Scheduled: Tuesday, Aug 8 2017 11:30AM - 1:00PM at Hilton Atlanta in Room 305
On the Move: Career Mobility and Its Mechanisms
Organizer: Evelyn Zhang, Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business
Organizer: Brandy Aven, Carnegie Mellon U.
Discussant: Matthew James Bidwell, U. of Pennsylvania
Abstract:
Career mobility, or the movement of individuals across jobs, has long been recognized as pivotal to the development of both individuals and organizations (Bidwell, Briscoe, Fernandez-Mateo, and Sterling, 2013; Bidwell and Mollick, 2015). As individuals change jobs more frequently, it is increasingly important to understand mobility's underlying mechanisms, which are the factors that explain why and how people and organizations achieve or are prevented from achieving career mobility. Along these lines, five papers in this symposium unpack the complex dynamics of individual-organization fit, social networks, mobility, and performance. Two of the papers examine the mechanisms of individual-organization fit. Stein, Goldberg, and Srivastava investigate how language used at the pre-hiring stage is related to a person's likelihood of being hired and - for those who are hired - of fitting in culturally and of performing well on the job. Bode and Rogan examine how participation in corporate social initiatives, which are commonly believed to enhance the fit of individuals with the organization, in fact negatively affect the mobility of men. Two papers examine the mechanisms of job seekers' social networks. Rider et al. investigate the causal relationship between individuals' network ties and their likelihood of maintaining employment and of changing employers. Zhang, Sterling, and Aven examine how employees' ties to other business units affect both the likelihood of joining those units and post-move performance. Complementing these papers, which focus either on external mobility (Rider et al.; Stein et al.) or internal mobility (Bode and Rogan; Zhang et al.), Benson and Rissing investigate whether internal transfers outperform external hires and whether establishments that prioritize internal transfers outperform those that do not. In combination, these five papers help open the "black box" of mechanisms that operate at the organization/labor market interface and broaden our understanding of career mobility and its impact.
Presentations: Distinguishing Round from Square Pegs: Language Use Predicts Hiring, Performance, and Cultural Fit
Presenter: Sarah Stein, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Presenter: Amir Goldberg, Stanford U.
Presenter: Sameer B. Srivastava, U. of California, Berkeley
Gender Differences in Promotions Following Participation in a Corporate Social Initiative
Presenter: Christiane Bode, Bocconi U.
Presenter: Michelle A. Rogan, Kenan-Flagler Business School, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Evolving Network Ties and Careers: A study of National Football League coaches
Presenter: Christopher I. Rider, Georgetown U.
Presenter: James Wade, George Washington U.
Presenter: Anand Swaminathan, Emory U.
Presenter: Andreas Schwab, Iowa State U.
Structural Blindness? Mobility and Performance Disruption in Organizations
Presenter: Evelyn Zhang, Carnegie Mellon U. - Tepper School of Business
Presenter: Adina D. Sterling, Stanford GSB
Presenter: Brandy Aven, Carnegie Mellon U.
Strength from Within: Individual and Store-Level Evidence Transfers Outperform Hires
Presenter: Alan M. Benson, U. of Minnesota
Presenter: Ben Rissing, Cornell U.