Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Turning up by Turning Over: The Change of Scenery Effect in Major League Baseball

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study examined a “change of scenery” effect on performance in major league baseball (MLB). We also tested this effect for voluntary versus involuntary employee departures, as well as employees returning to a past employer.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This study uses publicly available MLB performance data from 2004 to 2015. The data comprise 712 team changes for players following two consecutive years with the same organization. Data were analyzed using MANCOVA to assess the impact of changing teams on player performance.

Findings

Results indicate players with declining performance benefited significantly from a change of scenery. Following a team change, these players experienced a significant increase in their performance that remained stable through a subsequent season. The effect was not different for players who changed teams via trade and free agency and was modest for those returning to a past organization. Analysis also showed that players leaving while their performance was improving suffered a subsequent performance drop-off in the new organization.

Implications

As the war for talent escalates and employees change jobs more frequently, extending our understanding of how performance can be influenced by work context may provide new insight into organization staffing policies.

Originality/Value

Results extend field theory by highlighting how past performance interacts with new work contexts to influence performance. This is one of the few studies evaluating the job change-performance relationship, and perhaps the first to account for the effects of performance trends prior to exit.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarts, H., & Dijksterhuis, A. (2000). Habits as knowledge structures: Automaticity in goal-directed behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 53–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aguinis, H., Gottfredson, R. K., & Joo, H. (2012). Using performance management to win the talent war. Business Horizons, 55, 609–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aguinis, H., & O’Boyle, E. (2014). Star performers in twenty-first century organizations. Personnel Psychology, 67, 313–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, D. G. (2006). Do organizational socialization tactics influence newcomer embeddedness and turnover? Journal of Management, 32, 237–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baruch, Y. (2004). Transforming careers: From linear to multidirectional career paths: Organizational and individual perspectives. Career Development International, 9, 58–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bateman, T. S., Karwan, K. R., & Kazee, T. A. (1983). Getting a fresh start: A natural quasi-experimental test of the performance effects of moving to a new job. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 517–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, K. H., & Haunschild, A. (2003). The impact of boundaryless careers on organizational decision making: An analysis from the perspective of Luhmann’s theory of social systems. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14, 713–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, W. R., Boudreau, J. W., & Tichy, J. (2005). The relationship between employee job change and job satisfaction: The honeymoon-hangover effect. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 882–892.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boswell, W. R., Shipp, A. J., Payne, S. C., & Culbertson, S. S. (2009). Changes in newcomer job satisfaction over time: Examining the pattern of honeymoons and hangovers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 844–858.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60, 2563–2582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, D. R., & Todor, W. D. (1979). Turnover turned over: An expanded and positive perspective. Academy of Management Review, 4, 225–235.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1979). The stability of behavior: I. On predicting most of the people much of the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1097–1126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finkelstein, L. M., Kulas, J. T., & Dages, K. D. (2003). Age differences in proactive newcomer socialization strategies in two populations. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17, 473–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, T. M. (2002). In the trenches at the talent wars: Competitive interaction for scarce human resources. Human Resource Management, 41, 225–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerber, M., Wittekind, A., Grote, G., & Staffelbach, B. (2009). Exploring types of career orientation: A latent class analysis approach. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 303–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottschalk, P., & Maloney, T. (1985). Involuntary terminations, unemployment, and job matching: A test of job search theory. Journal of Labor Economics, 3, 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabiner, D. (1994). The sabermetric manifesto. http://www.seanlahman.com/baseball-archive/sabermetrics/sabermetric-manifesto.

  • Hershatter, A., & Epstein, M. (2010). Millennials and the world of work: An organization and management perspective. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, 211–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holtom, B. C., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Eberly, M. B. (2008). Turnover and retention research: A glance at the past, a closer review of the present, and a venture into the future. Academy of Management Annals, 2, 231–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holton, E. F. (2001). New employee development tactics: Perceived availability, helpfulness, and relationship with job attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 16, 73–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hom, P. W., & Griffeth, R. W. (1991). Structural equations modeling test of a turnover theory: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 350–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hom, P. W., Mitchell, T. R., Lee, T. W., & Griffeth, R. W. (2012). Reviewing employee turnover: Focusing on proximal withdrawal states and an expanded criterion. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 831–858.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen, A., Melchers, K. G., Lievens, F., Kleinmann, M., Brändli, M., Fraefel, L., et al. (2013). Situation assessment as an ignored factor in the behavioral consistency paradigm underlying the validity of personnel selection procedures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 98, 326–341.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., Simon, L. S., Hurst, C., & Kelley, K. (2014). What I experienced yesterday is who I am today: Relationship of work motivations and behaviors to within-individual variation in the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 99, 199–221.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kruglanski, A. W., Pierro, A., Higgins, E. T., & Capozza, D. (2007). “On the move” or “staying put”: Locomotion, need for closure, and reactions to organizational change. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 1305–1340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1939). Field theory and experiment in social psychology: Concepts and methods. American Journal of Sociology, 44, 868–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1941). Regression, retrogression and development. University of Iowa Studies of Child Welfare, 18, 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1943). Defining the field at a given time. Psychological Review, 50, 292–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1951). Constructs in field theory [1944]. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers by Kurt Lewin (pp. 30–42). London: Tavistock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loan-Clarke, J., Arnold, J., Coombs, C., Hartley, R., & Bosley, S. (2010). Retention, turnover and return—a longitudinal study of allied health professionals in Britain. Human Resource Management Journal, 20, 391–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mael, F. A., & Ashforth, B. E. (1995). Loyal from day one: Biodata, organizational identification, and turnover among newcomers. Personnel Psychology, 48, 309–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mannix, C. (2012). Market watch. Sports Illustrated, 116, 36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J. L. (2003). What is field theory? American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes, B. T. (1978). Some boundary conditions in the application of motivation models. Academy of Management Review, 3, 51–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng, E. S. W., Schweitzer, L., & Lyons, S. T. (2010). New generation, great expectations: A field study of the millennial generation. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, 281–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nissen, M. (2015). Here’s where apple is poaching its electric car team from. http://qz.com/347000/heres-where-apple-is-poaching-its-electric-car-team-from/.

  • Ohly, S., Sonnentag, S., & Pluntke, F. (2006). Routinization, work characteristics and their relationships with creative and proactive behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 257–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ouellette, J. A., & Wood, W. (1998). Habit and intention in everyday life: The multiple processes by which past behavior predicts future behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 54–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peetz, J., & Wilson, A. E. (2014). Marking time: Selective use of temporal landmarks as barriers between current and future selves. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 44–56.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pierro, A., Giacomantonio, M., Pica, G., Kruglanski, A. W., & Higgins, E. T. (2013). Locomotion and the preference for multi-tasking: Implications for well-being. Motivation and Emotion, 37, 213–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinones, M. A., Ford, J. K., & Teachout, M. A. (1995). The relationship between work experience and job performance: A conceptual and meta-analytic review. Personnel Psychology, 48, 887–910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saks, A. M. (1994). Moderating effects of self-efficacy for the relationship between training method and anxiety and stress reactions of newcomers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 639–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seetharaman, D.& Chan, E. (2015). Apple poaching auto engineers to build battery division: Lawsuit. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-autos-lawsuit-idUSKBN0LN04Y20150219.

  • Shandler, R. (2010, August 8). Fanalytics: A change of scenery can inflate, deflate stats. USA Today, (p. 6).

  • Sheehan, J. (2012). Barter kings. Sports Illustrated, 117, 22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shipp, A. J., Furst-Holloway, S., Harris, T. B., & Rosen, B. (2014). Gone today but here tomorrow: Extending the unfolding model of turnover to consider boomerang employees. Personnel Psychology, 67, 421–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Somaya, D., & Williamson, I. O. (2008). Rethinking the “war for talent”. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49, 29–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swider, B. W., Boswell, W. R., & Zimmerman, R. D. (2011). Examining the job search-turnover relationship: The role of embeddedness, job satisfaction, and available alternatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 432–441.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin, R. G. (2008). On the potential of a chemical Bonds: Possible effects of steroids on home run production in baseball. American Journal of Physics, 76, 15–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tschopp, C., Grote, G., & Gerber, M. (2014). How career orientation shapes the job satisfaction-turnover intention link. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35, 151–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S. F., & Fern, M. J. (2012). Examining the stability and variability of routine performance: The effects of experience and context change. Journal of Management Studies, 49, 1407–1434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberghe, C., Panaccio, A., Bentein, K., Mignonac, K., & Roussel, P. (2011). Assessing longitudinal change of and dynamic relationships among role stressors, job attitudes, turnover intention, and well-being in neophyte newcomers. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 652–671.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, M. (2013). Is the change of scenery effect a real thing? www.fangraphs.com/blogs/is-the-change-of-scenery-effect-a-real-thing.

  • Woo, S. E., & Allen, D. G. (2014). Toward an inductive theory of stayers and seekers in the organization. Journal of Business and Psychology, 29, 683–703.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA

    Bryan L. Rogers & James M. Vardaman

  2. School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    David G. Allen

  3. College of Business, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, USA

    Ivan S. Muslin

  4. College of Business, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK, USA

    Meagan Brock Baskin

Authors
  1. Bryan L. Rogers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James M. Vardaman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David G. Allen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ivan S. Muslin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Meagan Brock Baskin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James M. Vardaman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rogers, B.L., Vardaman, J.M., Allen, D.G. et al. Turning up by Turning Over: The Change of Scenery Effect in Major League Baseball. J Bus Psychol 32, 547–560 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9468-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9468-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation