PhD Seminar Series: The Shattered Career: How Job Displacement Channels High Performers Away from Productivity

The Shattered Career: How Job Displacement Channels High Performers Away from Productivity

Speaker: Yifan Tian (Bocconi University)

Abstract: This paper examines whether and how performance is portable by studying the effects of job displacement on inventors’ productivity. Theories disagree on the extent to which human capital is portable, and findings are mixed partly because most research focuses on voluntary mobility, where moves are endogenous to portability. To mitigate this limitation, I analyze job displacement, a form of involuntary mobility, through a comparison of displaced and non-displaced inventors in the U.S. ICT industry. Results show that displacement significantly reduces productivity, with the negative effects concentrated among high performers. This decline reflects both the loss of job-specific human capital and role shifts that move high performers from invention into management. The findings demonstrate that performance portability is contingent on mobility type and career paths, advancing strategic human capital research on mobility and reallocation.