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  • December 2018
  • Article
  • Academy of Management Journal

Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss and Rory McDonald
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Abstract

Though organizations are increasingly active participants in the political realm, little research has investigated how an organization’s heightened focus on political ideology impacts employees. We address this gap by exploring how an individual’s political ideological misfit with an organization’s prevailing ideology impacts mobility. By tracking the movements of over 40,000 investment professionals in the U.S. private equity industry over 10 years, we investigate the consequences of the ideological misfit that arises when individuals’ political ideologies diverge substantially from the prevailing ideology of their firms. We hypothesize that ideological misfit increases the likelihood of mobility, though the effects vary with liberal/conservative ideological orientation. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that the fit relationship between individual and organizational political ideology deviates from the idealized congruence relationship that underlies prevailing theory. Through a supplemental, qualitative investigation, we propose some potential interpretations for our findings.

Keywords

Values and Beliefs; Employees; Organizational Culture; Resignation and Termination; Financial Services Industry; United States

Citation

Bermiss, Y. Sekou, and Rory McDonald. "Ideological Misfit? Political Affiliation and Employee Departure in the Private-Equity Industry." Academy of Management Journal 61, no. 6 (December 2018): 2182–2209.
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About The Author

Rory M. McDonald

Technology and Operations Management
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