Who gets connected? Network drivers of racial inequality in tie formation

Intraorganisational networks are crucial for careers, but Black employees benefit less from them than their White counterparts, primarily due to a lack of connections to White coworkers. In this talk, we ask whether employees are equally likely to form new workplace ties when they share a common contact. 

Drawing on organisational theories of networks and inequality, we argue that the presence of a third party alters the opportunity structure surrounding tie formation by reducing transparency and diffusing accountability, allowing racialized processes to shape whether potential ties are realised. Furthermore, these dynamics are amplified for ties linked to high-stake, career-advancing work. 

Using a rich and large longitudinal network dataset of new hires in an elite professional services firm, we find that the causal effect of shared contacts on tie formation is 94% lower for Black than for White new hires, but no such gap exists in the absence of shared contacts. Such uneven returns to shared contacts limit Black employees’ access to career-advancing work.

This event will be particularly useful to all researchers, policy makers and students who are interested in quantitative social sciences.

Related links

• QSS and CLS seminar series
• Quantitative Social Science
• Centre for Longitudinal Studies
• Social Research Institute

Image

bernardbodo via Adobe Stock.