Towards a Theory of Organizational Rehiring

Organizations often look to hire the best and the brightest individuals, and in some cases, rehire them. Boomerang employees are an emerging source of talent gaining in popularity with organizations due to a myriad of positive outcomes including reduced costs, higher levels of job satisfaction, enhanced organizational commitment, less need for socialization, and reduced uncertainty. This paper combines the Unfolding Model of Voluntary Turnover and job embeddedness to argue that employees on departing paths (one and three) are better suited to become boomerangs as they were generally not dissatisfied with their jobs upon departure. Additionally, this paper suggests organizations focusing on maintaining or increasing links, emphasizing fit and decreasing sacrifice for returning employees, are better able to rehire former employees than organizations that do not.