The Interplay of Social Capital, Mobility, and Productivity: A Study on Pharmaceutical Inventors

Extant literature on social capital has demonstrated the positive effects of brokerage on employee productivity, particularly in knowledge-intensive and creative environments. Yet, little is known about the interactions between employee brokerage and employee mobility to competitors, another common theme in the strategic human capital literature. We posit that employees in brokerage positions face unique information and exposure and have different external opportunities than their peers in more constrained network positions. However, as brokerage is an inherently local network position, we further argue that the effect of mobility on employee productivity is substantially different for those in brokerage positions versus those in constrained networks. Moreover, the nature of these consequences is contingent on the breadth of expertise of employees. Using a large, longitudinal sample of inventors working for the world’s major pharmaceutical firms, we find partial support for the interactive effects of brokerage, mobility, and productivity. The findings of this study contribute to the social capital literature on employee brokerage and to strategic human capital research on inventor mobility.