Social Networks, Accessed and Mobilised Social Capital and the Employment Status of
Older Workers: A Case Study
Kaberi Gayen (University of Dhaka), Robert Raeside (Heriot-Watt University), Ronald W.
McQuaid (University of Stirling)
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy (pre-publication version)
January 2019
Abstract
Purpose: To demonstrate the importance of social networks, and the social capital embedded
in them, to secure employment if someone had become unemployed after the age of 50 years,
and to reveal the process of accessing and mobilising that social capital.
Design: A case study of a Scottish labour market was undertaken which involved an interview-
based survey of those who became unemployed in their early 50’s and tried to regain
employment. The interview had structured and unstructured parts which allowed both
quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare those who were successful in regaining work
with those who were not. The uniqueness of the paper is the use of social network
components while controlling for other socio-economic and demographic variables in job
search of older workers.
Findings: Compared to those older people who were unemployed, those who returned to
employment had a higher proportion of contacts with higher prestige jobs, their job searching
methods were mainly interpersonal and the rate of finding their last job via their social
networks was higher than those who remained unemployed. Both groups mobilised social
capital, but those reemployed accessed higher ‘quality’ social capital. ‘Strong ties’, rather than
‘weak ties’, were found to be important in accessing and mobilising social capital for the older
workers who returned to employment.
Research limitations/implications: This work is limited to a local labour market and is based
on a small but informative sample. However, it does show that policy is required to allow older
people to enhance their social networks by strengthening the social capital embedded in the
networks. The results support the use of intermediaries as bridges to help compensate for
Published in International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy by Emerald. The original publication is available at: 10.1108/IJSSP-07-2018-0111.
This article is deposited under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial International Licence 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0). Any reuse is allowed in
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older people who have weak social networks. Besides the policy implications, the paper also
has two distinct research implications. First, the use of social network component to the
existing literature of older workers’ job search. Second, exploring the type and relational
strength with network members to explain older workers’ re-employment.
Social implications: As population age, this work points to an approach to support older
people to re-enter employment and to include them in society.
Originality/Value: The paper extends social network and employment literature to fill gaps
on how older people require to both access and mobilise social capital. The importance of
‘strong ties’ in the reemployment of older workers contrasts with much of the literature on
younger workers where ‘strength of weak ties’ so far has been regarded as essential for
successful job search in literature. Measures are forwarded to reveal the relevance of social
capital. The policy value of the work is in suggesting ways to facilitate older people re-enter
or remain in work and hence sustain their wellbeing.
Key words: Older workers, Social networks, accessed social capital, mobilised social capital,
employment.
Introduction
Worldwide populations are ageing with the UN (2017) estimating that more than 962 million
people are over 60 years old, and the number aged more than 60 years is expected to grow
to over 2.1 billion by 2050. Ageing is most advanced in the more developed countries (such as
Japan, Italy and Germany 33%, 29% and 28% were respectively 60 years or older in 2017, (UN
2017). This is, however, a worldwide phenomenon and all regions, except Africa, will be
around 25% or more by 2050 (UN 2017; He et al., 2016). Identification of the effects of ageing
prompted the OECD in 2006 to make the recommendation to employment ministers of
developed countries that ‘living longer must mean working longer’. The governmental
response to population ageing has changed from one where older workers were encouraged
to leave the labour market to make way for younger workers to a policy advocating continued
labour market participation (Eurofound 2016; CIPD 2016; IES 2016; Loretto and Kickerstaff
2015; Pillipson et al. 2016; Talyor and Earll 2016; Walter et al. 2016). After falling in the latter
part of the 20
th
century, Eurostat data illustrates that in the EU employment rates of older
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people (those aged 55 to 64 years) have risen from 42.2% in 2005 to 57.1% in 2017, and for
the UK the older employment rates have changed from 56.8% to 64.1% over this period
(Eurostat 2018). There have been similar rises among other developed countries (OECD,
2016).
Yet research by Loretto and White (2006); Fuertes et al. (2013); Nicholson et al. (2016);
Wanberg et al. (2016), Egdell et al. (2018) and Van Dalen, et al., (2009) shows that older
workers, generally defined as those over 50 years, face a range of barriers to remaining in or
reentering employment after a period of unemployment. Porsthuma and Campion (2009),
Dordoni and Argentero (2015), Kroon et al. (2018) and Nicholoson et al. (2016) argue that
these barriers are often unfounded and based on inaccurate sterotypes held by some
managers and employees about older workers being slow, lacking commitment to the
organisation, lacking flexiblity especially with information technology, being reluctant to
change and in conflict with younger colleagues. There are also positive views about older
workers such as being reliable, experienced and having a more positive attitude, especially
with customers (Ng and Feldman 2012; Zheltoulkhova and Braczor 2016). However, negative
perceptions seem to dominate (Axelrad and James 2016; Kroon et al. 2016) and older workers
have been associated with relatively high labour costs and low productivity (Conen et al.
2012).
Factors that help explain unemployment among older workers include the effects of benefit
and pension systems, labour market opportunities, skill gaps, expectations, feelings of
inadequacy, lack of strategic planning and age management by employers, job flexibilities and
age-related discrimination, particularly for older women (Moore, 2009; Fuertes et al., 2013;
and Loretto and Vickerstaff 2015). Anti-age discrimination laws were enacted across the
European Union and elsewhere, partly to facilitate later age working, and the Default
Retirement Age was abolished in the UK in 2011. However, Adams (2004) found age
discrimination legislation helps older workers to be retained in work rather than getting jobs
with new employers.
Social networks have been found to be influential in job searching and eventual labour market
outcomes by researchers, such as Granovetter (1973, 1995), Kramarz and Skans (2014),
Mowbray et al. (2018) and Brown et al. (2018). Lin (2001) suggested a positive influence of
networks in that they allow the social capital of others to be accessed, which can be mobilised
to supply job related information or more actively help in securing employment by providing
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references or advocating to employers. However, from analysing the Detroit labour market
Mouw (2003) suggest that the importance of social capital in networks might be overstated
as he failed to find evidence of causal relationships. In contrast, Van Hoye, et al. (2009)
demonstrated that engaging with job search networks leads to more job offers and quicker
reemployment for those who were made redundant.
Although the significance of social networks in explaining labour market identity is well
documented, research on the association of social networks and the employment status of
older workers is lacking as it is for most demographic sub-groups (Hällsten and Rydgren, 2017).
In this article, the results of a case study into an urban labour market in Scotland are
presented. The social network characteristics of older workers (those over 50 years to the
then state pension age, 60 for women and 65 for men)
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who had regained employment were
compared with those of similar age who remained unemployed. Emphasis is given to three
interrelated aspects of social networks to understand their utility in obtaining work. These
are: the nature of social capital embedded in personal networks; the degree of access to that
social capital; and the ability to mobilise it.
Therefore, this article aims to:
1. Explore the nature of the networks the older people used when undertaking job
search;
2. Ascertain what characteristics of networks made securing a job more likely; and
3. Evaluate the functioning of mechanisms to access and mobilise social capital
embedded in social networks in the pursuit of securing a job.
Before reporting on this, a brief overview of related literature on social network and
employment is given.
Social Networks and Employment
Granovetter (1973, 1995) identified the major role of social networks in job search and labour
market outcomes. He proposed the ground-breaking concept of ‘strength of weak ties’ for
successful job search in which he mentioned that rather than strong ties of immediate
networks, weak ties (friend’s friend or acquaintances) are more important to get diverse job
information and thus to secure a job. The value of social contacts in gaining employment was
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The data were collected before the UK abolished compulsory retirement ages.
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supported by Snijders et al. (2010), Wong (2008), Calvo-Armengol and Jackson (2004),
Yakubovich (2005) and Hällsten and Rydgren (2017) who demonstrated that an increase in the
proportion of weak ties in a network decreases inequality and increases the employment rate.
Similarly, Varekamp et al. (2015) found that those with more social capital, particularly in
terms of multi-dimensional social resources (including higher education levels) and job search
advice were more active in searching for jobs. Cingano and Rosolia (2012) also found that a
displaced worker’s unemployment duration fell when their personal network contained more
contacts who were employed and who provided information on jobs.
The social networks of weak ties tend to be less dense than those formed from strong ties.
They, therefore, offer job seekers a wider and more diverse range of contacts with potentially
positive consequences for the dissemination of information about job opportunities,
compared to a person who primarily relies on close or strong ties where their information and
influences is restricted to fewer people who often hold similar views and experiences. This
may be especially important where people’s social or employment worlds are restricted, or
their behaviour is influenced by social homophily, whereby people form relations with others
who are similar to themselves (McPherson, et al., 2001). However, Franzen and Hangartner
(2006) suggested that strong ties might be more useful for those seeking employment where
this involves a move between industry sectors rather than within an industry. This applies to
those who worked in declining industries, who need a ‘bridge’ to other industrial sectors,
which they have little knowledge of, and contact with the workplace. Hence, for older
workers, who had long tenure in declining industries, strong ties may be more important for
successful job search than weak ties (McQuaid and Lindsay 2002).
Different groups use social networks to differing degrees. Unemployed job seekers who have
experienced repeated or long–term unemployment, as well as unskilled and young people,
are significantly less likely to use social networks, whereas rural dwellers are more likely to
use them (Lindsay et al. 2005). Gayen et al. (2010) found that older people relied more on
their associates’ social capital, whereas younger people relied more on human capital.
McDonald (2011) reported from analysis of the USA Social Capital Survey that younger
workers received more job leads through their networks than older workers and that those in
high status jobs heard about more jobs than those in low status jobs. He also found that
younger workers were more likely to report that a job contact vouched for them than older
workers and women and those from a racial minority derived less benefit from their networks.
Introduction