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Although internal labor market theory emphasizes promotions as the main form of mobility within organizations, many internal job moves take people sideways into jobs that are at the same hierarchical level as the one that was left. Despite the prevalence of these lateral moves, however, we have little evidence on what role they play in workers' careers. We argue that lateral mobility can facilitate subsequent career advancement by allowing for the development and demonstration of new skills and can, therefore, help those who would struggle to be promoted from their current job to develop their careers further. We establish empirical evidence on the implications of lateral mobility using eight years of personnel data from a large U.S. healthcare company. Our analyses show that those employees who move laterally are more likely to be subsequently promoted and achieve substantially higher pay growth than a matched sample of employees. We also find that lateral moves are more likely to be undertaken by those who have spent longer in the job but have lower performance than those who are promoted. This pattern of results suggests that lateral mobility provides an important avenue for career growth as people who step sideways in organizations are more likely to subsequently step up. This paper was accepted by Lamar Pierce, organizations. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03746. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite major advances in efficiency, the operational stability of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices remains poor. Therefore, understanding the degradation mechanisms and identifying potential solutions to improve device stability is critical to enabling the widespread commercialization of OPVs. Herein, simple filtration of the PBDB‐T:ITIC photoactive layer (PAL) solution prior to film deposition is demonstrated to enhance OPV device operational stability without compromising initial device performance. The effect of filtration, a commonly used but poorly understood OPV fabrication step, is investigated using a range of chemical, structural, and optoelectronic methods, on solutions and films. Filtration is found to remove large aggregates from solution without disrupting nanoscale preaggregation, resulting in enhanced acceptor ordering in PBDB‐T:ITIC thin films, significantly improving morphological stability and photostability. This simple and facile method is confirmed to be a general strategy that also works for other PBDB‐T‐containing OPV blends, including Y6‐based systems, and highlights how subtle changes in morphology can result in dramatic differences in operational stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors explore how career paths are shaped by the involvement of search firms in hiring. Drawing on theories of market intermediation, they argue that search firms constrain horizontal moves across functions and industries by favoring workers from within the same function and industry as the role being filled. Using survey data on 1,342 job moves undertaken by 816 MBA alumni, the authors find that individuals who move jobs through a search firm experience lower horizontal mobility than those who move through other means. Findings also suggest that these results are not driven by firms' decisions to use a search firm to fill the job. Supplementary analyses show no evidence that the job matches that are formed using search firms result in a better fit between workers and employers. Overall, the findings point to the significant institutional role search firms play in managerial careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As most careers now span across organizations, former employees represent a growing source of potential hires for many organizations. Yet, we know little about whether and when firms benefit by rehiring former employees. To answer these questions, we adopt a knowledge-based view of hiring to develop new theory about how returning former employees’ (“boomerangs”) post-hire performance might differ from that of external hires who have no previous experience with the firm (“new hires”). We theorize that, relative to new hires, boomerangs’ familiarity with the organization’s social system will allow them to more effectively engage in coordination and overcome internal resistance from organizational incumbents. As a consequence, boomerangs should have a particular advantage in roles that require a higher degree of coordination and in units that are likely to be more resistant to outsiders. Comparing the post-hire performance of 2,053 boomerangs and 10,858 new hires over an eight-year period in a large health care organization, we find that, upon being (re)hired into the organization, boomerangs outperform new hires in their initial job spell and that this performance advantage is larger in jobs requiring greater internal coordination and in contexts characterized by greater internal resistance to external hires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between international mobility and financial compensation for knowledge workers pursuing business careers. While some theoretical arguments suggest that international mobility may lead to higher pay, others suggest that it may lead to performance problems and lack of recognition, which could reduce financial rewards. Empirical research on the topic is limited, with cross-sectional data providing little insight into the relationship between international mobility and compensation over time. Our study overcomes this challenge by using a panel data set on the career histories of 1,322 MBA graduates. The results reveal a curvilinear relationship between international mobility and compensation over time. Making one or two international moves can have substantial negative effects on pay. However, further moves are associated with pay growth, and there is some evidence that those who move countries multiple times ("superglobals") obtain substantially higher pay. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on international mobility and business careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]