Turbulent skies and leadership exodus: executive turnover in the wake of 9/11

Purpose This study investigates the impact of an exogenous safety shock on executive labor mobility, using the September 11 attacks as the empirical context. Drawing on the unfolding model of turnover, it examines how such acute crises severely disrupt safety scripts, triggering perception-driven departures from firms in communities associated with higher exposure to potential threat cues. Design/methodology/approach Employing a difference-in-differences design, the authors analyze executive turnover and relocation destinations post-9/11. The study controls for economic factors while testing the moderating roles of local media framing, the presence of SPLC-designated hostile organizations, and social capital on the relationship between community demographics and turnover. Findings Turnover significantly increased in firms located in counties with higher concentrations of shock-associated demographic cues post-9/11. Departing executives systematically relocated to regions with lower concentrations of these cues, indicating a breakdown in person-environment fit driven by shifting safety perceptions. This effect was amplified in communities with ideologically framed media environments but attenuated in areas with high social capital. Research limitations/implications We acknowledge several limitations. First, we rely on inferred psychological processes rather than direct cognitive measures. While our proxy – Muslim population density – is theoretically grounded, it cannot capture subjective safety perceptions directly. Second, despite robust controls, potential omitted variable bias and measurement errors regarding voluntary departures remain concerns, likely yielding conservative estimates. Third, the unique, high-mortal-salience context of 9/11 limits generalizability to other societal shocks. Future research should employ qualitative methods to validate executive safety perceptions and conduct comparative analyses across different shock types to disentangle specific safety concerns from general anxieties. Practical implications The findings underscore that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is not a peripheral issue but a core component of talent management and risk mitigation. In the wake of societal crises, organizations must proactively institutionalize DEI training, enforce zero-tolerance anti-discrimination policies, and cultivate an inclusive micro-culture that ensures psychological safety. Such measures can insulate a firm from the destabilizing effects of societal prejudice, helping to retain valuable talent from minority groups and reinforcing a merit-based environment where employees are not judged by their identity markers. Social implications The findings reveal how shock-induced shifts in perceived environmental risk can inadvertently destabilize local leadership structures, highlighting how macro-sociopolitical crises can disrupt corporate governance and organizational stability within specific communities. Originality/value This research conceptualizes the safety shock within the executive labor market. It challenges rational economic models by showing how external threats activate latent perceptions and biases, altering person-job fit calculations and disrupting the allocation of high-level human capital based on non-economic psychological needs.