Antecedents and the Consequences of Employee Mobility: Constraints, Networks, and Learning

Donghwi Seo

doi:10.17918/00000350

This dissertation investigates the antecedents and consequences of employee mobility with regard to three factors: constraints, networks, and learning. To do so, in Chapter 3, I examine the impact of mobility constraints as a significant antecedent hindering employee mobility on a firm's exploratory innovation. By acknowledging the distinct networks embedded in the organization-collaborative network and knowledge network-based on the recent findings that two networks embedded in the same organization may differ in terms of their origins and implications, I investigate the distinctive underlying mechanisms through which mobility constraints influence an organization's exploratory innovation. In the findings, I found that the impact of mobility constraints is distinct from each other, depending on its embedded network structure. In doing so, I contribute to the existing understanding of the antecedents of employee mobility from the perspective of constraints and networks. In Chapter 4, based on the human capital theory proposing that external learning increases an individual's firm-general knowledge, which is applicable to elsewhere, I examine that incumbent employee's learning from mobile employees increases the incumbents' leaving the hiring firm. In contrast to existing studies examining the "learning by hiring" effect as a critical and positive consequence of employee mobility, I found that "learning by hiring" may negatively affect organizational performance by increasing an individual's turnover rate. In doing so, I demonstrate the potential cost related to a hiring firm's "learning by hiring," thus improving our understanding of the negative consequences of employee mobility from the perspective of learning. Overall, in this dissertation, I contribute to the employee mobility literature by 1) investigating the mobility constraints as a crucial antecedent hindering employee mobility, 2) examining network structure as an important consequence of employee mobility beyond boundary conditions, and 3) demonstrating the potential cost related to learning by hiring for the hiring firm. In doing so, this dissertation helps our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of employee mobility from the perspective of constraints, networks, and learning.

Antecedents and the Consequences of Employee Mobility: Constraints, Networks, and Learning

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Antecedents and the Consequences of Employee Mobility: Constraints, Networks, and Learning

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