Doctoral Dissertation Research: Personal Contacts and Employment Opportunities

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Work is a central activity of economic life. The ability to earn a decent living affects individuals' material and psychological well-being, and a productive workforce is essential for national development. Prior research has shown that individuals commonly find employment through personal contacts. Personal networks are developed when repeated, satisfactory exchanges between individuals lead to stable and enduring ties. However, in high-poverty, high-underemployment contexts, maintaining enduring ties with others can be difficult. The objective of this study is to understand individuals use personal contacts to find work in a context of pervasive underemployment. For the proposed study, in-depth interviews, including detailed work histories and social network information, will be collected from 100 low-income workers and job-seekers in urban Nicaragua, a case well suited to this inquiry that adds to a generalizable understanding of employment opportunities via comparison with other research in the US around the world. By studying these processes in a setting where paid work is scarce and institutional supports for job-seekers are few, the factors that determine the effective use of personal contacts can be more clearly identified. This project will also build upon existing research on networks and employment by clarifying the subjective meanings of ties and by testing the assumption that networks are used optimally. This study will parse personal choices (one's willingness to call upon contacts) and structural constraints (one's ability to call upon contacts) by examining unsuccessful searches for work as well as successful searches. Further, researchers studying networks tend to impose definitions of tie strength, even though relationship quality is subjective and dynamic. For the working poor in particular, relationships with others can be both a burden and a resource. This study will ascertain which types of ties were used to obtain jobs, and respondents will be asked for their subjective evaluations of the relationship with those contacts. Thus, this study will lead to the refinement and specification of social capital and network theories while elaborating social processes in detail through in-depth qualitative data.The findings of this study will enable the identification of techniques to increase levels of social capital and economic independence in low-income communities. The proposed project also will inform development practice, by identifying vulnerable workers who are locked out of employment opportunities due to inadequate networks or the inability to use their contacts effectively. The data collected will result in a PhD dissertation, academic conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles, and a book. Also, qualitative studies such as this can be a valuable teaching tool for educating students about complex social phenomena such as labor markets and economic development.