社會網絡與勞動市場表現：台灣資料的分析

Social Networks and Labor Market Performance: An Analysis of Taiwan Data

本文採用2004年台灣的調查資料，分析透過弱連結尋職是否有助於取得較高的職業地位、收入，及其影響效果對不同社經地位樣本是否有所差異。分析結果顯示，透過弱連結尋職的受訪者，無論以薪資率或職業社經地位衡量其尋職成果，均較透過強連結尋職者為佳，支持「弱連結的力量」假說。但就受訪者原先的社經地位區分樣本後，發現「弱連結的力量」假說僅對高社經地位樣本成立；而就低社經地位樣本，連結強度並不影響其取得的職業地位、薪資率，與過去研究的發現不盡相同。文中進一步觀察幫忙尋職者的職業地位在其間的角色。分析結果印證了Lin等(1981a, 1981b)的社會資源理論，顯示尋職者所觸及的社會資源對其尋職結果具有重要影響。

This paper uses year 2004 survey data for Taiwan to analyze whether weak ties help job seekers attain better occupational positions and incomes than strong ties. In addition, this paper explores whether the effects vary with job seekers' socio-economic status. The findings show that, for either wage rates or socio-economic indices, the use of weak ties helps job seekers attain better job market outcomes than strong ties, which supports the 'strength of weak ties' hypothesis. However, when the respondents are divided into two subgroups based on socio-economic status, the results show that the hypothesis is sustained only for the high-status sample. For the low-status sample, the strength of ties does not affect job-search outcomes. As a result of this distinctive finding, the study further examines the role of social resources in the job-search process. The results indicate that weak ties help job seekers find better jobs only when higher social resources are accessed through weak ties.