JOB SEARCH AND NETWORK COMPOSITION - IMPLICATIONS OF THE STRENGTH-OF-WEAK-TIES HYPOTHESIS

Workers find jobs through personal contacts (weak and strong ties) and formal sources. Alternative formulations of the strength-of-weak-ties hypothesis suggest (1) weak ties relay job offers more frequently than strong ties, or (2) weak-tie offers are drawn from a better distribution. A formal model shows that both formulations imply a correlation between network composition and a job seeker's minimum acceptable wage. However, the use of a weak tie is never associated with higher expected wages under the first formulation, and is only sometimes associated with higher expected wages under the second formulation. These results suggest that researchers should focus on job seekers' network structures.