Abstract:

Based on the New Institutionalism Theory’s perspective that connects macro and micro levels, this paper presents an analysis of how social capital affects the jobsearch process in Chinese large cities where marketization is under full play. There have been few empirical studies with a macromicro framework, and social capital as a multilevel theoretical concept across both macro and micro levels has not been a focus in research. In this paper, through Manski’s interactive model (1993), the collective effectiveness of social capital at the macro level and individuals’ social capital at the micro level are linked to examine how the former influences the utilization of the latter.Based on the cohesive relationship between the personal use and macrolevel collective use of social capital, and the correlated effects of the ingroup similar individuals’ behaviors in the same institutional environment, this paper has made two propositions about the interaction between capital’s collective effects and the endogenous preference of capital’s correlated effects. Thus, an individual’s social capital effects in one’s job seeking are analyzed within the framework of the macrolevel social environment with an attempt to explain that, during the social transformation of China, individuals’ social capital and the decisionmaking of how to use it reflect their endogenous preference of the market system in its evolution, which in turn promotes the development of the market system itself. The empirical analysis has confirmed the commonality and cohesiveness of the functional mechanism of the social capital in job seeking on both the individual and macro levels. The labor market’s positive attitude towards social capital may have increased the probability of using social capital at the individual level and the effective endogenous preference of it. During the establishment of the market system, its development tends to reinforce the preference of the actors in the market. Developments of the three important properties of the market system, namely, the degree of marketization, market uncertainty, and market regularity, all have positive effects on individuals’ incomes, providing evidence of the cohesive relationship in the evolution of the macro system leading to the individuals’ system preference. Bian Yanjie’ hypothesis of an inverted Ucurve about the dynamics of social networking space has been confirmed, as well.

Key words:  endogeneity, marketization, uncertainty, regulatory, social capital