Dancing with the stars: Benefits of a star employee's temporary absence for organizational performance
Description
While prior research has primarily focused on stars as individual contributors, we examine organizational contexts in which stars must work closely with non-stars. We argue that, in such settings, building effective teamwork around a star involves learning under conditions of complexity. In response, organizations tend to prioritize interactions involving the star to simplify learning processes. However, this simplification can lead to organizational myopia. We propose that a star’s temporary absence helps organizations overcome such myopia by triggering a search for new routines. Upon the star’s return, organizations may integrate these newly developed routines with pre-existing ones to enhance teamwork and overall performance. To test our arguments, we exploit injuries to star players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as an exogenous shock. Our findings indicate that, on average, teams perform better after a star’s return than they did prior to the absence.
Copyright Date
January 2015
Publication Date
1-1-2015
Keywords
Human capital, Organizational learning, Routines, Organizational performance, Organizational adaptation
Conference
Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 7-11 August, 2015, Vancouver, Canada
