https://doi.org/10.1177/14761270241229080 Strategic Organization 1–22 © The Author(s) 2024 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/14761270241229080 journals.sagepub.com/home/soq The individual makes the difference: How mobile personnel affects organizational status of hiring firms Leonard Schmidt National Sun Yat-sen University Thijs A Velema National Taipei University Shin-I Shih National Sun Yat-sen University Abstract This article examines how executive mobility shapes organizational status. We propose that the status perception of market observers is not only shaped through the lens of status distance between the source and destination firms but also influenced by a novel lens: the mobile individuals’ career characteristics. By testing our hypotheses with a sample of US accounting, consulting, and law firms between 2012 and 2018, we find that hiring from a higher-status firm has a stronger positive effect on the perception of observers when hired individuals have long tenure and interlocking directorships. Looking through the lens of career characteristics, we explain differences in the credibility perception of mobility events and contribute to a better understanding of the mobility–status relationship. Keywords board of director interlocks, human capital, interorganizational network formation, interorganizational relations, labor markets, signaling theory, social networks, status, top management teams, topics and perspectives Introduction How does hiring shape the perceived status of an organization? Status research generally argues that organizational status derives from affiliations with other organizations (Castellucci and Ertug, 2010; Podolny, 1993). One way such affiliations develop is through the hiring of personnel from Corresponding author: Leonard Schmidt, Department of Business Management, National Sun Yat-sen University, No.70 Lien-hai Road, Kaohsiung 804201, Taiwan Email: leoschm@googlemail.com 1229080SOQ 0 0 10.1177/14761270241229080Strategic Organization)Schmidt et al. research-article 2024 Article