Getting a job via career-oriented social networking markets - The weakness of too many ties

While career-oriented social networking markets (CSNM) such as LinkedIn or XING are increasingly appreciated by a large number of internet users, our understanding of CSNM benefits and factors influencing the intention to use CSNM for a job search is very limited. For theoretical work on CSNM I extend Venkatesh’s et al. UTAUT2 model by presenting a new concept considering a user’s ties based on Granovetter’s social network theory. The evaluation of the extended model, which asks users of CSNM about their job search behavior and their search success, shows a predictive quality increase from 19.0 percent to 80.5 percent. Post hoc analyses reveal a substantial negative relationship between the number of a user’s ties and its job search success, which supports the experience of practitioners but contradicts scholarly findings. A level of about 150 contacts is most effective in terms of getting job offers, which confirms Dunbar’s number. The results are useful for scholars and practitioners.