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This article extends research on the relationship between employee mobility and firm performance by exploring how mobility between competitors and mobility between potential cooperators are different. We draw on social capital theory to argue that movement of employees both to and from clients may enhance firm performance, whereas only inward mobility from competitors benefits firms. We also hypothesize that it is more harmful for firms to lose social capital-laden human assets to competitors than to other potential employee destinations. We tested our hypotheses with a novel dyadic data set of patent attorney movements between law firms and Fortune 500 companies.

Applying arguments from social exchange theory, we theoretically derive and empirically test a multilevel model that informs theory on leadership, cynicism, and deviant withdrawal. Namely, we examine the moderating effect of the upward exchange relationship of a leader on empowering leadership behaviors as they affect subordinate psychological empowerment, cynicism, and time theft. In a sample of 161 employees across 37 direct supervisors, empowering leadership was associated with reduced employee cynicism both directly and indirectly through employee psychological empowerment. The positive relationship between empowering leadership and employee psychological empowerment, however, was significant only when the leader enjoyed a high-quality relationship with his or her own boss. In turn, cynicism was associated with increased time theft, suggesting that employees may reciprocate frustrating experiences by withdrawing in minor, yet impactful and deviant, ways in efforts to balance their exchange with the organization.

Based on multilevel data collected at 2 points in time, we examine the role of employees’ affective experiences in shaping their commitment and behavioral responses to both the initial (Time 1) and later (Time 2) phases of organizational change (12 months later). We also test the cross‐level effect of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership on their employees’ responses to change. We find strong support for predicted longitudinal relationships between employees’ affective experiences and their commitment and behavioral responses to change. In particular, employees’ positive and negative affect (NA) at Time 1 significantly predict both their commitment to change and the 3 dimensions (supportive, resistant, and creative) of behavioral responses at Time 2. Further, the effects of NA directly influence employee change commitment and behaviors at Time 2, whereas the long‐term effects of positive affect occur both directly and indirectly through commitment to change at Time 1. Finally, our results support the hypothesized role of workgroup managers’ transformational leadership in shaping employees’ affective reactions and commitment to change at the initial phase of change and thereby, their subsequent behavioral responses in the later phase. We discuss the implications for theory and practice in organizational change.