About

When do organizations benefit from hiring key employees? How can organizations reduce the negative effect of losing a key employee? The literature shows that key individuals can have a disproportionate effect on organizational performance (Nerkar & Paruchuri, 2005) and the performance of close collaborators (Azoulay, Zivin, & Wang, 2010; Kehoe & Tzabbar, 2015; Oettl, 2012). Organizations can gain and sustain a competitive advantage by hiring and retaining key individuals (Campbell, Coff, & Kryscynski, 2012; Jain, 2016; Tzabbar, 2009). Unfortunately, (1) not every hired individual can affect the organization (Groysberg & Lee, 2009; Singh & Agrawal, 2011), and (2) losing a key employee or collaborator can damage an organization’s performance. The project’s objective is to examine the conditions under which hiring and losing key individuals affects an organization. As a result, the project aim at helping organizations hire key individuals through the right mechanism and replace key individuals they have lost. The ultimate goal of our research is to understand how organizations can manage highly talented individuals.

To test the theoretical arguments, we conduct quantitative research using a set of novel datasets from three settings in which complexity and interdependence are high. First, we use detailed data on technological innovation activities conducted by individuals at US firms operating in high-tech industries, such as the biopharmaceutical industry. Second, we use detailed data about videogame development from the most important videogame studios in the world. Finally, we use detailed data from football teams in the most important European football leagues between 2009 and 2019.