Temporarily taking the post’s theory as given, then speculating: managers a few levels above the bottom won’t feel much dominance increase from hires at the bottom if they’re too organizationally distant for it to register, I’d think; the feeling boost from Nth-level reports would drop sharply with increasing N due to less personal contact. They would then seek to manipulate their set of direct reports. Some would see internal underlings as a threat, want to get them out of the way, and not necessarily have another insider suitable to displace them with. Some would see outsiders with external status markers (intelligence, high-profile accomplishments) whom they can gain indirect status by hiring directly. Some might be obstructed directly from engaging internal promotions or get outcompeted for the internal pool.
This feels like a great theory for one motivation, but it isn’t at all complete.
For example: this theory doesn’t really predict why anyone is ever hired above the bottom level of an organization at the margin.
Temporarily taking the post’s theory as given, then speculating: managers a few levels above the bottom won’t feel much dominance increase from hires at the bottom if they’re too organizationally distant for it to register, I’d think; the feeling boost from Nth-level reports would drop sharply with increasing N due to less personal contact. They would then seek to manipulate their set of direct reports. Some would see internal underlings as a threat, want to get them out of the way, and not necessarily have another insider suitable to displace them with. Some would see outsiders with external status markers (intelligence, high-profile accomplishments) whom they can gain indirect status by hiring directly. Some might be obstructed directly from engaging internal promotions or get outcompeted for the internal pool.