The
Management Department
Department
Seminar Series
Gina Dokko
UC DAVIS
Thursday,
September 20th
2018
Room LE
CLUB at
10:00 am
(4.00
p.m
in Singapore)
Theme: “You can’t
go home again: Boomerang employees and bi-lateral relational assistance”
Abstract: Understanding the portability of
performance is critical in a world of boundaryless careers and unstable employment.
Researchers have focused on human capital and social capital as key factors in
determining how well performance translates across firm boundaries; less
attention has been directed toward identity-based or cognitive frameworks that
individuals carry when they move between employers. We study boomerangs, i.e.
individuals who return to a former employer after working elsewhere, to focus
on how identity impacts the behavior of both returnees and incumbent
co-workers. We find that boomerangs are more likely to assist their former
co-workers than other co-workers, and that this effect is mitigated when the
boomerangs re-enter the firm as part of a co-mobility event. By contrast,
former co-workers are less likely to assist the boomerang, and the negative
effect is exacerbated when the boomerang is coming back as a star performer.
