Yifan Tian

I am a scholar of innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurship. My dissertation lies at the intersection of knowledge, organizational dynamics, and labor mobility, with a particular focus on the factors that shape knowledge creation and diffusion, as well as the influence of knowledge on entrepreneurial and innovative performance. It contributes to the literature on strategic human capital, entrepreneurship, and innovation by underscoring the critical role of knowledge as a key form of human capital influencing firm performance. It extends the body of research on the portability of human capital across firms by differentiating the effects of mass layoffs from those of other causes. Beyond employee-driven knowledge transfer, this work also enriches the understanding of founder team composition, intra-firm knowledge diffusion, and their influences on organizational performance.
 

I am currently on the job market.

JOB MARKET PAPER

Involuntary Mobility and Working Productivity: Evidence from the Mass Layoffs in the United States

Existing literature extensively examines the productivity shifts of inventors following voluntary transitions between companies, yet scant attention is devoted to the consequences of involuntary movements of inventors. This paper addresses this question by leveraging data from LinkedIn, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and comprehensive records of mass layoffs in the United States. Through meticulous analysis, I identify and scrutinize the trajectories of laid-off inventors, shedding light on the dynamics of their productivity. Involuntarily moving inventors experience a drop in their productivity after mobility, and carrying social capital accumulated in the previous firm can mitigate the negative effect. The study contributes to the research field on the portability of human capital and unveils the individual-level outcomes of mass layoffs, enriching our understanding of workforce transitions in innovation-driven industries.

WORKING PAPERS

• Uncommon Knowledge Combinations in Startups and the Impacts on Startup Performance (with Stefano Breschi)
• Knowledge in Multi-Location Firms: Exploration, Internal Exploitation, and Integration (with Stefano Breschi)

WORK IN PROGRESS

• Lobbying and Innovation (with Nilanjana Dutt and Felix Poege)