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  • 2020
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Social Attachment to Place and Psychic Costs of Geographic Mobility: How Distance from Hometown and Vacation Flexibility Affect Job Performance

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Ohchan Kwon
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:61
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Abstract

Using a natural experiment and field interviews, this paper studies how social attachment to place imposes psychic costs on workers who experience geographic mobility. This is especially salient when workers are assigned to locations far from their hometown, which may subject them to increased psychic costs related to social attachment to their hometown. Based on semi-structured field interviews conducted with early career workers at an Indian technology firm, we propose that a key mechanism, “vacation flexibility”—that is, the flexibility to take vacation and travel back home when it matters the most—is relevant to the relation between distance from hometown and worker performance. By exploiting the Indian technology firm’s policy of randomly assigning entry-level employees to eight widely scattered locations, we are able to address selection concerns and validate that distance from hometown is negatively related to worker performance under conditions of lesser vacation flexibility compared to when the worker has more vacation flexibility. To offer evidence around the key mechanism of interest, we use subsample analyses and micro-data on leave taken by workers during the major Indian festival of Diwali. Our findings inform literatures on geographic mobility and geography of work, social attachment to place, workplace flexibility, hiring, migration, and early career experiences.

Keywords

Distance From Hometown; Social Attachment To Place; Psychic Costs; Worker Performance; Natural Experiment; Geographic Location; Familiarity; Employees; Performance; India

Citation

Choudhury, Prithwiraj, and Ohchan Kwon. "Social Attachment to Place and Psychic Costs of Geographic Mobility: How Distance from Hometown and Vacation Flexibility Affect Job Performance." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-010, August 2018. (Revised January 2020.)
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About The Author

Prithwiraj Choudhury

Technology and Operations Management
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More from the Authors
  • The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation By: Prithwiraj Choudhury
  • Location-Specificity and Relocation Incentive Programs for Remote Workers By: Thomaz Teodorovicz, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Evan Starr
  • Enerjisa Üretim: The Digital Era of Electricity Generation By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Sadika El Hariri
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