Education, Science, Technology, Innovation and Life
Open Access
Sign In

The Strength of Strong Ties in Job Searching in China: An Overview

Download as PDF

DOI: 10.23977/jhrd.2023.050601 | Downloads: 14 | Views: 508

Author(s)

Albert Wang 1

Affiliation(s)

1 Shenzhen College of International Education, Room M401, Phase I, Chunshuian, No. 1 Xiangshanzhongjie, OCT, Nanshan, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518053, China

Corresponding Author

Albert Wang

ABSTRACT

The roles and influences of social networks in job markets is a heated topic. China is a unique object of research that contributes to revealing how these dynamics can differ between contexts. Though the Strength of Weak Ties Theory has been widely accepted to be depicting the job markets in the Western world, many researchers hypothesized that job seekers in China receive more benefit from strong ties because of the collectivist characteristics of Chinese culture, the existence of institutional holes, and mechanism of influence peddling. Moreover, China, which transited from planned economy to a more marketized one, provides clues about how marketization influences the dynamics of using strong ties. This article reviews previous studies and evidence that support and explain the strength of strong ties in Chinese job market, as well as counterarguments which claim the former ones to be overestimating such strength. This article also discusses potential topics for further investigations.

KEYWORDS

Employability; social network; job-searching; strong ties; social capital

CITE THIS PAPER

Albert Wang, The Strength of Strong Ties in Job Searching in China: An Overview. Journal of Human Resource Development (2023) Vol. 5: 1-6. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jhrd.2023.050601.

REFERENCES

[1] Trimble, L. B., & Kmec, J. A. (2011). The Role of Social Networks in Getting a Job. Sociology Compass, 5(2), 165–178. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2010.00353.x 
[2] Marsden, P. V., & Gorman, E. H. (2001). Social networks, job changes, and recruitment. In Ivar Berg & Arne L Kalleberg (Eds.) Sourcebook of labor markets: Evolving structures and processes (pp. 467-502). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-1225-7_19 
[3] Granovetter, M.S. (1995) Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers (2nd ed.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226518404.001.0001
[4] Fernandez, R. M., Castilla, E. J., & Moore, P. (2000). Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a Phone Center. American Journal of Sociology, 105(5), 1288–1356. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3003768
[5] Premack, S. L., & Wanous, J. P. (1985). A meta-analysis of realistic job preview experiments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(4), 706–719. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.70.4.706
[6] Fernandez, R. M., & Weinberg, N. (1997). Sifting and Sorting Personal Contacts and Hiring in a Retail Bank. American Sociological Review, 62, 883-902.
[7] Rees, A. (1966). Information Networks in Labor Markets. The American Economic Review, 56(1/2), 559–566. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1821319
[8] Smith, S. S. (2012). Why Weak Ties' Help and Strong Ties' Don't: Reconsidering Why Tie Strength Matters. UC Berkeley: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15p921r5
[9] Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The Strength of Weak Ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2776392
[10] Lin, N. (1982). Social resources and instrumental action. In PV Marsden & N Lin (Eds.) Social Structure and Network Analysis (pp. 131-145). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
[11] Lin, N. (1999). Social Networks and Status Attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 467–487. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223513
[12] McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 415–444. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415 
[13] Bian, Y., & Ang, S. (1997). Guanxi Networks and Job Mobility in China and Singapore. Social Forces, 75(3), 981–1005. doi:10.1093/sf/75.3.981 
[14] Bian, Y. (2002). Institutional Holes and Job Mobility Processes: Guanxi Mechanisms in China’s Emergent Labor Market. In T. Gold, D. Guthrie, and D. Wank(Eds.). Social Connections in China: Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi, (pp. 117-35). New York: Cambridge University Press.
[15] Bian, Y., & Huang, X. (2009). Network resources and job mobility in China’s transitional economy. Research in the Sociology of Work, 255–282. doi:10.1108/s0277-2833(2009)0000019012 
[16] Bian, Y., Huang, X., & Zhang, L. (2015). Information and favoritism: The network effect on wage income in China. Social Networks, 40, 129–138. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2014.09.003 
[17] Tian, F. F., & Lin, N. (2016). Weak ties, strong ties, and job mobility in urban China: 1978–2008. Social Networks, 44, 117–129. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2015.08.002
[18] Obukhova, E., & Zhang, L. (2017). Social Capital and Job Search in Urban China: The Strength-of-Strong-Ties Hypothesis Revisited. Chinese Sociological Review, 49(4), 340–361. doi:10.1080/21620555.2017.1307689
[19] Bian, Y. (1997). Bringing Strong Ties Back in: Indirect Ties, Network Bridges, and Job Searches in China. American Sociological Review, 62(3), 366–385. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657311
[20] Nee, V., & Cao, Y. (1999). Path Dependent Societal Transformation: Stratification in Hybrid Mixed Economies. Theory and Society, 28(6), 799–834. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3108521
[21] Bian, Y., & Logan, J. R. (1996). Market Transition and the Persistence of Power: The Changing Stratification System in Urban China. American Sociological Review, 61(5), 739–758. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096451
[22] Zhou, X. (2000). Economic Transformation and Income Inequality in Urban China: Evidence from Panel Data. American Journal of Sociology, 105(4), 1135–1174. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3003890
[23] Lu, Y., Ruan, D., & Lai, G. (2013). Social capital and economic integration of migrants in urban China. Social Networks, 35(3), 357–369. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2013.04.001 
[24] Yang, M. M. (1994). Gifts, favors, banquets; The art of social relationships in China. New York: Cornell University Press.
[25] Hsiao, H. M. (1988). An East Asian Development Model: Empirical Explorations. In P.L. Berger and H.M. Hsiao (Ed.). In Search of an East Asian Development Model (pp. 12-26)
[26] Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review 96, 506-520.
[27] Cheung, C., & Gui, Y. (2006). Job referral in China: The advantages of strong ties. Human Relations, 59(6), 847–872. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726706067151
[28] Yang, M. M.-H. (1989). The Gift Economy and State Power in China. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 31(1), 25–54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/178793
[29] Ma, R., Huang, Y.-C., & Shenkar, O. (2011). Social networks and opportunity recognition: A cultural comparison between Taiwan and the United States. Strategic Management Journal, 32(11), 1183–1205. doi:10.1002/smj.933 
[30] Björkman, I., & Kock, S. (1995). Social relationships and business networks: The case of Western companies in China. International business review, 4(4), 519-535.
[31] Xiao, Z., & Tsui, A. S. (2007). When brokers may not work: The cultural contingency of social capital in Chinese high-tech firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52(1), 1–31.
[32] Zhao, W. (2013). Social Networks, Job Search, and Job Earnings in a Transitional Economy: An Institutional Embeddedness Argument. In Mcdonald, S. (Ed.) Networks, Work and Inequality (Research in the Sociology of Work, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley (pp. 103-132). https://doi.org/10.1108/S0277-2833(2013)0000024008
[33] Obukhova, E., & Rubineau, B. (2022). Market transition and network-based job matching in China: The referrer perspective. ILR Review, 75(1), 200-224.
[34] Obukhova E. (2012). Motivation vs. relevance: Using strong ties to find a job in Urban China. Social science research, 41(3), 570–580. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2011.12.010
[35] Mouw, T. (2003). Social Capital and Finding a Job: Do Contacts Matter? American Sociological Review, 68(6), 868. doi:10.2307/1519749 
[36] Steele, L. G., & Lynch, S. M. (2013). The Pursuit of Happiness in China: Individualism, Collectivism, and Subjective Well-Being during China's Economic and Social Transformation. Social indicators research, 114(2), 10.1007/s11205-012-0154-1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0154-1

Downloads: 4003
Visits: 92255

All published work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2016 - 2031 Clausius Scientific Press Inc. All Rights Reserved.