Learning on the Job? Employee Mobility in the Asset Management Industry

Aaron K. Chatterji (), Rui J. P. de Figueiredo () and Evan Rawley ()
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Aaron K. Chatterji: Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
Rui J. P. de Figueiredo: Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
Evan Rawley: Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027

Management Science, 2016, vol. 62, issue 10, 2804-2819

Abstract: We present a new mechanism by which prior employment can influence transitions to other firms. We propose that some employees divert effort toward unproductive activities to learn about their own fitness for alternative employment. Based on the results of this costly learning experience, or “experiment,” some employees will transition into other firms or launch their own ventures, whereas others will remain at the incumbent firm. We develop a theoretical model to explicate these propositions and test them using four data sets from the mutual fund and hedge fund industries. We find evidence that managers who engage in excessive risk taking at mutual funds are subsequently more likely to join or start hedge funds, although there is little evidence that this risk taking is intended to signal quality to outside observers. Taken together, our findings suggest that learning about one’s own fitness for alternative employment, through experimentation on the job, is an important mechanism for enabling employee mobility. This paper was accepted by Lee Fleming, entrepreneurship and innovation .

Keywords: employee mobility; learning; financial services; employee entrepreneurship; spawning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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