Left but Not Forgotten: Gender Differences in Networks and Performance Following Mobility

Abstract

This paper investigates how shifts in an individual’s communication network when the individual experiences a job change affect performance and how those effects differ between men and women. Using a rich proprietary dataset including the personnel records, monthly performance, and email communications of thousands of employees, we examine job changes occurring within a large financial institution. Comparing objective performance prior to and following each job change, we show that mobility is disruptive to individual performance, but that women’s performance is less hampered than that of men. We argue and find evidence that this variation in performance can be explained by women’s and men’s differential likelihood of retaining ties to former colleagues at their previous jobs. While women tend to be embedded in dense networks that may limit their advancement in times of stability, these same network patterns may also foster the retention of relationships to colleagues when women employees move to new jobs. Such “network resilience” offers multiple benefits that bolster their post-move performance. Our results contribute to research on mobility, social network dynamics, and gender by showing that network characteristics that are conventionally considered disadvantageous in the cross-section may help mitigate performance challenges when individuals experience job mobility.