Exit Ripple Effects: Understanding the Disruption of Socialization Networks Following Employee Departures
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3589334.3645634.pdf
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1.41 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
1125bff74a075a59a58a68baeee2958b
Author(s)
Gamba, David
Yu, Yulin
Yuan, Yuan
Schoenebeck, Grant
Romero, Daniel M.
Date Issued
May 13, 2024
Publisher
ACM
Citation
Gamba, David, Yu, Yulin, Yuan, Yuan, Schoenebeck, Grant and Romero, Daniel M. 2024. "Exit Ripple Effects: Understanding the Disruption of Socialization Networks Following Employee Departures."
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Amidst growing uncertainty and frequent restructurings, the impacts of employee exits are becoming one of the central concerns for organizations. Using rich communication data from a large holding company, we examine the effects of employee departures on socialization networks among the remaining coworkers. Specifically, we investigate how network metrics change among people who historically interacted with departing employees. We find evidence of "breakdown" in communication among the remaining coworkers, who tend to become less connected with fewer interactions after their coworkers' departure. This effect appears to be moderated by both external factors, such as periods of high organizational stress, and internal factors, such as the characteristics of the departing employee. At the external level, periods of high stress correspond to greater communication breakdown; at the internal level, however, we find patterns suggesting individuals may end up better positioned in their networks after a network neighbor's departure. Overall, our study provides critical insights into managing workforce changes and preserving communication dynamics in the face of employee exits.
Description
WWW '24: Proceedings of the ACM on Web Conference May 13–17, 2024, Singapore, Singapore
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Creative Commons Attribution
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1145/3589334.3645634
