Revitalizing Colleague‐Specific Human Capital: Boomerang and Pipeline‐Based Hiring in a 41‐Year Multilevel Study of Employee Mobility

ABSTRACT Amidst the decline of permanent employment contracts and the rapid shortening of career cycles, organizations often face challenges in fully capitalizing on employee mobility. This study adopts a multilevel perspective to explore how mobility impacts both individual and team performance, focusing on acquiring colleague‐specific human capital through two talent acquisition strategies: boomerang hiring and pipeline‐based hiring. Using a unique Major League Baseball database spanning 41 years, including 19,927 player‐year records and 1156 team‐year records, our analysis reveals that individuals engaged in boomerang and pipeline‐based hiring and possessing higher levels of individual colleague‐specific human capital, experience greater benefits from mobility in terms of individual performance. Moreover, these hiring strategies allow organizations to effectively harness colleague‐specific human capital. Specifically, team performance is positively influenced by a greater proportion of boomerang hiring through team colleague‐specific human capital resources. Similarly, a higher ratio of pipeline‐based hiring, alongside other recurrent hiring practices, positively impacts team performance through team colleague‐specific human capital resources. Our findings provide valuable insights for organizations aiming to rejuvenate their colleague‐specific human capital resources through strategic hiring practices to achieve sustained success.