Getting a Barista Job: Adjudicating the Impact of Human Capital, Social Capital, Age, and Gender

• In Event: 413 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Refereed Roundtable Session. Table 01. Culture and Organizations
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 16. Employability

Abstract

This study concerns the role of human capital, social capital, age, and gender in acquiring a job as an entry-level barista. Have successful applicants acquired greater human and/or social capital than unsuccessful ones? Is there a relationship between human capital and social capital? Are these processes impacted by one’s age and/or gender? Employment applications and employer records from branches of a global coffeehouse chain were coded and analyzed in order to identify the key factors differentiating this applicant pool. Descriptive statistics indicate that these employees are predominantly young, highly-educated, and female. The results from multivariate models produce fewer positive associations between human capital and social capital indicators than the literature suggests. Those with greater educational attainment are found to be more likely to have high-status references on their applications. Gender was not a statistically significant predictor of social capital levels nor job outcomes. The fact that female applicants face no social capital disadvantage here is noteworthy. The age of those hired is representative of the applicant pool. As previously found, the social capital of applicants is not very relevant in acquiring this entry-level job. Overall, educational attainment, the key indicator of human capital, was most salient in increasing the odds of being interviewed and hired. The managers responsible for these decisions appear to favor formal higher education over work experience or references. The findings are discussed vis-à-vis women’s gains in higher education, the growth of the service sector, and the aging of the U.S. population.

Author

• Ed Collom, California State University, San Bernardino