A social network theory perspective on how social ties influence perceived employability and job insecurity: evidence from school teachers

Abstract

With the emergence of critical educational reforms and agentic career perspective, unemployment and job insecurity are considered a significant threat to school teachers in Pakistan. Drawing on the social network theory (SNT), this study attempts to investigate the effect of social network ties on perceived employability (PEM) and job insecurity (JIS) and how PEM mediates the association between social ties and job insecurity. Moreover, the current study pursues to assess the moderation effect of information sharing in the association between social network ties and PEM. Using the survey approach, we recruited teachers from government schools. The proposed model and relationships were validated through structural equation modeling and hierarchical linear regression. The findings revealed that strong tie is significantly related to PEM and JIS. Similarly, the weak tie is significantly related to PEM except for JIS. This study extends SNT by empirically establishing the influence of network characteristics (strong and weak ties) on PEM and JIS. This study helps school management and government policymakers to enhance teacher’s PEM and job security through networking and training opportunities. This research moreover guides government policymakers to formulate realistic education policies with the consensuses of school management. This practice will enhance teachers’ trust toward acceptance and implementation of educational policies. The present research successfully covers the gap by establishing the association of social network ties with PEM and JIS which was largely ignored in the literature on social employment management.