BROWN, DEBORAH WRIGHT; PHD

                         TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 1996

                         SOCIOLOGY, INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS (0629); ECONOMICS, LABOR (0510)
 

                         This dissertation examines the process through which displaced workers search for employment
                         opportunities. In the contexts of industry decline and growth, the present study specifically considers
                         the impact of networking on job search outcomes achieved by the displaced worker. Several theoretical
                         frameworks were utilized including Laumann's (1966) Heterophily/Homophily Principles, Granovetter's
                         (1974) Strength-of-Tie Proposition, and Ekeh's (1974) Theory of Dual Exchange, for the development
                         of hypotheses predicting various relationships between characteristics of the job searcher's social
                         network, job searcher behaviors and job search outcomes. To monitor the job searching activities of
                         recently displaced workers a longitudinal study was conducted involving the collection of data at two
                         points in time over a six-month interval. Several important findings emerged from the study including the
                         impact of the industrial environment on job searching strategies, the tendency to use weakly-tied contact
                         persons in growing industries and strongly-tied contacts in declining industries, and the impact of
                         networking on important job search outcomes (i.e., occupational status, income attainments).
                         Implications of these findings for Human Resource Managers and directions for future research are
                         discussed.

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