Social capital as process

This dissertation examines how resources enter networks and when resource holders transfer this newly created social capital resource seekers. I begin from the premise that social capital should be understood as three nested sets of resources: Latent resources, which consist of resources controlled by network members; available resources, which are those that resource holders are willing to share; and accessed resources, those that resource holders do share. Defining social capital this way problematizes resource flow and suggests that understanding the circumstances in which it occurs requires focusing on the agency of resource holders. Substantively, I study the flow of job information using interviews with information holders in the market for entry-level, white-collar work in Toronto. I asked respondents to list job openings of which they have been aware and network members who could fill these openings. I then asked them if they shared information about each opening with their network members. Using these interview data I identify the sources of latent information and the conditions under which this information becomes available to or accessed by network members. I find that information holders are reluctant to share information unless they believe that the information will be welcome. Gauging network members' interest in particular jobs is not easy, and information sharing is consequently relatively uncommon. Determining a network members' likely interest in jobs is easiest when jobs require easily observable occupation-specific investments, or when information holders have rich in-depth information about potential applicants. Therefore, information flow is influenced by an interaction between characteristics of the labour market in which a job is situated, and the strength of tie between information holders and potential job applicants. Given that they know of a job opening and that they identify a potential applicant, information holders are more likely to pass information to potential applicants to whom they are strongly tied. When information is shared with weak ties it is more likely to be information about jobs for which occupation-specific credentials are available. In addition, I find support for this model of information flow using quantatitive data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort.