Guanxi Networks and Job Mobility in China and Singapore

Despite the differences in labor market contexts in China and Singapore, survey data reveal that in both countries jobs are channeled through strong ties more frequently than through weak ties. Moreover, when job changers and their ultimate helpers are unconnected, they tend to be bridged through in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial forces Vol. 75; no. 3; pp. 981 - 1005
Main Authors Bian, Yanjie, Ang, Soon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01.03.1997
University of North Carolina Press
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Administrator Surveys
Business networking
Business structures
China
China, People's Republic of
Chinese culture
Community Programs
Comparative Analysis
Comparative studies
Comparison
Economic networks
Employment
Exchange (Economics)
Exchange networks
Factors
Free Enterprise System
Interpersonal Relationship
Intimacy
Job Applicants
Job Change
Job hunting
Job mobility
Job Satisfaction
Labor
Labor Market
Labor markets
Labour market
Labour mobility
Marsden, Peter
Networks
Occupational Mobility
Occupational Status
Occupations
Peoples Republic of China
Singapore
Social Mobility
Social Networks
Social Organizations
Social research
Sociology
Sociology of work
Sociology of work and sociology of organizations
Work
Work quotas
Working population. Employment. Women's work
China PR
Singapore
China
Social link
Labor Market
Social relations
Occupational Mobility
Work
Social network
Crossnational Comparisons
Occupational status
Network Analysis
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Summary:Despite the differences in labor market contexts in China and Singapore, survey data reveal that in both countries jobs are channeled through strong ties more frequently than through weak ties. Moreover, when job changers and their ultimate helpers are unconnected, they tend to be bridged through intermediaries to whom both are strongly or moderately rather than weakly tied. Finally, helpers' job status has positive impacts on job changers' attained job status. We consider guanxi networks of exchange relations common to China and Singapore to account for these findings.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/HXZ-XDN1ZLWG-2
istex:849DA371FFDFE055757479A9BE8097C9464E6620
Earlier versions of this article were presented to the 1995 International Social Networks Conference (London, 5–10 July), the East Asia Workshop at the University of Chicago (23 April, 1996), seminars at the University of Minnesota, and the 1996 ASA annual meeting (New York, 17–20 August). We thank Linnea Van Dyne, Bonnie Erickson, Joseph Galaskiewicz, and William Parish for their helpful comments. The Singapore portion of the research was assisted by a travel grant from the Life Course Center of the University of Minnesota to the first author, who also is grateful to the institution for a 1995 summer fellowship and a Single Quarter Leave from the College of Liberal Arts that supported the data analyses.
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ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1093/sf/75.3.981