Can You Go Home Again? Performance Assistance Between Boomerangs and Incumbent Employees

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Grohsjean, Thorsten; Dokko, Gina; Yang, Philip
• 署名单位: Bocconi University; Bocconi University; University of California System; University of California Davis; University of Paderborn
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2022.16685
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: boomerang; NEWCOMER; incumbent colleague; mobility; careers; human capital; collaboration; helping behavior

摘要

Boomerangs, that is, rehires, should have advantages over other new hires when integrating into an organization due to their familiarity with the work context and their pre-existing relationships. However, research suggests that the effects of hiring boomerangs may not be straightforwardly positive. To better understand these effects, we investigate how boomerangs' social integration into a work team differs from that of other new hires due to their pre-existing relationships and how those relationships shape their and incumbents' competence and motivation to provide assistance for collective performance. We theorize and find that boomerangs, compared with new hires, exhibit more performance assistance toward incumbent former and incumbent new colleagues. In contrast, incumbent former colleagues do not direct their performance assistance toward boomerangs, contrary to our prediction, nor do incumbent new colleagues. This study contributes to the nascent literature on boomerangs and the literature on job mobility by finding evidence that prior relationships condition the behavior of both boomerangs and incumbents.