Social Capital Activation and Job Searching: Embedding the Use of Weak Ties in the American Institutional Context

Abstract

By comparing job seekers’ use of weak ties in Israel and the United States, this article shows that Granovetter’s canonical findings are rooted in the particular institutional context of the American white-collar labor market. Drawing on in-depth interviews with three distinct groups of white-collar job seekers: Americans searching in the United States, Israelis searching in Israel, and Israelis searching in the United States, this article untangles cultural and institutional factors underlying the use of weak ties and shows how labor market institutions and processes of hiring shape systematic variations in job seekers’ utilization of weak ties.