labor market, as well as the value and transferability of human capital, exacerbated
retaliatory-defensive actions. Contrary to predictions, however, overlapping prod-
uct markets were not signiWcantly associated with retaliatory-defensive recruiting
actions. Probably the most interestingWnding was the interaction between the
value and transferability of human capital. When both are high, the likelihood of
defensive retaliation (e.g. retaliatory recruitment of employees from previous
‘poacher’) increased dramatically. On the other hand, when human capital is
non-transferable, its value did not make a diVerence in defensive retaliation
(compared to no response). This study suggests that recruitment can represent,
in a broad repertoire of organizational actions, an activity that is used to defend
against, or retaliate for, talent raiding—in particular when other companies’
‘poaching’ involves highly transferable and valuable employee skills.
In summary, this review of the literature on recruitment strategy shows that
there is little consensus on the meaning of the term. DeWnitions and contexts of
recruitment strategy vary widely, so that not a lot of knowledge has been accumu-
lated—despite many commendable attempts to heed Rynes and Barber’s ( 1990 ) call
for elevating the level of analysis from the individual to the organization. Although
the direct eVects of recruitment practices are either non-generalizable, modest in
size, or uncertain in terms of causal attribution (Rynes 1991 ; Rynes and Cable 2003 ),
research has made major advances in identifying organization-level contingencies
of recruitment. However, as long as there is no generally accepted typology of
recruitment strategies, it is diYcult to determine the theoretical importance of
these empirically veriWed contingencies.
14.3 Implications of the Recruitment
Strategy Literature
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
The lack of theoretical integration points to needed trajectories for future theory
development, research, and management policy. Future research could ameliorate
the lack of solid knowledge, which is due to three root causes: insuYcient
theoretical development, little organization-level prescriptive research, and the
academic–practitioner gap (see also Taylor and Collins 2000 ).
- 1 Future Theory Development
More sophisticated theory development is required to clarify the dimensions of
recruitment strategy. One obvious dimension is internal versus external recruitment,
recruitment strategy 291