A Multilevel Investigation of Individual- and Unit-Level Human Capital Complementarities

Human capital theory has recently expanded to include multilevel analysis by conceptualizing the unit-level human capital resource. At the same time, the value of complementary resources has been theorized to provide competitive advantages for firms. Thus, human capital at one level in the firm may impact the performance of human capital at another level in the firm if the resources are complementary. Through a multilevel analysis performed using hierarchical linear modeling of Major League Baseball data, we show that the relationship between individual human capital and individual performance is impacted by complementary functional and managerial unit-level human capital resources. As such, this paper contributes to the understanding of how complementary multilevel human capital resources relate to performance outcomes. Implications of our findings include support for the notion that more is not always better when it comes to high-quality human capital and that unit-level human capital plays an important role in performance of individual-level human capital.