Discussion: View Thread

Call for Papers

Special Issue on Knowledge Worker Mobility in Context

Submission Deadline:  September 30, 2015

Guest Editors:

Janet Bercovitz, University of Illinois

Francesco Di Lorenzo, Copenhagen Business School

Kenneth G. Huang, Singapore Management University

Valentina Tartari, Copenhagen Business School

Mike Wright, Imperial College London

BACKGROUND TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE

Issues around knowledge workers' mobility constitute a vibrant area of research.  Organization scholars have paid a great deal of attention to the mobility of talented employees and its strategic implications for firm performance (Campbell et. 2012; Corredoira & Rosenkopf 2010; Somaya et al., 2008), focusing mainly on mobility as an important mechanism to transfer valuable knowledge from one firm to another (Song et al., 2003; Rosenkopf & Almeida, 2003) and generate firm learning (Singh and Agrawal, 2011). International Business and entrepreneurship scholars have been focusing on the mobility of entrepreneurs as returning and transnational entrepreneurs, either directly or indirectly via employment in MNEs, and their impact on venture performance and spillovers to local firms (Filatotchev, et al., 2011).

While the knowledge worker mobility research spans a variety of different contexts, contextual differences, even if acknowledged, are rarely sufficiently developed and explored. This is potentially problematic because linking questions to context is crucial to theory building. In addition, contextual influences provide boundary conditions and highlight contingency factors that are essential for insightful and informative empirical testing. This special issue aims to address this gap by bringing together papers that actively consider contextual influences to generate a greater understanding of both the antecedents and implications of knowledge worker mobility.

TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS SOLICITED

We are open to contributions employing a range of theoretical lenses and empirical approaches.  We welcome submissions that focus on contextual influences across a variety of levels, for example:  

Social context and teams: recognizing that knowledge workers create value both through individual skills and through complementarity with their coworkers raises the issue that mobility can be an individual decision with individual repercussions, an individual decision with group repercussions, or a collective activity. Potential topics considering the individual in context include:

·         Is the value of a knowledge worker's mobility influenced by their ability to bring their team to the receiving organization?

·         How are teams and networks developed and adapted to facilitate knowledge worker mobility?

Organizational contexts and roles: organizational roles differentially influence individuals' knowledge sets, incentives and attention, each of which could impinge not only upon workers' mobility decisions but also upon the effects on both the parent and the receiving organization, be it an established firm or a new venture. Potential topics to cover:

·         How are different kinds of organizations, such as established companies versus small start-ups, affected by and effect workers' mobility?

·         Do the implications for organizations differ given mobility across different organizational roles? Are firms affected differently by mobility towards entrepreneurship compared to mobility towards established competitors?

·         What relationships are maintained with the former parent organization if workers move to become entrepreneurs?

Institutional and cultural norms at the level of organization, industry and/or region: the heterogeneity in regional, industry and legal regimes can either facilitate or constrain the extent and nature of knowledge workers' mobility. A greater understanding of the interplay between the different institutional levels could illuminate issue of economic development and inform policy formation. For example, Silicon Valley's high rates of mobility have been attributed to industry characteristics, the choice of California not to enforce non-compete agreements, and the presence of several large academic institutions providing a stream of highly skilled individuals. However, we do not know whether and how this canonic example transfers across different contexts. Potential topics are:

·         What are the mechanisms at the level of organizations and institutions employed to prevent or facilitate mobility?

·         What impact do these mechanisms have on the final performance of organizations after mobility events?

·         How do different institutional dimensions influence whether mobility is in the form of employment or entrepreneurial mobility?

Temporal dynamics: exploring the time sensitivity of mobility is necessary to more fully characterize the antecedents, processes and consequences of such events. Namely, career stage, firm evolution (both of the parent organization and the receiving organization or new venture), industry life-cycle, regional development, institutional change can influence both the mobility decision and its effects. For example, a significant research stream on strategic human capital considers the competitive advantage implications of employees' capabilities as a firm-specific asset. Potential topics concern:

·         As accrual of firm-specific capabilities may be a function of an individual's career stage and professional development, are implications for firms different following mobility events of employees in different career-stages?

·         Do firms in different stages of their evolution benefit (or suffer) differently from workers' mobility?

Papers that employ novel measures to capture mobility events - augmenting or replacing traditional patent and census data - are of particular interest.  This special issue both welcomes and supports the development and use of new data sources, such as (but not limited to) CVs, LinkedIn records, corporate and professional associations to capture mobility events. Papers that adopt a qualitative research methodology are also welcomed.

Given that knowledge worker mobility has global implications, this special issue is greatly interested in attracting papers from scholars immersed in, or studying, a wide range of geographic locations with representation from both emerging and developed economies.

SUBMISSION PROCESS AND DEADLINES

•     Papers will be reviewed according to the JMS double-bind review process.

•     Submissions should be prepared using the JMS Manuscript Preparation Guidelines (see: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-6486/homepage/JMS_Manuscript_Preparation_Guidelines.pdf)

The deadline for submission is September 30, 2015.

•     Manuscripts should be submitted by e-mail to the guest editors at the following address:  jmsmobility@imperial.ac.uk

•     Informal inquiries related to the Special Issue, proposed topics, and potential fit with Special Issue objectives are welcomed.  Please direct any questions to the guest editors at the e-mail above.

Manuscript Development Workshop:

To enhance the quality and build community, the editors anticipate holding a focused manuscript development workshop at Imperial College London in April 2016.  Authors of papers that successfully pass through the first review stage will be invited to participate in this workshop. Accommodation expenses for participants and travel expenses for one author per paper will be covered. Presentation at the workshop does not guarantee acceptance of the paper for publication in JMS.  Conversely, attendance is not a prerequisite for publication in the special issue.