Getting a Job as a Manager

Abstract

In his seminal study, Granovetter (1995) demonstrated how the job-attainment process is embedded within social networks. The ensuing research effort and theoretical discussion left two points unclear. To what extent do people with higher societal position use informal channels to find a job? Do they receive positive returns in terms of income? A replication of Granovetter’s analysis in a large sample of Dutch managers at larger companies (n=1402) in 1986–1987 shows that Dutch managers generally rely on their social contacts to find a job, and they do so more frequently at higher executive levels. Moreover, using informal job-finding methods leaves them with higher earnings. Granovetter’s weak-ties argument has been refuted: although they are the most widely used, finding a job through weak ties does not produce a higher income level. It is not true that managers rely more on informal contacts later in their career.

Our own more general hypotheses on social capital have been confirmed. Managers with more social capital (association memberships and external work contacts) find a job more frequently through some informal channel. Moreover, they earn a higher income independent of their human capital. Burt’s hypothesis that social ties enlarge the returns of human capital has been refuted. Human and social capital do interact in that social contacts help workers to earn more income at any level of human capital, but the returns of human capital decrease at higher volumes of social relations.