Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T00:39:19.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Getting a Job in Finance. The Strength of Collaboration Ties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2014

Olivier Godechot
Olivier Godechot*
Affiliation:
Sciences Po, MaxPo et OSC-CNRS, Paris [olivier.godechot@sciencespo.fr].
Get access

Abstract

“Weak ties”, a valuable aid in getting a job, are generally work ties. One reason for this feature is not that former colleagues increase one’s information but rather that they value the pursuit of past collaboration. We examine the consequence of the collaboration ties hypothesis in the financial industry labor market. In finance, the labor market values the assets that financial operatives take with them from one firm to another, such as knowledge, know-how and customers. Since assets are to a certain extent shared among co-workers, it is worth hiring business relations and former colleagues or moving in teams: this enables a better transfer of assets such as idiosyncratic work routines, distributed knowledge, or joint customers. To demonstrate our claims we rely on an online survey launched with eFinancialCareers.fr collected in September 2008 among French financial employees. This questionnaire shows that working at the core of financial markets favors the accumulation of key moveable assets on the one hand and of collaboration ties on the other. That is, collaboration ties and key moveable assets are strongly correlated. The moving of key assets, collaboration ties and notably the combination of those two dimensions all result in increased wages.

Résumé

Les liens faibles, une aide appréciable pour trouver un emploi, sont en général des relations de travail, moins parce que les anciens collègues augmentent l’information personnelle que parce qu’ils valorisent la poursuite d’une collaboration antérieure. Cette hypothèse des liens de collaboration est ici testée dans le cas du marché du travail financier. Ce dernier valorise les « actifs » que les opérateurs peuvent emporter avec eux en allant d’une firme à une autre, c’est-à-dire, le savoir, le savoir-faire et les clients. Ces « actifs » étant plus ou moins partagés entre collègues travaillant ensemble, recruter des anciens partenaires d’affaires, des anciens collègues ou partir en équipe est une bonne stratégie.

La base empirique est une enquête en ligne conduite en septembre 2008 avec eFinancialCarreers.fr auprès de salariés Français travaillant dans la finance. Cette enquête montre que travailler au cœur des marchés financiers favorise l’accumulation d’actifs clés transférables d’une part et de liens de collaboration d’autre part. Déplacer ces actifs, les liens de collaboration et plus encore une combinaison des deux contribuent à l’élévation des salaires.

Zusammenfassung

Arbeitsbeziehungen sind meist „schwache Beziehungen“, die bei der Arbeitssuche eine nützliche Hilfe sein können, weniger weil die ehemaligen Arbeitskollegen die Egoinformationen erhöhen, als dass sie den Erhalt der früheren Zusammenarbeit stärken. Diese Hypothese der Arbeitsbeziehungen wird hier speziell im Finanzbereich überprüft. Letzterer betont die Aktiva, die die Angestellten von einem Unternehmen zum nächsten mit sich nehmen, nämlich Wissen, Know-how und Kunden. Da diese Aktiva mehr oder weniger unter Arbeitskollegen ausgetauscht werden, erweisen sich die Einstellung ehemaliger Geschäftspartner, früherer Kollegen oder der geschlossene Weggang eines Teams als eine gute Strategie.

Diese Untersuchung basiert auf einer internetgestützten Befragung von frz. Mitarbeitern im Finanzbereich, die im September 2008 von eFinancialCarreers.fr durchgeführt worden ist. Diese Befragung verdeutlicht, dass die Arbeit im Herzen der Finanzmärkte sowohl die Ansammlung übertragbarer Aktiva als auch die Arbeitsbeziehungen selbst fördert. Sie zeigt darüberhinaus, dass die Verschiebung der Aktiva, der Arbeitsbeziehungen und mehr noch die Verknüpfung beider zu einer Gehaltserhöhung führt.

Keywords

Labor marketsNetworksFinanceWagesEconomic SociologyMarché du travailRéseauxFinanceSalaireSociologie économiqueArbeitsmarktNetzwerkFinanzenGehaltWirtschaftssoziologie
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 25 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.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.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beunza, Daniel and Stark, David, 2004. “Tools of the trade: the socio-technology of arbitrage in a Wall Street trading room”, Industrial and Corporate Change, 13: 369-400.Google Scholar
Bian, Yanjie, 1997. “Bringing Strong Ties Back in: Indirect Ties, Network Bridges, and Job Searches in China”, American Sociological Review, 62: 366-385.Google Scholar
Boorman, Scott, 1975. “A combinatorial optimization model for transmission of job information through contact networks,” Bell Journal of Economics, 6: 216-249.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, 1986. “The forms of capital” in Richardson, John G., ed., Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (New York, Greenwood: 241-258).Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, 1998. State Nobility, Elite Schools in the Field of Power (Cambridge, Polity Press).Google Scholar
Bridges, William P. and Villemez, Wayne J., 1986. “Informal Hiring and Income in the Labor Market”, American Sociological Review, 51: 574-582.Google Scholar
Burt, Ron, 1992. Structural Holes. The Social Structure of Competition (Cambridge, Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Burt, Ron, 1997. “The contingent value of Social Capital”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 339-365.Google Scholar
Burt, Ron, 2004. “Structural holes and good ideas”, American Journal of Sociology, 110: 349-99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, Ron, 2005. Brokerage and closure: An introduction to social capital (Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Collins, Randall, 1998. The sociology of philosophies (Cambridge Belknap Press of Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Finlay, William and Coverdill, James, 2002. Headhunters: Matchmaking in the labor market (New York, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Godechot, Olivier, 2001. Les traders. Essai de sociologie des marchés financiers, (Paris, La découverte).Google Scholar
Godechot, Olivier, 2007. Working Rich. Salaires, bonus et appropriation des profits dans l'industrie financière (Paris, La découverte).Google Scholar
Godechot, Olivier, 2008a. “‘Hold-up’ in Finance: The Conditions of Possibility for High Bonuses in the Financial Industry”, Revue française de sociologie, 49, supplément annual English Edition : 95-123.Google Scholar
Godechot, Olivier, 2008b. “What Do Heads of Dealing Rooms Do? The Social Capital of Internal Entrepreneurs”, in Savage, Mike and Karel, Williams, eds., Remembering Elites (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing: 145-161).Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark, 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties”, American Journal of Sociology, 78: 1360-1380.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark, 1995 [1974]. Getting a Job. A Study of Contacts and Careers (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark, 1983. “The Strength of Weak Ties: a Network Theory Revisited”, Sociological Theory, 1: 201-233.Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark, 1995. “Afterword 1994: Reconsiderations and a New Agenda”, in Granovetter, Mark. 1974 (1995). Getting a Job. A Study of Contacts and Careers, (Chicago, The University of Chicago Press: 138-182).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, Mark, 2005. “The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes,” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19: 33-50.Google Scholar
Groysberg, Boris, Lee, Linda-Eling and Nanda, Ashish, 2008. “Can They Take It with Them? The Portability of Star Knowledge Workers’ Performance: Myth or Reality”, Management Science, 54: 1213-1230.Google Scholar
Hansen, Morten, Podolny, Joel and Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2001. “So many ties, so little time: a task contingency perspective on corporate social capital”, Research in the sociology of organizations, 18: 21-57.Google Scholar
Ioannides, Yannis and Datcher Loury, Linda, 2004. “Job Information Networks, Neighborhood Effects, and Inequality”, Journal of Economic Literature, 42: 1056-1093.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Steven and Rauh, Joshua, 2010. “Wall Street and Main Street: What Contributes to the Rise in the Highest Incomes?”, Review of Financial Studies, 23: 1004-1050.Google Scholar
Kremer, Michael, 1993. “The O-Ring Theory of Economic Development”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108: 551-575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazega, Emmanuel, 2001. The Collegial Phenomenon. The social mechanisms of cooperation among peers in a corporate law partnership (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Levin, Daniel, Walter, Jorge and Keith Murnighan 2011. “Dormant Ties: The Value of Reconnecting”, Organization Science, 22: 923-939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Michael, 1989. Liar’s poker (London, Hodder & Stoughton).Google Scholar
Lin, Nan, 1999. “Social Networks and Status Attainment”, Annual Review of Sociology, 25: 467-487.Google Scholar
Lin, Nan, 2001. Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action, (Cambridge MA, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Lin, Nan, Ensel, Walter and Vaughn, John, 1981. “Social Resources and Strength of Ties: Structural Factors in Occupational Status Attainment”, American Sociological Review, 46: 393-405.Google Scholar
MacKenzie Donald, 2003. “Long-Term Capital Management and the sociology of arbitrage”, Economy and Society, 32: 349-380.Google Scholar
Malcomson, James M., 1997. “Contracts, hold-up, and labor markets”, Journal of Economic Literature, 35: 1916-1957.Google Scholar
Mincer, Jacob, 1974. Schooling, Experience and Earnings, (Cambridge, National Bureau of Economic Research).Google Scholar
Montgomery, James, 1994. “Weak Ties, Employment, and Inequality: An Equilibrium Analysis”, American Journal of Sociology, 99: 1212-1236.Google Scholar
Mouw, Ted, 2003. “Social Capital and Finding a Job: Do Contacts Matter?”, American Sociological Review, 68: 868-898.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Horacio, 2005. « Évaluer, apprécier : les relations entre les brokers et gérants de fonds d’investissement », Économie rurale, 286-287: 57-71.Google Scholar
Philippon, Thomas and Reshef, Ariel, 2012. “Wages and Human Capital in the U.S. Financial Industry: 1909-2006”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127: 1551-1609.Google Scholar
Podolny, Joel M. and Baron, James N., 1997. “Resources and relationships: social networks and mobility in the workplace”, American sociological review, 62: 673-693.Google Scholar
Obukhova, Elena, 2012. “Motivation vs. Relevance: Using Strong Ties to Find a Job in Urban China”, Social Science Research, 41: 470-480.Google Scholar
Rajan, Raghuram G. and Zingales, Luigi, 2001. “The Firm as a Dedicated Hierarchy: A Theory of the Origins and Growth of Firms,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116: 805-851.Google Scholar
Roth, Louise-Marie, 2006. Selling Women Short. Gender and Money on Wall Street (Princeton, Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Smith, Charles, 1999. Success and Survival on Wall Street. Understanding the Mind of the Market (Lanham, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers).Google Scholar
Uzzi, Brian and Spiro, Jarrett, 2005. “Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem”, American Journal of Sociology, 111: 447-504.Google Scholar
Wegener, Bernd, 1991. “Job Mobility and Social Ties: Social Resources, Prior Job, and Status Attainment”, American Sociological Review, 56: 60-71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, Olivier E., 1985. The Economic Institutions of Capitalism (New York, Free Press).Google Scholar
Yakubovich, Valery, 2005. “Weak Ties, Information, and Influence: How Workers Find Jobs in a Local Russian Labor Market”, American Sociological Review, 70: 408-421.Google Scholar