Choosing the Pond: On-the-Job Experience and Long-Run Career Outcomes

Jie Gong (), Ang Sun () and Zhichao Wei ()
Additional contact information
Jie Gong: NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119245
Ang Sun: Central University of Finance and Economics, 100081 Beijing, China
Zhichao Wei: China Asset Management, 100045 Beijing, China

Management Science, 2018, vol. 64, issue 2, 860-872

Abstract: This paper investigates the value of on-the-job experience for workers’ long-run career outcomes. We exploit the effects of team relegation in professional soccer by contrasting players on teams just below and just above the cutoff point of relegation. We find that players on teams relegated to a lower division have more match appearances in the short run, and they play in better leagues and earn higher wages in the long run. This gain is concentrated among individuals who are young or less experienced at the time of relegation. Because other consequences of relegation would tend to work against individuals’ long-run success, the positive net gain is most likely to be the result of greater on-the-job experience. The findings have implications for firms on job assignment and for workers on managing their careers.

Keywords: on-the-job experience; job assignment; long-run career outcomes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.287/mnsc.2016.2609 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:64:y:2018:i:2:p:-860-872

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().