The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test
Whether and how social ties create value has inspired substantial research in organizational theory, sociology, and economics. Scholars generally believe that social ties impact labor market outcomes. Two explanatory mechanisms have been identified, emphasizing access to better job offers in pecunia...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Society for Sociological Science
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108696 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0461-9711 |
| _version_ | 1826193016940920832 |
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| author | Greenberg, Jason Fernandez, Roberto M |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Greenberg, Jason Fernandez, Roberto M |
| author_sort | Greenberg, Jason |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Whether and how social ties create value has inspired substantial research in organizational theory, sociology, and economics. Scholars generally believe that social ties impact labor market outcomes. Two explanatory mechanisms have been identified, emphasizing access to better job offers in pecuniary terms and the efficacy of non-redundant information. The evidence informing each theory, however, has been inconsistent and circumstantial. We test predictions from both models using a rich set of job search data collected from an MBA student population, including detailed information about search channels and characteristics of job offers. Importantly, we can compare offers made to the same student derived via different search channels while accounting for industry, function, and non-pecuniary characteristics. We find that contrary to conventional wisdom, search through social networks typically results in job offers with lower total compensation (-17 percent for referrals through strong ties and -16 percent for referrals via weak ties vs. formal search). However, our models also show that students are considerably more likely to accept offers derived via weak ties. They do so because they are perceived to have greater growth potential and other non-pecuniary value. On balance, our tests are consistent with Granovetter’s argument that networks provide value by facilitating access to information that is otherwise difficult to obtain, rather than providing greater pecuniary compensation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:32:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/108696 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:32:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Society for Sociological Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1086962022-09-26T12:10:15Z The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test Greenberg, Jason Fernandez, Roberto M Sloan School of Management Fernandez, Roberto M Whether and how social ties create value has inspired substantial research in organizational theory, sociology, and economics. Scholars generally believe that social ties impact labor market outcomes. Two explanatory mechanisms have been identified, emphasizing access to better job offers in pecuniary terms and the efficacy of non-redundant information. The evidence informing each theory, however, has been inconsistent and circumstantial. We test predictions from both models using a rich set of job search data collected from an MBA student population, including detailed information about search channels and characteristics of job offers. Importantly, we can compare offers made to the same student derived via different search channels while accounting for industry, function, and non-pecuniary characteristics. We find that contrary to conventional wisdom, search through social networks typically results in job offers with lower total compensation (-17 percent for referrals through strong ties and -16 percent for referrals via weak ties vs. formal search). However, our models also show that students are considerably more likely to accept offers derived via weak ties. They do so because they are perceived to have greater growth potential and other non-pecuniary value. On balance, our tests are consistent with Granovetter’s argument that networks provide value by facilitating access to information that is otherwise difficult to obtain, rather than providing greater pecuniary compensation. 2017-05-05T14:48:22Z 2017-05-05T14:48:22Z 2016-05 2016-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2330-6696 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108696 Greenberg, Jason and Fernandez, Roberto. “The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test.” Sociological Science 3 (2016): 296–316. © 2016 The Author(s). https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0461-9711 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.15195/v3.a14 Sociological Science Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Society for Sociological Science Sociological Science |
| spellingShingle | Greenberg, Jason Fernandez, Roberto M The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title | The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title_full | The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title_fullStr | The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title_short | The Strength of Weak Ties in MBA Job Search: A Within--Person Test |
| title_sort | strength of weak ties in mba job search a within person test |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108696 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0461-9711 |
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