employee referral programs," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 90(1), pages 35-58, January.
    2. Dariel, Aurelie & Riedl, Arno & Siegenthaler, Simon, 2021. "Referral hiring and wage formation in a market with adverse selection," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 109-130.
    3. Guido Friebel & Matthias Heinz & Mitchell Hoffman & Nick Zubanov, 2023. "What Do Employee Referral Programs Do? Measuring the Direct and Overall Effects of a Management Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(3), pages 633-686.
    4. Eliason, Marcus & Hensvik, Lena & Kramarz, Francis & Skans, Oskar Nordström, 2023. "Social connections and the sorting of workers to firms," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 233(2), pages 468-506.
    5. Benjamin Lester & David A. Rivers & Giorgio Topa, 2021. "The Heterogeneous Impact of Referrals on Labor Market Outcomes," Working Papers 21-34, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Osman, Adam & Speer, Jamin D. & Weaver, Andrew, 2022. "Connections, Referrals, and Hiring Outcomes: Evidence from an Egyptian Establishment Survey," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 342-355.
    8. Abi Adams-Prassl & Kristiina Huttunen & Emily Nix & Ning Zhang, 2024. "Violence against Women at Work," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 139(2), pages 937-991.
    9. Eliason, Marcus & Hensvik, Lena & Kramarz, Francis & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2017. "The causal impact of social Connections on firms' outcomes," Working Paper Series 2017:11, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Hederos, Karin & Sandberg, Anna & Kvissberg, Lukas & Polano, Erik, 2025. "Gender homophily in job referrals: Evidence from a field study among university students," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    11. Emma Lappi, 2023. "Help from the past—coworker ties and entry wages after self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1171-1196, March.
    12. Kramarz, Francis & Eliason, Marcus & Hensvik, Lena & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2017. "The Causal Impact of Social Connections on Firms’ Outcomes," CEPR Discussion Papers 12135, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Martin Chegere & Paolo Falco & Andreas Menzel, 2023. "Social Ties at Work and Effort Choice: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp763, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    14. Marie Lalanne, 2021. "Social Networks and Job Referrals in Recruitment," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 652, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    15. Gürtzgen, Nicole & Pohlan, Laura, 2024. "Do employers learn more from referrals than from other recruitment channels?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    16. Moon, Ji-Woong, 2023. "Strategic referrals and on-the-job search equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 135-151.
    17. Eric Bartelsman & Sabien Dobbelaere & Alessandro Zona Mattioli, 2024. "Non-Compete Agreements, Tacit Knowledge and Market Imperfections," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-055/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Chegere, Martin J. & Falco, Paolo & Menzel, Andreas, 2024. "Social ties at work and effort choice: Experimental evidence from Tanzania," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    19. María Paz Espinosa & Jaromír Kovárík & Sofía Ruíz-Palazuelos, 2021. "Are close-knit networks good for employment?," Working Papers 21.06, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    20. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    21. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.