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Good enough to move? Window-dressing performance impending turnover in inter-organizational mobility

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  • He Soung Ahn

    (Korea University Business School)

  • Chiho Ok

    (Jeonju University)

Abstract

This study suggests that an impending turnover may create incentives that motivate employees to undertake actions to window-dress their performance. “Window-dressing performance” refers to an increase in an individual’s performance in visible dimensions (i.e., high level of quantitative performance) which is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in dimensions reflecting quality (i.e., low level of qualitative performance). Through such behavior, employees aim to manifest a good appearance to a potential destination firm. By doing so, employees manipulate performance signals for their self-interest to boost visibility in the labor market and garner additional bargaining power throughout the turnover process. This study focuses on the Korean security analyst market and employs fixed-effects difference-in-differences regression to empirically test the hypotheses using a sample comprising 5247 observations from 2000 to 2013. We find that analysts window-dress their performance in times of impending turnover by increasing quantitative performance (i.e., forecast volume), which is not accompanied by an increase in qualitative performance (i.e., forecast accuracy). This study contributes to previous research by improving our understanding of the pattern of performance changes immediately before an employee leaves the organization to join a competitor firm.

Suggested Citation

  • He Soung Ahn & Chiho Ok, 2019. "Good enough to move? Window-dressing performance impending turnover in inter-organizational mobility," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 397-416, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:13:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11846-017-0254-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11846-017-0254-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Mercedes Alda, 2021. "Managers beyond borders: side-by-side management in mutual funds and pension funds," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 399-436, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inter-organizational mobility; Window-dressing performance; Knowledge-intensive industry; Quantitative performance; Qualitative performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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