Manager responses to internal transfer attempts: Managerial orientation, social capital, and perceived benefits as predictors of assisting, hindering, or refraining

Internal job transfers are an understudied human resource practice. This paper addresses various antecedents of managerial action or inaction in response to an attempted transfer by a current employee. We integrate human and social capital theories with managerial agency, stewardship, and servant perspectives to reconcile inconsistencies involving human capital predictions in an internal-transfer context. Whereas a positive relationship between human capital and transfer likelihood is typically thought to exist, we argue that when internal transfers are considered, managerial orientation (agent, steward, or servant), managerial social capital (internal or external social capital), and the perception held by the manager regarding benefits or detriments of the transfer to the manager, organization, or workgroup members combine to affect managerial responses to transfer attempts (assisting, hindering, or refraining from interceding in the transfer attempts).