Interactions of learners and competitors with stars and the implications for organizational performance
Description
Prior research presents conflicting findings regarding the influence of star employees on their colleagues. We reconcile these findings by shifting the focus from stars to non-star employees. In contrast to prior studies that treat non-stars as a homogeneous group, we argue that they are heterogeneous and can be classified into two categories: learners and competitors. We further suggest that social comparison processes underlie their interactions with star employees. Using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA), we find that the presence of stars enhances the performance of learners. However, the impact on competitors varies with experience. Specifically, in the presence of senior stars, junior competitors improve their performance, while senior competitors experience a decline. We also propose that the combined effects of learning and competition give rise to an inverted U-shaped relationship between the proportion of learners relative to competitors and overall organizational performance. This study contributes to the microfoundations of strategy by highlighting the role of non-star employees—an often overlooked yet critical component of organizational performance.
Copyright Date
January 2018
Publication Date
1-1-2018
Publisher
Brigham Young University (BYU), Marriot School of Business
Keywords
Human capital, Social comparison, Micro-foundations, Organizational performance
Conference
BYU-Utah Winter Strategy Conference 2018, 8-10 March, 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
