"Job hopping" by scientists and engineers is an important channel for knowledge diffusion. Little is known, however, about the effectiveness of actions firms take to reduce the outward flow of know-how and talent from their own organizations. Building on theories of reputation-building and...

We develop and test a theory examining how frictions that restrict mobility across industries and frictions constraining mobility within an industry can co-occur to effectively isolate individual human capital, ultimately changing the firm's make-versus-buy decision for human capital....