Star Employees Research Articles

The prince of insiders: a multiple pathway approach to understanding IP theft insider attacks

Purpose Intellectual property (IP) theft is an increasing threat that can lead to large financial losses and reputational harm. These attacks are typically noticed only after the IP is stolen, which is usually too late. This paper aims to investigate the psychological profile and the socio-technical events that statistically predict the likelihood of an IP threat. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses 86 IP theft cases found in court documents. Two novel analyses are conducted. The research uses LLMs to analyse the personality of these insiders, which is followed by an investigation of the pathways to the attack using behaviour sequence analysis (BSA). Findings These IP theft insiders scored significantly higher on measures of Machiavellianism compared to the normal population. Socio-technical variables, including IP theft via photographs, travelling overseas, approaching multiple organisations and delivering presentations, were identified. Contrary to previous assumptions that there is a single pathway to an attack, the authors found that multiple, complex pathways lead to an attack (sometimes multiple attacks). This work, therefore, provides a new framework for considering critical pathways to insider attacks. Practical implications These findings reveal that IP theft insiders may come across as charming, star employees rather than the stereotype of disgruntled employees. Moreover, organisations’ policies may need to consider that IP theft occurs via non-linear and multiple pathways. This means that sequences of events need to be considered in detecting these attacks instead of anomalies outright. The authors also argue that there may be a case for “continuous evaluation” to detect insider activity. Originality/value This paper offers a new framework for understanding and studying insider threats. Instead of a single critical pathway, this work demonstrates the need to consider multiple interconnected pathways. It elucidates the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and provides opportunities to reconsider current practices in detection and prevention.

The Mixed Blessing of Dancing with Star Employees: A Social-Comparison-Based Analysis of the Effects of Star Employees on Non-Stars

The Mixed Blessing of Dancing with Star Employees: A Social-Comparison-Based Analysis of the Effects of Star Employees on Non-Stars

Chasing Stars: Firm and Environmental Factors Influencing the External Hiring of Star Employees

Chasing Stars: Firm and Environmental Factors Influencing the External Hiring of Star Employees

Boundaries and Learning Processes Linking Star Employees’ Proactive Helping to Peers’ Performance

Boundaries and Learning Processes Linking Star Employees’ Proactive Helping to Peers’ Performance

Influence of star employees’ role stress on their unethical pro-organizational behavior: A perspective from the transactional theory of stress and coping

Influence of star employees’ role stress on their unethical pro-organizational behavior: A perspective from the transactional theory of stress and coping

Empowerment or ostracism? The consequences of interpersonal interaction between star employee and team leader

Empowerment or ostracism? The consequences of interpersonal interaction between star employee and team leader

Exploring the proximal and distal ripple effects of star employees in the organizational context: The theoretical framework of social influence

Exploring the proximal and distal ripple effects of star employees in the organizational context: The theoretical framework of social influence

Pay Premiums and Peer Spillovers: Unpacking the Value Proposition of Employing Stars as They Age

An open question among scholars and practitioners is whether and when the employment of star employees is likely to pay off. Addressing this query, we integrate insights related to star performers’ experiences of cumulative advantage and disproportionate bargaining power with insights from the careers literature to develop theory related to stars’ direct and indirect value creation and value capture as they age. Specifically, we first develop arguments that stars, as a function of their disproportionate status and bargaining power, will enjoy higher pay relative to individual performance (PRIP) in comparison to their non-star peers. Second, we argue that this difference in PRIP will be greater among older employees, as stars’ cumulative advantage is a progressive phenomenon that continues to widen the initial gaps in their PRIP relative to others over their careers. Next, countering the apparent implication that the value proposition associated with employing stars deteriorates as stars age, we find that the magnitude of stars’ indirect contributions through positive spillovers to their peers’ performance increases with age. Lastly, we account for some of the mechanisms through which older stars have a more positive impact on their peers. General support for predictions is found in a financial services organization.

The Double-Edged Sword Effect of the Presence of a Moral Star: Promotion Versus Inhibition of Nonstars' Prosocial Behavior

AbstractAlthough a growing body of literature on star employees has focused on top performers, the influence of moral stars has been neglected, an unfortunate situation given that employees’ moral behavior has prolonged impacts on organizations and society as a whole. In this case, we propose the concept of the moral star, defined as the employee (not the team leader) who exhibits disproportionately high and prolonged morality relative to others and has a reputation of being moral on his or her team. We further draw upon self-categorization theory and investigate the double-edged sword effect of the presence of a moral star on the prosocial behavior of other team members. Specifically, we propose that for nonstar employees who have high levels of moral identity, the presence of a moral star is positively related to their felt moral responsibility and prosocial behavior. In contrast, for nonstar employees with low levels of moral identity, the presence of a moral star is negatively related to their felt moral responsibility and prosocial behavior. We found support for our hypotheses across an experiment and a multi-wave and multi-source field study. Taken together, our findings call for closer attention to the recognition of moral stars, as well as their potential unintended negative impact on teams and organizations.

Impact of subordinates' creativity on supervisor undermining: A social dominance perspective

We used the theory of social dominance to explore the mediating influence and boundary conditions according to which subordinates??? creativity affects supervisor undermining. Through a two-stage survey of 223 employees and their paired supervisors, we verified the mediating effect of supervisors??? perceived status threat on the relationship between subordinates??? creativity and supervisor undermining. Supervisors??? status concern moderated the relationship between subordinates??? creativity and supervisors??? perceived status threat. Specifically, the positive relationship between subordinates??? creativity and supervisors??? perceived status threat was stronger when the level of supervisors??? status concern was high. We aimed to deepen understanding of the factors that influence supervisor undermining. Additionally, we introduced perceived status threat as a mediating variable, which enhances understanding of the mechanism behind the unjust treatment of star employees. This highlights the importance of companies continuing to improve the management and professional skills of their supervisors, and fostering an organizational culture that is equal and free, in order to cultivate and retain highly creative talents

Star Employees: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Measurement Validation

Star Employees: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Measurement Validation

The Influences of Enriching Learning Resources in Adolescence on the Formation of Star Employees

The Influences of Enriching Learning Resources in Adolescence on the Formation of Star Employees

Integrating utility analysis and workforce strategy research: suggestions for future work

Firms ask their employees to perform a wide variety of tasks, often with daunting time constraints. Research on the firm-level impact of these behaviors – including work in utility analysis (UA) and star employees - has a long and fruitful history, rich with managerial implications. In this paper I comment on research by Joo et al. (2022), who advanced the literature on UA and star employees by highlighting the effects of variance in workforce performance on important firm-level outcomes among 824,924 employees, pooled across 206 samples. In my view this literature can be substantially enhanced by incorporating important moderating and mediating variables that have been identified in the HR strategy literature. In addition, this work can also be improved by developing a better understanding of the causal processes through which star employees’ performance helps to execute strategy, and through the development of better workforce analytics. Advancing this line of research will likely require both qualitative and quantitative research as well as extensive case studies on the identification and implementation of effective workforce strategies.

The theoretical value of understanding HRM’s financial value

Although the paper by Joo et al. (2022) purports to demonstrate the value of acquiring star performers, we argue that the value of their paper lies more in the demonstration of the use of utility analysis as strong theory, implemented with computational modeling. We articulate why we see the Joo et al. (2022) paper contributing to a strong theory about employee value and how its efforts represent more of a theoretical contribution to the star performers, employee value, employee performance, and utility analysis literatures than one simply about the specific returns on investment related to acquiring star employees. Our commentary explains our view of their contribution and develops new questions and directions for future research that this perspective implies.

To the victor belong the spoils? A theoretical investigation of star employee hierarchies

Star employees are characterized by their high-status position in organizations. Yet, important distinctions in stardom are likely to exist among stars within an organization. These distinctions, in turn, may have important implications for not only the organization but also the stars themselves. Examining star employees via a resource perspective, we integrate conservation of resources theory and the theory of self-control strength to examine the risks and benefits associated with different levels of stardom. In this work we introduce and investigate two unique star profiles identified as the “superstar” and the “understudy.” Specifically, we examine both the potentially unforeseen risks associated with superstar status and the unanticipated benefits associated with understudy status. We further consider how characteristics of stars and contextual factors may serve as important contingencies. Given the extent to which stars guide organizational success and the intention of many employees to reach various levels of stardom, this work has important theoretical and practical implications.

Simply the best? Star performers and high‐potential employees: Critical reflections and a path forward for research and practice

AbstractIn recent decades, scholars’ and practitioners’ interest in star performers and high‐potential employees (HiPos) has increased dramatically. To date, however, researchers have considered these two classifications of exceptional talent in relative isolation of one another, despite the fact that they are widely considered to comprise organizations’ most valuable employees. The current article identifies and explores key intersections in the heretofore‐siloed streams of research on star employees and HiPos. In so doing, we identify core assumptions, highlight questions that emerge at focal intersections, and offer a foundation for the cross‐fertilization of insights to strengthen the scholarly and practical impact of inquiry related to both groups. We then consider the implications of four significant recent trends in the world of work – increased employee mobility; greater focus on issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace; cross‐cultural issues; and the broader set of technological changes that are shaping the workplace – for research and practice related to stars and HiPos. Along the way, we highlight the integral and path‐breaking contributions of publications in Personnel Psychology to our knowledge about organizations’ best talent.

Gravity's pull: The identity-related motives and outcomes of hiring stars

Strategic human capital scholarship, alongside a wealth of evidence from the popular press, suggests that star employees can influence an organization's socially constructed identity. However, an overarching conceptual framework that explains these shifts has yet to emerge. In this paper, we draw upon Hatch and Schultz's (2002) theory of identity change to discuss how organizational identity-change related motives – defined as decision makers' interest in spurring changes to socially constructed, internal perceptions of their organization's central and distinctive features – act in concert with considerations of value creation and capture to influence the hiring of different identity-aspirant stars (i.e., stars that embody a desired future organizational identity). Given that stars represent catalysts for identity change that have agency and become part of the social fabric of an organization, we then explain how the mechanisms by which stars' attempts to gain or retain status – coupled with organization members' willingness to emulate their behaviors – can affect internal-oriented organizational identity change. This paper advances consideration of social-psychological factors alongside economic views of stars and offers implications for the literatures on strategic human capital and organizational identity.

Star Employees’ Network Evolution and Dynamic Impact on Peer Performance

In this study we address two important questions regarding the temporal dynamics of star employees. 1) How do star employees’ and peers’ networks evolve over time? 2) Does star employees’ impact on peers’ performance change over time? Integrating research on network dynamics and relational work, we argue that there are temporal variations in stars’ network evolution and their impacts on peers. Based on personnel and email network data from a health care organization in the United States, we found that internal formal status was positively related to tie creation in stars network and that the proportion of status stars in a group was positively related to tie creation in group members’ network. However, both network-expanding effects diminished over time. Further, we found that the proportion of stars in a group had a changing impact — it dampens group members’ performance in the short-term yet increases it in the long-term. Overall, this study extends research on talent management and network dynamics, offering important theoretical and practical insights.

Star Departure, Employees’ Experience Working with Stars, and Firm Performance

To appropriate value from star employees’ tacit, transferrable knowledge and skills, star-owned firms in mostly knowledge-based industries may have employees work with stars as a team. Yet an important but still under-explored question is as to what knowledge and skills employees would really learn from this peculiar team experience. This study seeks an answer to this question in the context of star departure. Conventional wisdom from the knowledge-based view suggests that stars may transfer their tacit knowledge and skills to peers through experience working together, so the experience would function as buffers to the negative impacts of potential star departure ex-post. Counterintuitively, I extend human capital theory by submitting that the experience also shapes star-specific human capital, which deteriorates firm performance further once the star leaves. Evidence from lobbying firms in the United States lobbying industry supports the latter prediction: The more employees’ experience working with stars, the greater declines in firm performance after the stars depart.

Shocks to Star Employees, Modular Collaboration Patterns, and Organizational Performance

We examine how the modularity of an organization’s collaboration patterns affect how it performs in the wake of negative and positive shocks to the productive capacity of its star employee. Using remarkably fine-grained data from the European club football (soccer) industry from 2010-2019, we document that clubs with modular patterns of collaboration (measured using millions of passes in previous matches) experience smaller drops in performance when their star player is out with an injury. However, clubs with modular patterns of collaboration also benefit less when the star player experiences a positive shock to his motivation. Thus, modular organizational forms create an important tradeoff: while they may help buffer organizations from negative shocks, they may also make it more difficult for the organization to benefit from positive shocks.