Missing Links: Referrer Behavior and Job Segregation

Brian Rubineau () and Roberto M. Fernandez ()
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Brian Rubineau: ILR School, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Roberto M. Fernandez: MIT Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142

Management Science, 2013, vol. 59, issue 11, 2470-2489

Abstract: The importance of networks in labor markets is well known, and their job-segregating effects in organizations is a given. Conventional wisdom attributes this segregation to the homophilous nature of contact networks, and leaves little role for organizational influences. Yet employee referrals are necessarily initiated within a firm by employee referrers subject to organizational policies. We build theory regarding the role of referrers in the segregating effects of network recruitment. Using mathematical and computational models, we investigate how empirically documented referrer behaviors affect job segregation. We show that referrer behaviors can segregate jobs beyond the effects of homophilous network recruitment. Furthermore, and contrary to past understandings, we show that referrer behaviors can also mitigate most, if not all, of the segregating effects of network recruitment. Although largely neglected in previous labor market network scholarship, referrers are the missing links revealing opportunities for organizations to influence the effects of network recruitment. This paper was accepted by Jesper Sørensen. organizations.

Keywords: organizational studies; personnel; simulation; applications; behavior; labor; referral networks; screening (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:59:y:2013:i:11:p:2470-2489

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