Choose to Fight or Choose to Flee? A Network Embeddedness Perspective of Executive Ship Jumping in Declining Firms

摘要

Executives in declining firms may engage in ship-jumping behavior (i.e., voluntarily move to new employers before the failure occurs) to avoid the stigma of failure. However, it is unclear how executives decide whether or not to jump ship. Building on a network embeddedness perspective, we highlight how three network-based indicators (i.e., executive social capital, the social capital of other peers in the declining Jim, and the declining firm's alliance network) influence the executive-level ship-jumping decision by shaping its benefits and opportunity costs. Using data front executives at failing firms in China, we find support for our hypothesized relationships. Our research provides important insight into the network mechanisms driving the ship jumping decision.