Essays on Human Capital and Labor Market Strategies: Navigating Organizational Growth, Social Issues, and External Pressures

Abstract

This dissertation, comprised of three self-contained chapters, focuses on how internal and external environments impact retention, attraction, and allocation of human capital. It reveals how firms adapt their strategies on talent acquisition, capability development, and labor market positioning in response to evolving conditions. By focusing on the regulatory environment, social norms, and stakeholders, this dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of mechanisms shaping mobility, acquisition and allocation of talent in dynamic labor markets. Chapter I examines how abortion-restrictive laws impact retention and relocation of high-skilled talent. The results from the unique dataset with 0.54 million scientists demonstrate that states with abortion-restrictive laws faced more difficulty attracting and retaining high-quality scientific talent and experienced a downward trend in their long-run scientific and innovative performance. The study illustrates how the regulatory environment can shape the relocation of human capital and regional competitiveness in science and innovation. Chapter II investigates how firms adjust their interaction with labor markets and their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) messaging around significant organizational events, such as an IPO. Text analysis of online job postings reveals that firms facing growth pressures post-IPO adopt inclusive language to compete for talent. The findings indicate that these trends were driven by shifts in firms’ strategic intent concerning human capital, given the changes in their resources and new growth objectives post-IPO. The study suggests that language around DEI in job postings is not merely a function of evolving social norms but is also a strategic response to labor market pressures. Chapter III explores how young firms grow and shape their human capital capabilities by examining the influence of founders, investors, product and capital market dynamics on the capability growth strategies of firms. The findings reveal that investors were the dominant decision makers during the development of organizational capabilities, and founders’ impact weakened after their involvement. The study demonstrates that investor objectives and experiences can shape firms’ human capital and organizational growth strategies, potentially influencing exit outcomes. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates how organizations adapt human capital strategies to navigate organizational growth, social issues, and external pressures. These insights contribute to ongoing discussions on how firms sustain competitive advantage in increasingly competitive labor markets while also highlighting broader economic and innovation consequences of workforce mobility and organizational strategies.