Social Capital and Finding a Job
Do Contacts Matter
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5000643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | T Mouw (0000-0002-6657-1565, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 68 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 868 |
| Publication date | 2003-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1519749 |
| OpenAlex | W2324144652 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 358 |
| References cited | 54 |
Does social capital affect labor market outcomes? The prevalent use of job contacts to find work suggests that "who you know" is an important means of getting a good job. Network theories of social capital argue that well-connected workers benefit because of the job information and influence they receive through their social ties. Although a number of studies have found a positive relationship between measures of social capital and wages and/or occupational prestige, little is known about the causal effect of social networks on labor market outcomes. Four data sets are used to reassess findings on the role of social capital in the labor market. A test of causality is proposed based on the argument that if social capital variables do have a causal effect on job outcomes, then workers with high levels of social capital should be more likely to use contacts to find work, all else being equal. Results suggest that much of the effect of social capital in the existing literature reflects the tendency for similar people to become friends rather than a causal effect of friends' characteristics on labor market outcomes
Affect (linguistics · Argument (complex analysis · Business · Capital (architecture · Causality (physics · Demographic economics · Economic capital · Economic growth · Economics · Human capital · Individual capital · Interpersonal ties · Labour economics · Social capital · Social mobility · Social science · Social status · Sociology · Higher Education Research Studies · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks · Social Psychology
Nine Mechanisms of Job-Searching and Job-Finding Through Contacts Among Young Adults
Social Capital, Academic Achievement, and Postgraduation Plans at an Elite, Private University
The Contingent Value of Unmobilized Social Capital in Getting a Good Job
The Relationship between College Major Prestige/Status and Post-baccalaureate Outcomes
Working at the margins? Muslim middle class professionals in India and the limits of 'labour agency
When Does Social Capital Matter? Non-Searching For Jobs Across the Life Course
Social mobility and class segregation in personal networks over time
How Do Labor Market Networks Work?
Social Networks and Racial and Ethnic Boundaries in Organizations
The Experimental Approach to Studying Employers' Hiring Behavior
Migration and Social Capital
The Individual Experience of Unemployment
Referral-based Job Search Networks
Persistent Poverty in the Netherlands
L'influence de la structure sociale sur les activités économiques
Social Networks and Labour Market Outcomes
It Matters Whom You Know
De werking van sociaal kapitaal in het statusverwervingsproces in Nederland
Le réseau social, un outil inégalitaire
Decent education as a precursor to decent work
Graduate employability in Europe
Do not ask for job information from your close friends or from strangers
Working while studying
Using repeated cross-sectional data to examine the role of immigrant birth-country networks on unemployment duration
The incidence of overeducation among international students upon graduation in Ireland
Examination of the Moderating Role of Household Income in the Association Between Cognitive Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being Among Rural Older Adults in Northeast China
The multi-dimensional, multi-level impact of social capital on academic job search in China
Role of perceived events in university graduates' job search self-efficacy and success
Social Networks and Employment
Social Networks and Employment
Social capital and self-efficacy in the process of youth entry into the labour market
Inequality in social capital and labour market re-entry among unemployed people
Social capital and immigrant wealth inequality
Job‐search Networks and Wage Attainment in C hina
On the Relationship between Violent Conflict and Wages in Colombia
Measurement of Individual Social Capital
Revisiting Migrant Networks
Capital social e instituciones en el proceso de cambio económico
Personal Networks
Differential investments and opportunities
Social capital, friendship networks, and youth unemployment
Partner selection and social capital in the status attainment process
Tracking Success
Social Contacts and Race/Ethnic Job Matching
Finding a Job in the Internet Age
The Impact of Origin and Host Country Schooling on the Economic Performance of Immigrants
Job Displacement and Social Participation over the Lifecourse
The 'Dark Side' of the Strength of Weak Ties
Social Networks in East and Southeast Asia I
Beyond the Strength of Social Ties
Are Referrals More Productive or More Likeable? Social Networks and the Evaluation of Merit
Participation in Voluntary Associations and Social Contact of Immigrants in Canada
Unanticipated Gains
Declining Inequality and Persistent Inequality Structures
An Exploratory Review of Regional Perspectives on Social Capital and Occupational Studies
Academic inbreeding and boundary-making in higher education institutions
Social Networks, Job Matching and Labor Market Outcomes in Low-Skilled Jobs
Childhood adversity and off-farm employment
A personal network analysis of remote workers
Social influences in network and households’ e-commerce entrepreneurship in rural China
Diversity in Immigrant Bonding and Bridging Networks Across Residential Mobility Pathways
The causal effect of social capital on income
Are bridging ties really advantageous? An experimental test of their advantage in a competitive social learning context
Social network structure and the trade-off between social utility and economic performance
Migrant Networks and Labor Market Integration of Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Germany
Who should we get? How employer reputation shapes network hiring in Dutch professional football
The influence of parents’ social capital on their children’s transition to vocational training in Germany
Investigating the role of multilevel social capital in ethnic income inequality in the Chinese labour market
Dual Embeddedness
The Recruitment Paradox
Uniters or dividers? Voluntary organizations and social capital acquisition
Information and favoritism
The Effects of Social Group Membership and Social Capital Resources on Careers
Goa to Paris
Happiness in Hard Times
Social capital and leaving the nest
Social Capital and Its Effect on Labour Market (Mis)match
Social networks and getting a home
Network diversity, contact diversity, and status attainment
A structured overview of 50 years of small-world research
Gendered double embeddedness
Weak ties, strong ties, and job mobility in urban China
The effects of specific occupations in position generator measures of social capital
Old friends and new acquaintances
What's in the “old boys” network? Accessing social capital in gendered and racialized networks
Raising network resources while raising children? Access to social capital by parenthood status, gender, and marital status
Contacts and contexts
Ask and you shall receive
Don’t mention it
The chance of influence
Reconstructing Granovetter's network theory
Social capital and homophily both matter for labor market outcomes – evidence from replication and extension
(When) Is job-finding via personal contacts a meaningful concept for social network analysis? A comment to
Do resources of network members help in help seeking? Social capital and health information search
Social networks and labour market outcomes in a meritocracy
Job Search Methods of Refugees in the Netherlands
Want, Need, Fit
How Conformity to Labor Market Norms Increases Access to Job Search Assistance
When informal is normal… On the role of credentials and contacts for the job entry in Serbia
Social networks in China
Entry into the American labor force
Empirical labor economics
Theories of Capital
Getting a Job
Structural Holes
The Causal Effect of Education on Earnings
Peer Effects with Random Assignment
Does peer ability affect student achievement?
Policy Interventions, Low-Level Equilibria, and Social Interactions
Social Networks, Job Changes, and Recruitment
Building a Network Theory of Social Capital
Social Networks and Status Attainment
Social Capital
The Parental and Peer Contexts of Adolescent Deviance
Peer Effects in Academic Outcomes
The impact of social and human capital on the income attainment of Dutch managers
Social resources and socioeconomic status
Access to occupations through social ties
Network resources, contact resources, and status attainment
Identification Problems in the Social Sciences
On the measurement of friend behavior in research on friend influence and selection
Social Networks and the Employment Problem of the Urban Poor
The Economics of Information
The contribution of influence and selection to adolescent peer group homogeneity
On the Empirics of Social Capital
Job Mobility and Social Ties
Informal Hiring and Income in the Labor Market
Bringing Strong Ties Back in
Social Resources and Strength of Ties
Job Search and Network Composition
Sifting and Sorting
Social Networks and Prestige Attainment
Pathways into Work
Social Resources and Mobility Outcomes
With a Little Help from My Friends
Sources of Peer Group Homogeneity
Birds of a Feather
Social Isolation and Labor Market Insulation
Offering a Job
Homophily, Selection, and Socialization in Adolescent Friendships
Social Capital at Work
Getting Ahead in the GDR
Racial differences in the effects of job contacts
| Unique citing works | 296 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 17,05 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2026 (22) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 351 |