The Influence Of Mobility Patterns On Employee Job Performance In Internal Labor Markets

Recently,digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data are being used more and more extensively in organizations.Organizational boundaries are subsequently blurred,and employment relationships are becoming increasingly unstable.Both organizational talent management and individual career development face new opportunities and challenges.More and more companies with strategic foresight are actively adjusting their talent management strategies and making greater efforts to promote the establishment and improvement of their internal labor market to develop their existing talent resources and improve their competitiveness.However,despite the strong promotion of internal labor markets in organization talent management,academic understanding of this practice is still relatively lagging,paying less attention to the various mobility patterns of internal labor markets(e.g.,self-initiated mobility,supervisor retention,application rejection).Meanwhile,limited to the availability of internal labor markets dataset,the existing studies are lacking in analyzing the different mobility patterns of internal labor markets and their relationship with employee job performance,making it difficult to provide more realistic guidance for the optimization of internal labor markets and employees’ career development.Given the importance of internal labor markets as a management practice and the limitations of the current literature on internal labor markets,this study intends to investigate the following basic question: How do different mobility patterns of internal labor markets affect employees’ subsequent job performance? The answer to this question will directly affect the formulation of internal labor market strategies and individual career development planning,capturing important practical and economic significance.However,the current literature on organizational management research and talent development has not been enough to answer this question and lacks direct attention to internal labor markets mobility patterns.Using an archival dataset from a Fortune Global 500 high-tech company,this study empirically explores the relationship between different mobility patterns of internal labor markets and employee job performance,including self-initiated mobility,supervisor retention,and application rejection.Focusing on the employees who have successfully applied for internal mobility and taken self-initiated mobility,Study 1 examines the actual impact of self-initiated mobility on employees’ subsequent job performance and its boundary contexts.The empirical results indicate that self-initiated mobility has a positive effect on job performance.The analyses of the dynamic matching strengthening mechanism show that the mobility expectation gap weakens the positive effect of self-initiated mobility,while receiving team engagement strengthens the positive effect of self-initiated mobility.The distance between job functions before and after mobility does not show a significant effect.The supplementary analyses find that self-initiated mobility also has a significant talent retention effect.However,it may have a negative peer effect on team colleagues.Focusing on employees who have been successful in their internal job applications but retained by their supervisors,Study 2 examines the impact of supervisor retention on employees’ subsequent job performance and the organizational intervention measures.By systematically reviewing the prior literature,this study defines supervisor retention as a specific supervisor reaction behavior.The empirical results find that supervisor retention has a negative effect on job performance.Intervention analyses reveal that job rotation within the department and leadership training help mitigate the negative effect of supervisor retention.The supplementary analyses find that employees who have experienced retention are more likely to turnover rather than apply for internal jobs consistently.Focusing on the employees who have failed to apply for internal mobility,Study 3examines the actual impact of application rejection on employees’ subsequent job performance and the individual intervention measures.The empirical results show that application rejection has a negative effect on job performance.Intervention analyses indicate that more timely and longer self-initiated training help mitigate the negative effect of application rejection.The supplementary analyses reveal that the negative effect of application rejection on job performance is more pronounced when the application rejection is of stronger perception or with higher frequency.The main theoretical contribution of this study is to reveal the three mobility patterns of internal labor markets,break through the homogeneity assumptions of the traditional internal labor market,and deepen the understanding of the nature of internal labor markets in academia.Meanwhile,based on the big data analysis method,this study provides an in-depth theoretical understanding and empirical test on the relationship between different mobility patterns of internal labor markets(i.e.,self-initiated mobility,supervisor retention,and application rejection)and job performance.The findings enrich the research field of internal labor markets and job performance.In addition,the findings provide useful guidance for improving the organization’s internal talent market policy and individual career development.