Deguilhem T, Vernot Lopez M, Delmas B (2020)For an interdisciplinary approach of job quality in Latin America. (accepted with major revision: Canadian Journal of Development Studies)
Deguilhem T, Vernot Lopez M, Delmas B (2020)Quality of employment in Bogota (Colombia): Concept, method and evidence. (under review: Forum for Social Economics) [Working Paper] [SSRN Paper]
[6]Finding A Job Through Networks: How Does Tie Strength Solve Information Problems During the Job Search Process [To be submitted] (with Eric Quintane, Santiago Gomez and Javier Mejia).
This paper explores the relationship between tie strength and outcomes of the job search process. We argue that two dimensions of tie strength: Frequency and Closeness, solve two distinct information problems: Incomplete information and information asymmetry, that can occur during the job search process. Furthermore, we propose that the alignment between the dimension of tie strength that connects the job seeker to her alters and the information problems that dominate the search process drives job search outcomes, such as salary increase and search time. We test our theory in a unique dataset, representative of the working population in Bogota (Colombia) of 1,601 participants who recently found a new job through their social network. We distinguish between individuals who change occupation and/or sector of activity with their new job, thus facing an information asymmetry problem, and individuals who stayed in the same occupation and sector, facing an incomplete information problem. Our results support our theory. The alignment between the dimension of tie strength and the information problem to be solved affects individual’s change in salary and the time that it took them to find a new job. We discuss the implications of our results for the literature on networks and job search.
[5]Effects of social capital and active networks on the labour market outcomes: Empirical evidence from Colombia (with Jean-Philippe Berrou and François Combarnous).
Drawing from the socioeconomic literature on social networks and employment, we note that the definition of social network commonly used is ambiguous, referring to either social capital or active networks. From this primary distinction, three issues appear crucial for seizing the real effect of networks on labour market outcomes: (i.) Do configurations based on social capital or active networks’ dimensions matter? (ii.) What about the association between social capital and active networks’ configurations? (iii.) What is the best combination between social capital and active networks to improve the individual job performances? This paper offers to clarify these questions through an innovative empirical contribution. Using a specific multidimensional method and a quasi-experimental model on an original representative sample of 1,600 workers in Bogota (Colombia), we provide empirical support that social capital and active networks’ configurations matter and their combinations produce differential effects on the job search and matching.
[4]The construction of the national social protection policy in Madagascar: an inter-organizational network analysis (with Jean-Philippe Berrou, Alain Piveteau, Claire Gondard-Delcroix and Léo Delpy)
This article questions the form of the political compromise that underpins the development of the social protection policy in Madagascar. What coalition of actors is at stake, in a context where the economic and institutional conditions for the implementation of such a policy do not presently appear to exist (a "failed" state, declining economic capacities, an employment structure characterized by informality, etc.) ? It draws on the policy networks literature (Kapucu & al., 2017, Varone & al., 2016, Ingold, 2011; Laumann & Knoke, 1989) and proposes an analysis of the inter-organizational network of actors involved in the policy making process. Combining in a pragmatic approach different methods (nominalist and realistic) and tactics (Laumann, Marsden & Prensky, 1983), the specification of the complete network's boundaries start form the list of GTPS’ members from which some actors have been removed and others added. An original survey was conducted between 2018 and 2019 to interview key informants within each of these organizations. The sociometric questionnaire focuses on six types of relationships between actors: (i) collaborative links; (ii) information-sharing links; (iii) links of agreement on the orientations of the policy; (iv) links of disagreements on the orientations of the policy; (v) links of influence; (vi) interpersonal links. The collected data then make it possible identify within the policy making process of the social protection in Madagascar: the key actors with strong capacity for mobilization and influence, the emerging coalitions of actors, the main circuits for information circulation and resource exchanges.
[3]Weak ties are good...but strong ties are great for income mobility: The case of Colombian labor market (with Jean-Philippe Berrou)
Although the importance of social relations in the labor market is indisputable, the association between the strength of ties and income mobility constitutes an important point of debate in the field of the economic sociology and social network analysis. On the one hand, the long tradition based on the seminal work of Granovetter (1973, 1983) demonstrates the relevance of the strength of the weak ties (WT) to get a better job (Tassier, 2006; Zenou, 2017). On the other hand, a part of the literature, actually in expansion, shows the importance of the strength of strong ties (ST) on the labor market outcomes (Obukova & Zhang, 2017). Focusing on the income mobility, this article provides an original articulation between both approaches explaining why these results are more complementary than contradictory particularly in developing countries. Firstly, to increase the individual income, information availability constitutes a crucial institutional problem, a fortiori in developing contexts which are characterized by the failure of formal means to obtain market opportunities and in which social networks are an important substitute in the job search activity (Nordman & Pasquier-Doumer 2015; Nicodemo & Garcia, 2015). For resolving this kind of problem, we assume that WT constitute direct links between non-distant social circles and are more useful than ST (focused on the own social circle) for transmitting more, new and non-redundant information (Bian, 1997; Yakubovitch, 2005; Cappillari & Tatsiramos, 2015). Consequently, we assume that WT help more than ST for marginal income mobility because they vehicle new information about new opportunities which open the own social circle options. Secondly, facing the weaknesses of labor market institutions, particularly in unequal Developing Countries (Gee et al., 2018), increasing more substantially the individuals´ income can be associated with another institutional problem and for which weak ties are not sufficient. Indeed, actors are facing asymmetrical information in this situation because they need to signal credibly their abilities and get accurate information on opportunities to present themselves as the best candidates (Rubb, 2013). For resolving it, we assume that ST become the best way since they constitute indirect ties liking closed, trusted, motivated and/or constrained intermediates in the own circle to other actors belonging to the more distant and higher social groups (Bian, 1997; Obukova, 2012; Greenberg & Fernandez, 2017). Consequently, we assume that only ST can guarantee a credible recommendation and convey more complex information (Karlan et al., 2009). Through this channel, ST are more efficient than WT for more substantial income mobility. To verify this theoretical approach based on the existent sociological and economic literature, this paper offers an empirical test using quantitative and qualitative personal networks data collected in the specific context of Bogota (Colombia) between 2016 and 2018. Our results confirm that WT are more useful than ST for a marginal increase of income, particularly for lower-income groups, because they provide more information. We also demonstrate that ST are more important than WT for a substantial income mobility as they provide other kind of resources which can be crucial in the unequal Colombian context.
[2] Building Social Capital: Inherited and constructed social capital and its impact on labor mobility (with Eric Quintane and Jean-Philippe Berrou)
[1] Personal networks and socio-professional trajectories: What resources and what relationships for what changes in Bogota's labor market? (with Jean-Philippe Berrou, Matthieu de Castelbajac and Santiago Gomez).
Dissertation committee: Héloïse PETIT, University of Lille (chair); François ROUBAUD, IRD and Paris-Dauphine University (referee); Michel GROSSETTI, EHESS and University of Toulouse (referee); Pascale PHELINAS, IRD and Paris-Diderot University; José Luis MOLINA, Autonomous University of Barcelona
2020 LADYSS (Workshop 1) Seminar, University of Paris, January 30, Paris, France.
2019 BRICS & Emerging Economies Seminar, INALCO-EHESS, November 27, Paris, France. 30th SASE Annual Conference, June 27-29, New York, US. XXXIX Sunbelt Social Networks Conference of the INSNA, June 18-23, Montreal, Canada.
2018 5th WINIR International Conference, September 14–17, Hong Kong, China. ''Social Networks and Employment'' sessions main organizer, AFEP Annual Conference, July 3-6, University of Reims, France. LAM Research Seminar, Sciences Po Bordeaux, January 25, Bordeaux, France.
2017 Workshop IEDES-DIAL, University Paris 1 & IRD, October 23-24, Nogent-sur-Marne, France. Workshop DIAL-GREThA, University of Bordeaux, June 13, Bordeaux, France. Research Lab Seminar, Paris School of Business, May 18, Paris, France. XXXV International Congress of the LASA, April 29 – May 1, Lima, Peru. Social Science Research Seminar, University of Los Andes,March 31, Bogota, Colombia. Doctoral Workshop: Methods in Social Sciences, University of Bordeaux, January 31, Bordeaux, France.
2016 LAM Research Seminar, Sciences Po Bordeaux, December 8, Bordeaux, France. 28th SASE Annual Conference, June 24–26, Berkeley, US. 6th GREThA International Conference on Economic Development, June 16–17, Bordeaux, France.
2015 Development Seminar GREThA-LAREFI-LAM, University of Bordeaux, November 24, Bordeaux, France. BRICS & Emerging Economies seminar, EHESS–FMSH, October 8, Paris, France. 4th ILO Conference of the Regulating for Decent Work Network, July 8–10, Geneva, Switzerland. 3rd DIAL–IRD Development Conference, July 2–3, Paris, France. International Conference Research & Regulation, June 10–12, Paris, France. XXXIII International Congress of the LASA, May 27–30, San Juan, Puerto Rico. XXV International Symposium of CEDIMES, October 30–31, Moscow, Russia.
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