Employee Departure from Organizations: Three Essays - Dissertation Executive Summary

Abstract

This dissertation studies employee departure at multiple levels of analysis. First, I examine environmental-level processes that pull employees out of their firms and into new organizations, focusing on the release of resources that accompany the failure of rival firms. I next study the implications that employee departure has for former coworkers, examining how the departure of a highly paid woman from the firm affects the compensation of her female colleagues. Finally, I connect employee departure to organizational performance, examining whether stability at one hierarchical level in the organization can compensate for departure at another hierarchical level in the organization.

Keywords: Firm Creation, Employee Turnover, Labor Markets, Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Organization Theory