Reading the stars: determining human capital's value in the hiring process

Abstract

Star employees are highly sought after by competitors and thus more likely to move from one company to another. However, not all the factors related to stardom are as mobile as the stars themselves. We argue that while simply possessing star status leads to increased movement, differences in the attributions of human capital and value appropriation will also influence a star's movement to competing firms. To test this, we analyzed the careers of 695 security analysts over a 10-year period. We found that while stars are more likely to move to competing firms than nonstars, the difference in movement between stars and nonstars decreases as the status of their current firm and their tenure increases.