Weak ties and strong ties

created: "2021-11-04T12:02:31+01:00" modified: "2021-11-04T12:06:55+01:00"

Weak ties and strong ties

Among individuals who use such methods to find jobs, those who use weak ties-friends of friends or acquaintances-are more successful in locating satisfying jobs and jobs of high income than are individuals who used strong ties-close friends or relatives.128 The strength of weak ties appears to lie in connecting the job searcher to dissimilar individuals, who are more likely to provide non-redundant information and influence.129 Subsequent research by Nan Lin et al. shows that, among those who secure jobs through personal contacts, the higher the contact used the better the job they get.30 Weak ties, rather than strong ties, tend to lead to high-status contacts.

For men, membership in a fraternal or service organization decreases the chances of using weak ties to find a job, which in turn reduces the quality of the job found, as measured by occupational prestige.1For women, participation in church-related or recreational organizations increases the probability that the job contact would be female, which has a negative effect on the prestige of the job found, although it does increase the chance that the woman found the job for which she was looking.13 [The Effects of Volunteering on the Volunteer]