‘professional’ and ‘family-friendship’ social ties in hiring practices of russian employees
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‘Professional’ and ‘family-friendship’ social ties in hiring practices of Russian employees. Evgeniya Balabanova National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia SASE 26th Annual Conference July 10-12, 2014, Chicago. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
‘Professional’ and ‘family-friendship’ social ties in hiring
practices of Russian employees
Evgeniya BalabanovaNational Research University – Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
SASE 26th Annual Conference July 10-12, 2014, Chicago
Using personal contacts in job search and job placement on the Russian labor market
• widespread • most important under the conditions of:– high-tension labor markets– high vacancy competition– applying for prestigious and high-paid positions
Hiring ‘by pulling strings’: vice or norm?
Social networks in job search and placement
• ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ ties (Granovetter 1973)• ‘information’ and ‘influence’ networks; ‘informative’ and
‘placement’ referrals (Simon, Warner 1992; Peterson et al. 2000; Yakubovich 2005)
• ‘professional’ (obtained during one’s career), e.g. – reputation in relevant professional community – referrals from previous workplaces– finding job through professional acquaintances
• versus ‘off-professional’ (‘old-boys networks’) – friendship and family ties
Social networks in job search and placement: differences of approaches
‘Strong’ vs. ‘weak’ (Granovetter 1973)
• Intensity and intersection of social contacts
Professional ties vs. family and friends networks
• Sources of social contacts
‘Specialists and managers in Russian business organizations: drivers and tendencies of development’, 2012
Center for Research in Social Organization of a Firm, HSE Faculty of Management
Sampling: 623 white-collar employees in 17 private-owned companies operating in Russia
Location Capital ownership Industries
Subsamples’ names Moscow Regions Domestic Foreign
(US, German)
Prestigious (finances,
services, IT)
Not prestigious (manufacturing)
Subsamples’ size, no. of respondents
323 300 322 301 382 241
Total, respondents 623 623 623
Using of formal and networking channels of job search, %% of valid answers, N=518
Groups most often having network capital
Professional
• males from: – regions; – foreign-owned companies; – prestigious industries (42% among
each)
• respondents from foreign-owned companies in prestigious industries (41%)
• supervisors (37%)• aged 30-39 (35%)• having both professional
experience and special education (34%)
Family-friendship
• aged 19-24 (74%)• respondents from domestic
companies in prestigious industries (73%)
• respondents from regions (71%)
Professional and family-friendship capital: opposition or complementarity?
Group no.
Professional experience (min.
5 years) + special education
(55%)
Professional social capital
(29%)
Family-friendship social
capital (62%)% in the sample
1 – – – 122 + – – 153 + + – 74 + – + 215 – + – 46 – + + 67 – – + 238 + + + 12
TOTAL 100
Job and career satisfaction and organizational commitment: comparison of 8 groups
Group no.
Professional experience +
special education
Professional social capital
Family-friendship social capital
1 – – –2 + – –3 + + –4 + – +5 – + –6 – + +7 – – +8 + + +
Index for professional social capital
Question Binary items included into Index
How did you get to know about vacation for your current workplace?
From colleagues or people I was acquainted with during my previous job
On your opinion, what were the main reasons for your appointment on the current position?
Me and my supervisor worked together on my previous job; he/she knows my professional qualities
On your opinion, what were the main reasons for getting your current job?
• My professional reputation among colleagues• My supervisor’s opinion based on his/her
knowledge of my professional qualities from our previous professional cooperation
Why did you leave your previous job? Opportunity to work with high-qualified professionals I know from my previous job
Index for family-friendship social capital
Question Binary items included into IndexHow did you get to know about vacation for your current workplace?
From my friends or relatives
Did you have friends or relatives working in this company before you came here?
• Yes, among subordinates
• Yes, my immediate supervisor was among them
• Yes, among other line or middle managers
• Yes, among top managers
On your opinion, what were the main reasons for your appointment on the current position?
• Close relationships with my immediate supervisor
• Referrals from my friends or relatives
• My reputation of ‘insider’ for this company; I’m well in with influential people here
On your opinion, what were the main reasons for getting your current job?
• Referrals from my friends or relatives
• Referrals from some influential persons
• Friendship or family ties with key personnel in the company
• My supervisor’s opinion based on his/her knowledge of my loyalty and agreeableness
Why did you leave your previous job? Opportunity to work with pleasant people I’m well in with (friends, relatives)
Regression models for employees’ well-being, standardized β-coefficients
VariablesCareer
promotionsFamily material
well-being
Wages are higher than average in the city for the
same job
Job satisfaction Organizational commitment
Career satisfaction
I II I II I II I II I II I II
Professional qualification (1=having both 5-year work experience and special education)
,103* ,053 -,033 -,009 -,033 -,009 -,082* -,059 ,014 -,057 ,022 -,017
Professional social capital ,107** ,023 ,152*** ,071 ,121** ,059 ,149*** ,116** ,112* ,074 ,091* ,033
Family-friendship social capital ,080* ,076* -,035 ,029 -,031 -,005 -,006 -,034 -,030 -,006 -,021 -,031
Location (1 = Moscow, 2 = regions)
,029 -,234*** -,044 -,073 -,151*** -,092*
Capital ownership (1 = domestic, 2 = foreign)
,044 ,302*** ,213*** -,050 ,135** ,004
Industry 1 = prestigious, 2 = not prestigious)
-,027 -,152*** -,094* -,235*** -,169*** -,175***
Gender (1 = male, 2 = female) -,070 ,038 -,002 ,001 ,106** ,034
Age -,066 -,081* -,061 -,009 ,235*** ,046
Position (1 = without subordinates, 2 = having subordinates)
,376*** ,216*** ,087* ,131** ,127** ,303***
Adjusted R2 ,023** ,159*** ,020** ,229*** ,011* ,072*** ,022** ,082*** ,010* ,158*** ,005 ,125***
Conclusions (1)
Conclusions (2)
• ‘old-boys networks’ is rather a compensatory hiring mechanism that provides only one-time or initial advantages for relatively uncompetitive applicants, e.g.– the first position in the career – getting a job after a period of unemployment or being out of the labor force– moving from the ‘bad’ workplace to a ‘good’ one
• using informal relatives’ or friends’ contacts to find jobs is rather a last resort for low-resource workers which stay on their jobs because of few alternative choices rather than because of better match quality (Loury 2006)
Directions for further research
Professional reputation and professional social networks: ‘meritocratic’ or ‘anti-meritocratic’ factors of development?