Abstract
Although researchers have shown that networking is positively associated with numerous long-term outcomes (e. g., salary, promotion) investigations of proximal outcomes of networking are still scarce. Building on Conservation of Resources theory (COR; Hobfoll, 2001, 2011) and conducting a daily diary study over five consecutive working days (N = 160 academics), we investigated short-term effects of networking on employees' career-related outcomes (i.e., career optimism and career satisfaction), job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction), and well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion). Further, we suggested that positive affect would act as a mediator. Results from hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that daily networking relates to all four outcome variables. Moreover, positive affect mediated three of four hypothesized relationships, with a marginally significant effect for career satisfaction. By providing evidence for valuable short-term benefits of networking, our study extends existing research on positive long-term effects (for example on salary, promotions). Findings broaden the scope by integrating networking research with a positive organizational behavior perspective. We discuss practical implications with regard to career intervention strategies, study limitations, and prospects for future research.
Highlights
Networking refers to goal-directed behavior aimed at creating, cultivating, and utilizing interpersonal contacts (Gibson et al, 2014)
Based upon Conservation of Resources theory (COR) theory’s premise that resource gain attenuates burnout, we examine whether networking is associated with reduced emotional exhaustion, which is a well-researched dimension of burnout in resource based theories (Bakker et al, 2014, p. 400; Gorgievski and Hobfoll, 2008, p. 2)
We propose that Positive affect (PA) mediates the relationships between daily networking behavior and employees’ shortterm reactions, including career-related outcomes, job attitude, and well-being
Summary
Networking refers to goal-directed behavior aimed at creating, cultivating, and utilizing interpersonal contacts (Gibson et al, 2014) It is an important strategy in work and career self-management, because it enhances people’s access to resources (Porter and Woo, 2015). Scholars have adopted a boundaryless or protean career perspective (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996; Hall, 1996) to show that networking is positively related to career outcomes. These include, for instance, salary (Ng and Feldman, 2014a), promotions (Wolff and Moser, 2010), or career satisfaction (Ng and Feldman, 2014b). In this vein, networking is linked to measures of social capital, such as network size and structural holes (Wolff and Moser, 2006), and network size is further associated with the amount and diversity of information managers acquire from their contacts (Anderson, 2008)
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