University of Groningen. Social capital and earnings inequalities Bartus, Tamás

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1 University of Groningen Social capital and earnings inequalities Bartus, Tamás IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2001 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Bartus, T. (2001). Social capital and earnings inequalities: The role of informal job search in Hungary [S.l.]: s.n. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date:

2 IC S R UG / UU / KUN IN TERUNIVERSITY C E N TER FOR S O C IA L S C IE N C E T H E O R Y AND M ETHODOLOGY TAMÁS BARTUS SOCIAL CAPITAL AND EARNINGS INEQUALITIES The Role of Informal Job Search in Hungary

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4 Tamás Bartus SOCIAL CAPITAL AND EARNINGS INEQUALITIES The Role of Informal Job Search in Hungary

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6 RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN Social Capital and Earnings Inequalities. The Role of Informal Job Search in Hungary Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de Psychologische, Pedagogische en Sociologische Wetenschappen aan de Rijktsuniversiteit Groningen op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, dr. D.F.J. Bosscher, in het openbaar te verdedigen op maandag 21 mei 2001 om uur door Tamás Bartus geboren op 15 juni 1969, te Szarvas, Hongarije

7 Promotores: Prof. dr. J.L. Peschar Prof. dr. T.A.B. Snijders Referent: Dr. B. Völker Manuscript Committe: Prof. dr. P.V. Marsden (Harvard University) Prof. dr. J. Siegers (University of Utrecht) Prof. dr. E. Sík (Social Research and Information Institute, Budapest) ISBN Published by the author Tamás Bartus, 2001

8 Preface This book reports the results of a Ph.D. research project Institutional effects on returns to social capital in East and West. The project was intended to be a part of a larger project examining the creation of and the returns to social capital in The Netherlands. Due to external factors, my project became independent of the other projects. I am indebted to the ICS Groningen and Jules Peschar for financial support that was necessary for data collection. I am extremely grateful to my supervisors, Jules Peschar, Tom Snijders, and Beate Völker. Without their optimism concerning the project and their assistance, I would have been unable to solve the difficulties and dilemmas I often encountered. The ideas of Beate helped me to elaborate the research problems and to find a balance between general theoretical ideas and the experiences and facts peculiar to the Hungarian context. The figures drawn by Jules were indispensable for clarifying and communicating the problems I faced. The suggestions of Tom were authoritative with respect to critical decisions, on the one hand, and theoretical and methodological details, on the other. I want to thank all three of them for supporting my work. I often discussed my ideas with Hungarian scholars. I want to thank three of them who had a continuous interest in my research. Róbert Tardos was a highly critical reader, providing a continuous stream of ideas. Endre Sík played an important role in designing data collection. "! #$#% ts on data analyses. Additionally, they corrected my description of the Hungarian labor market. The ideas were organized into a coherent piece during a short stay at Harvard University. I acknowledge with appreciation Peter V. Marsden for his hospitality. His generous support was very helpful to improve the problem formulation of the project and my theoretical hypotheses. As a by-product of this visit, I realized that there are other graduate students doing research on similar subject. I thank Michael F. Johnston and Valery Yakubovich for their comments. Justine Horgan read the manuscript and corrected my English. Later I made changes in the manuscript, so the remaining errors are mine. Rita Smaniotto translated the summary into Dutch. Graduate students do research not only with a little help from professors. I want to thank the members of my year group in Groningen, Lisbeth Haken, Marcel van Assen, Jan Kratzer, and Uwe Matzat, for providing a stimulating environment. I especially learnt a lot from Marcel, with whom I shared an office for four years. Jan was a good friend with whom I spent a lot of time. I am also grateful to Károly Takács. Finally, I want to thank my family and friends for their support. They did not know exactly what I was doing in Groningen; yet, they fully trusted me. I dedicate this book to them.

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10 Table of Contents 1 Introduction Social Networks and Inequalities Mechanisms behind Network Effects The Research Problem The Research Setting: Institutional Changes in Hungary Plan of the Book 12 2 The Theoretical Landscape Introduction Do Personal Contacts Always Promote Labor Market Success? The Theory of Employee Referrals The Strength of Weak Ties Hypothesis Social Resources Theory Conclusions 31 3 Mechanisms and Hypotheses Introduction Explaining the Effects of Contact Status Explaining the Effects of Employee Referrals Summary of the Hypotheses 38 4 Data and Methods Research Design Requirements for data collection Target population and observation plan Two measurement decisions 42

11 4.2 The School Leaver Survey The sampling procedure The questionnaire The fieldwork Nonresponses Constructing the sample for analyses Methods The statistical treatment of clustered data Communicating results: marginal effects Set-up of data analysis 56 5 Network Resources and Finding a Job Informally Introduction Data and Measurement Finding a Job through Personal Contacts The total impact of network resources Network resources and returns to informal search Network resources and search method choice Discussions The Characteristics of the Contact Person Conclusions 80 6 Informal Methods and Getting a Good Job Introduction Data and Measurement Characteristics of Job Opportunities Job and firm characteristics Earnings Getting the Job Having a Good Job Job Tenure and Earnings Growth Data and measurements Sample selection Job separations Earnings dynamics Conclusions 106

12 7 Explaining Contact Effects Introduction Testing the Organizational Conflict and Status Hypotheses Testing the Trade-off Hypothesis Testing the Earnings Dynamics Hypothesis Conclusions Conclusions Answering the Research Questions The Merits and Limitations of the Study Suggestions for Future Research 125 Appendix 1 The Matching Model 129 Appendix 2 Estimating Marginal Effects 132 Appendix 3 Survey Items for Key Variables 134 References 141 Nederlandstalige samenvatting (Summary in Dutch) 157

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