| Abstract |
Interfirm employee mobility can significantly influence firm performance, knowledge spillover, and returns on human capital. Yet, we know little about how interfirm networks promote ｏｒ inhibit personnel flows between firms. Building on embeddedness arguments, we propose that a firm’s embedded relationships with its clients facilitate interfirm employee mobility by promoting the flow of private information that it leverages in competing for talent. We test our arguments using a longitudinal dataset on lateral partner hires between 2000 and 2008. We find that law firms that 1) are central in law firm-client network, 2) have embedded client ties, and 3) are connected to high status clients are more likely acquire high-quality lawyers. This study highlights the ｉｍｐｏｒｔance of the private information that law firms derive from their embeddedness in law firm-client network. We extend prior work on interfirm employee mobility by elucidating the role of a hiring firm’s social network in enhancing the diffusion of job relevant information and thus, recruiting high-quality employees. |