The Reputation Project: Mobilizing Network Ties for Low-Wage Work

• In Event: 571 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Social Networks in Job Searching and Career Trajectories

Abstract

Studies of social capital and social resource mobilization suggest that job-seekers commonly draw upon their personal networks to obtain job leads, and that network structure, as well as the job-seeker’s characteristics, shapes the quality of job leads. However, this literature relies on the assumption that all network ties can be mobilized equally, despite research demonstrating that tie formation and mobilization is challenging, especially for the poor. Thus far, no systematic effort has been undertaken to understand the conditions under which network ties can be mobilized in the job search. To do so, this paper draws upon insights from the experimental literature on social psychology literature as well as theoretical work on trust and exchange. If the sharing of job information is conceptualized as a form of exchange, and trust is essential to exchange, then we are led to examine the role of trust in tie mobilization. To test this idea, I collected in-depth interview data from 110 workers and job-seekers in urban Nicaragua, a high-poverty, low-wage setting. The data set, the first of its kind, includes detailed information from both job-seekers’ and information-holders’ perspectives, regarding job leads received, job leads solicited and denied, and un-mobilized network ties. I find that job-seekers are constantly engaged in an ongoing reputation project, in which they actively manage others’ impressions of their trustworthiness and worthiness. My findings suggest that a job-seeker’s ability to mobilize network ties is heavily influenced by the type of reputation project he or she constructs.

Author

• Lindsey M. Ibanez, The Ohio State University