INSEAD Library

For the degree of Ph.D. in management, INSEAD, June 2008

Includes bibliographical references

This dissertation explores how people break into new careers when they lack related work experience.Career change is a widespread phenomenon is today's labor market but also one we poorly understand. I draw on social networks theory and the literature on anticipatory socialization to address this issue. In the first part of this dissertation I develop a three-part model of accomplishing career changes. First, being accepted in new work domains depends on job candidates' ability to mobilize insiders - contactswith first-hand knowledge of the desired work domain in - their career advice networks. Second, insiders are crucial for job seekers' anticipatory socialization because they contribute to the acquisition of role knowledge and construction of occupational identity. Finally, successful mobilization of insiders hinges on job seekers' initial endowment of social resources and the evolution of their occupational identity over time. For job seekers who have a lower endowment of social resources initially, engaging in a process of occupational identity construction may compensate for the relative want of initial social resources. In the second part of the dissertation I test these propositions empirically. I use a longitudinal dataset on the career change process of 206 MBAS from a top international business school that I collected over two years. My findings support the idea that increasing salience of the desired occupational identity sets in motion a virteous circle of insider mobilization, learning, and career change success. If a certain occupational identity becomes a central part of how the job seeker imagines him- or herself in the future, there is no commitment to the role and more willingness to explore the avenues to make it happen. Initial endowment of social resources and crystallizing one's occupational identity emerge as alternative resources for breaking into new careers. This dissertation contributes to the literature on individual resources mobilized for action in social networks. It also sharpens our understanding of the benefits of diverse versus redundant networks for labor market outcomes: while existing research emphasizes the benefits of diverse networks, a career advice network focused on insiders provides adaptation opportunities that a diverse network cannot offer.