Hostname: page-component-84c44f86f4-7xkxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-14T23:07:01.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact mechanism of social networks on Chinese rural–urban migrant workers’ behaviour and wages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Chunchao Wang ,
Huahui Lao  and
Xianbo Zhou
Chunchao Wang*
Affiliation:
Jinan University, China
Huahui Lao
Affiliation:
Jinan University, China
Xianbo Zhou
Affiliation:
Sun Yat-Sen University, China
*
Chunchao Wang, School of Economics, Jinan University, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China. Email: chunchaowang.ox@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Chinese domestic rural–urban migrant workers have played a substantial role in economic development since the late 1970s. This article makes an attempt to establish a two-period hiring model interpreting the impact mechanism of social networks on migrant workers’ wages. The findings indicate that the extension of social networks of both firms and workers facilitates a decrease in the information gap between them and improves extra common benefits to both.

Keywords

J31J61Guanxiimpact mechanismrural–urban migrant workersocial networkwages

Information

Type
Non-Symposium Articles
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 25 , Issue 2: Symposium - Some Impacts of Neoliberalism , June 2014 , pp. 353 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Amuedo-Dorantes, C, Mundra, K (2007) Social networks and their impact on the earnings of Mexican migrants. Demography 44(4): 849–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bian, Y (1994) Guanxi and the allocation of urban jobs in China. The China Quarterly 140: 971–999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridges, W, Villemez, W (1986) Informal hiring and income in the labor market. American Sociological Review 51(4): 574–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caliendo, M, Schmidl, R, Uhlendorff, A (2010) Social networks, job search methods and reservation wages: evidence for Germany. German Institute for Economic Research, Discussion Paper no. 5165, September. Bonn: IZA.Google Scholar
Calvó-Armengol, A, Jackson, M (2003) Networks in Labor Markets: Wage and Employment Dynamics and Inequality. Mimeo, Caltech and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Available at: http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~jacksonm/dyngen.pdf (accessed 4 April 2014).Google Scholar
Calvó-Armengol, A, Jackson, M (2004) The effects of social networks on employment and inequality. American Economic Review 94(3): 426–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J (1988) Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology 94: S95–S121.Google Scholar
Durlauf, S, Fafchamps, M (2004) Social capital. NBER Working Paper 10485, May. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. Available: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10485 (accessed 9 May 2014).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giles, J, Park, A, Cai, F (2006) Reemployment of dislocated workers in urban China: the roles of information and incentives. Journal of Comparative Economics 34(3): 582–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, M (1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology 78: 1356–1367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, M (1975 [1995]) Getting a Job: A Study of Contacts and Careers. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M (1985) Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology 91(3): 481–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, J, Yueh, L (2008) The role of social capital in the labour market in China. Economics of Transition 16(3): 389–414.Google Scholar
Knight, J, Quheng, D, Shi, L (2011) The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China. China Economic Review 22(4): 585–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, L, Meng, X (2010) Why don’t more Chinese migrate from the countryside? institutional constraints and the migration decision. In: Meng, X, Manning, C (eds) The Great Migration: Rural–Urban Migration in China and Indonesia. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 23–46.Google Scholar
Lin, N (2001) Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, N (2008) A network theory of social capital. In: Castiglione, D, Van Deth, J, Wolleb, G (eds) Handbook on Social Capital. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 50–69.Google Scholar
Loury, L (2006) Some contacts are more equal than others: informal networks, job tenure, and wages. Journal of Labor Economics 24(2): 299–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, Z, Song, S (2006) Rural-urban migration and wage determination: the case of Tianjin, China. China Economic Review 17(3): 337–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meng, X (2001) The informal sector and rural–urban migration: a Chinese case study. Asian Economic Journal 15(1): 71–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Montgomery, J (1991) Social networks and labor-market outcomes: toward an economic analysis. American Economic Review 81(5): 1408–1418.Google Scholar
Montgomery, J (1992) Job search and network composition: implications of the strength of weak tie hypothesis. American Sociological Review 57(5): 586–596.Google Scholar
Montgomery, J (1994) Weak ties, employment, and inequality: an equilibrium analysis. American Journal of Sociology 99(5): 1212–1236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouw, T (2002) Racial differences in the effects of job contacts: conflicting evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Social Science Research 31(4): 511–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouw, T (2003) Social capital and finding a job: do contacts matter? American Sociological Review 68(8): 868–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China (NBSC) (2013) Statistical communiqué of the people’s republic of China on the 2012 national economic and social development. National Bureau of Statistics of China, 22 February. Available at: http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/NewsEvents/201302/t20130222_26962.html (accessed 7 April 2014).Google Scholar
Pellizzari, M (2010) Do friends and relatives really help in getting a good job? Industrial & Labor Relations Review 63(3): 494–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Rees, A (1966) Information networks in labor markets. American Economic Review 56 (1–2): 559–566.Google Scholar
Wang, C, Jing, C (2012) Contribution to economic growth from rural-urban migrant workers and the income share in the process of urbanization: evidence from 1995–2009 in China. Actual Problems of Economics 135: 245–254.Google Scholar
Wang, C, Zhou, X (2013) Does social capital affect rural migrants’ income? (evidence from estimation and test of ordered response models Management World (in Chinese) September: 55–68.Google Scholar
Yangcheng Evening News (2011) In response to labour shortage, new strategy is used by some Dongguan companies: huge bonuses for recommending fellow villagers. 23 February. Available at: http://www.ycwb.com/ePaper/ycwb/html/2011-02/23/content_1045957.htm (accessed 4 April 2014).Google Scholar
Zhang, X, Li, G (2003) Does guanxi matter to nonfarm employment? Journal of Comparative Economics 31(2): 315–331.Google Scholar