Innovation Dynamics in Labor Mobility

Labor mobility and innovation are intertwined through the movement of skilled individuals across organisations and regions. Employee transitions transmit tacit and codified knowledge, shaping firms’ innovation trajectories and regional competitiveness. Central to this interplay is absorptive capacity, denoting a firm’s ability to identify, assimilate and exploit external knowledge. As professionals move, they establish talent flow networks, enabling the diffusion of expertise and fostering collaborative ties that underpin novel problem-solving. Organisational ambidexterity further moderates this relationship, as firms balance exploratory and exploitative learning to leverage incoming knowledge without undermining existing competencies. The globalisation of labour markets has amplified these dynamics, with cross-border mobility intensifying knowledge exchange and accelerating technology transfer. Policy and managerial strategies now focus on cultivating conducive environments for talent attraction and retention, emphasising mobility-friendly workplaces, strategic partnerships and regional innovation clusters. From high-tech hubs to emerging economies, empirical evidence underscores that well-structured mobility pathways not only enhance firm-level R&D performance but also drive broader socio-economic development.

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Innovation Dynamics in Labor Mobility publication trend

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Technical terms

Absorptive capacity: A firm’s ability to recognise the value of new external knowledge, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends.

Talent flow network: The system of inter-organisational connections formed by employee mobility, facilitating knowledge exchange across firms.

Organisational ambidexterity: The capability of an organisation to pursue both exploratory innovation and the exploitation of existing competencies concurrently.

References

1. The innovative performance of firms in heterogeneous environments: The interplay between external knowledge and internal absorptive capacities. Research Policy (2018).
2. Talent Flow Network, the Life Cycle of Firms, and Their Innovations. Frontiers in Psychology (2022).
3. Losing talent by partnering up? The impact of R&D collaboration on employee mobility. Research Policy (2022).