Cross-Organization Collaboration and Mobility of Knowledge Workers

41 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2017

See all articles by Benjamin A. Campbell

Benjamin A. Campbell

The Ohio State University - Fisher College of Business

Francesco Di Lorenzo

Copenhagen Business School

Valentina Tartari

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics

Date Written: August 24, 2017

Abstract

Through the lens of labor market friction logic, we theorize that knowledge workers’ experiences on cross-organization teams affect employee mobility patterns and shape post-mobility employee performance. Additionally, we theorize that employee ability positively moderates both these relationships. We test our theory in the context of academic scientists because these knowledge workers may be part of collaborations both within their current organization and across multiple organizations. We find that cross-organization collaboration enhances knowledge worker mobility and moving to collaborators is associated with greater post-mobility employee performance. We find that employee ability positively moderates the effect of moving to collaborators. The results suggest that cross-organization collaboration reduces labor market frictions and enhances the quality of employee-employer matches, particularly for high ability individuals.

Keywords: human capital, knowledge workers, employee mobility, knowledge flow, market frictions

Suggested Citation

Campbell, Benjamin A. and Di Lorenzo, Francesco and Tartari, Valentina, Cross-Organization Collaboration and Mobility of Knowledge Workers (August 24, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3025497 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3025497

Benjamin A. Campbell (Contact Author)

The Ohio State University - Fisher College of Business ( email )

2100 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1144
United States

Francesco Di Lorenzo

Copenhagen Business School ( email )

Kilevej 14A
Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen DK - 2000
Denmark

Valentina Tartari

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Innovation and Organizational Economics ( email )

Kilevej 14A
Frederiksberg, 2000
Denmark

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