Offering a Job: Meritocracy and Social Networks

Abstract

This study focuses on the impact of sex, race, and social networks, to analyze the hiring process in a midsized high‐technology organization, using information on all 35,229 applicants in a 10‐year period (1985–94). For gender, the process is entirely meritocratic: age and education account for all sex differences. But even without taking into account the two meritocratic variables, there are small if no differences between men and women at all stages in the hiring process. For ethnic minorities, the process is partly meritocratic but partly reliant upon social networks. Once referral method is taken into account, all race effects disappear. In hiring, ethnic minorities are thus disadvantaged in the processes that take place before the organization is contacted. They lack access to or utilize less well the social networks that lead to high success in getting hired.