In a knowledge-based economy, access to highly qualified human capital is of fundamental importance for maintaining the competitiveness of organizations. The inter-organizational mobility of academic researchers is one of the most salient means for promoting the production of frontier scientific knowledge, its diffusion, and the consequent creation of knowledge spillovers.
However, the mobility process is somewhat heterogeneous and strongly influenced by distinctive features of the various national contexts. Furthermore, the evolutionary nature of mobility requires particular attention to the analysis of its life cycle, for which it is necessary to adopt an empirical approach capable of capturing its short and long-term temporal dimension.
Understanding the dynamics of mobility requires, thus, a longitudinal and multilevel approach that considers the characteristics of individuals and of the institutional and regulatory context in which mobility choices are made, and evaluates the benefits not only for the individual but for all levels of analysis.