Social Capital and Job Search Behavior in the Services Industry: Online Social Networks Perspective

Abstract

Although job seeker social capital is considered a fundamental determinant of job-finding ability, it has yet to be discovered which activities contribute to its formation in the online social networking environment. Therefore, this study aims to reveal how job-seekers use online social networks, which job-searching activities increase their social capital and consequently contribute to finding a job in the services sector. The analyzed data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by 431 respondents. The resulting regression model identified two significant factors, namely the use of an online social network to directly contact a potential employer (p-value = 0.0017) and membership in Facebook professional groups in the area in which the respondent was looking for a job (p-value < 0.0001). The results confirmed that job-seekers who conduct both identified activities would have a 1.94 times bigger chance of finding a job. On the other hand, if they would not perform either of the activities, the probability of not finding a job would be 6.69 times higher. This study has several implications for human resource management theory and practice. First, it identifies job-seekers activities to find a job on online social networks and specifies the activities which lead to getting a job. Second, it enriches the Uses and Gratification theory by revealing that job-seekers prioritize the saturation of social needs over cognitive needs when searching for jobs on online social networking sites.