Doctoral Dissertation Research: Personal Contacts and Employment Opportunities

工作是经济生活的中心活动。赚取体面生活的能力影响到个人的物质和心理福祉，而一支富有生产力的劳动力对国家发展至关重要。先前的研究表明，个人通常通过个人联系找到工作。当个人之间反复的、令人满意的交流导致稳定和持久的关系时，个人网络就会发展起来。然而，在高度贫困、高就业不足的情况下，与其他人保持持久的联系可能很困难。这项研究的目的是了解在普遍就业不足的情况下，个人使用个人联系来寻找工作。在拟议的研究中，将从尼加拉瓜城市的100名低收入工人和求职者那里收集深入访谈，包括详细的工作历史和社交网络信息，这一案例非常适合这项调查，通过与美国在世界各地的其他研究相比较，增加了对就业机会的概括性理解。通过在有偿工作稀缺和对求职者的机构支持很少的情况下研究这些过程，可以更清楚地确定决定有效利用个人联系的因素。该项目还将以现有关于网络和就业的研究为基础，澄清联系的主观含义，并检验网络得到最佳利用的假设。这项研究将通过考察不成功的工作搜索和成功的搜索来分析个人选择(一个人访问联系人的意愿)和结构性限制(一个人访问联系人的能力)。此外，研究网络的研究人员倾向于强加纽带强度的定义，尽管关系质量是主观的和动态的。特别是对贫困劳动者来说，与他人的关系既是一种负担，也是一种资源。这项研究将确定哪些类型的关系是用来获得工作的，受访者将被要求对与这些联系人的关系进行主观评价。因此，本研究将在通过深入的定性数据详细阐述社会过程的同时，对社会资本和网络理论进行提炼和规范。本研究的结果将有助于识别提高低收入社区社会资本水平和经济独立性的技术。拟议的项目还将通过确定由于网络不足或无法有效利用其联系人而被排除在就业机会之外的弱势工人，向发展实践提供信息。收集的数据将产生一篇博士论文、学术会议报告、同行评议的期刊文章和一本书。此外，像这样的定性研究可以成为一种宝贵的教学工具，帮助学生了解劳动力市场和经济发展等复杂的社会现象。

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.