From Potential to Realization:

1. International Conference on Social Capital, May 28-30 2008 From Potential to Realization: The Mobilization of Social Capital by Chinese Job Seekers Yanjie Bian, University of Minnesota Xianbi Huang, University of Queensland

2. Theoretical Perspectives on Social Capital • Network membership as social capital: Putnam, Portes • Network structure as social capital: Coleman, Burt • Network resources as social capital: Lin, Erickson

3. Initial position Network resources Action Lin’s Theory on 2-Stage Process of Social Capital Mobilization Access Mobilization Extensity of ties Contacts (Tie strength)

4. Mobilizing Social Capital Johnson, LuAnne R. and David Knoke. 2005. “‘Skonk Works Here’: Activating Network Social Capital in Complex Collaborations.” Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies of Work Teams 10:243-262. SCi= ego i’s social capital from the J alters in its ego-network pji= ego’s perceived probability of access to use alter j’s resources Rj = total resources controlled by alter j that could be useful to ego i

5. Social Capital Potential Social Capital Realization Analytical Framework Agency ? Use of contact Contact status Contact help Network size Network density Network resources

6. The Agency of Social Relations • Social capital as unintended consequences (Arrow) • Social capital from more or less a deliberate process (Granovetter, Lin, Burt) • Social Capital in Chinese Guanxi culture • Cultivation: Fei’s “differentiated configuration” • Maintenance: Bian’s “social eating” • Adjustment: Everyday’s observation

7. Chinese Job Seekers as SR Agents • Search as a deliberate process • Who: targeted persons of information & influence • How: ties to connect & strategies to secure help • What: information & more concrete favor • Job seekers as agents • Interests: strong vs. weak • Values: relationalist vs. individualist • Agency variations: urgency and efforts

8. Analytic Strategy & Research Hypotheses • Hypotheses • H1: Job holders tend to have higher potential social capital than do laid-off workers • H2: Laid-off workers tend to have higher mobilized social capital • H3: The higher mobilized social capital, the better job search outcome • Two groups of job seekers

9. Research Design • Two groups of job seekers • 1999 5-city household sample: about 4,752 workers from a general population sample: • Probability sampling of residents • Job seeking process to the last job • 2000 Wuhan city laid-off worker sample: 621 laid-off workers • Cluster sampling of SOE workers • Job seeking process after being laid off

10. Table 1. Potential social capital *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

11. Table 2. Mobilized social capital *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

12. Table 3. Social capital effects !p<.10, *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001

13. Conclusions • Social capital mobilization is a deliberate process in which the agency of social relations is highly relevant • The agency is reflected in the variation of urgency between an on-the-job seeker and an off-the-job seeker • Urgency variation makes a difference in the amount of mobilized social capital • Social capital has a higher lifting effect for laid-off workers on job matching

14. Q & A Thank you!