Networking

Networking refers to the development, maintenance, or use of social or professional contacts for the purpose of exchanging information, resources, or [Page 515]services. Networking typically occurs between two individuals but can be examined as an interaction between groups, companies, or institutions.

Industrial/organizational psychologists have been primarily concerned with how networking affects individual employment status and career mobility. For instance, in the context of job search, networking refers to contacting social and professional acquaintances, or other persons to whom the job seeker has been referred, for the purposes of gaining information, leads, or advice related to obtaining a job. Research suggests that as many as 60% to 90% of individuals find jobs by networking, as opposed to traditional job search methods, such as sending out lead inquiry résumés or responding to want ads. Similarly, networking is also used by individuals for the purposes of seeking promotion, gaining visibility, or seeking out career advice or mentoring (i.e., for the purpose of upward career mobility). In fact, research suggests that individual career mobility may be equally or more influenced by informal social relationships than by formal organizational policies and infrastructure.

Both the degree to which people engage in networking and the types of people with whom they network seem to play an important role in determining career outcomes. Although there has been relatively little research on networking behavior (e.g., the intensity with which one engages in networking), a fair amount of research (in particular, from the sociology literature) has examined the structural characteristics of individuals' current social and professional networks as predictors of career outcomes. A social or professional network can be thought of as a web or series of interconnected webs, whereby links or ties exist between focal individuals and the individuals or entities with whom they share a connection or relationship. Structural characteristics of networks include things such as the size of one's network, the strength of ties that exist between focal individuals and other individuals or entities in their network, and the diversity that exists among and between the various individuals or entities in one's network. In addition, the power and influence held by individuals in one's network may play a particularly important role in whether networking will lead to upward career mobility.