Online Job Seeking: An Exploratory Study from the Perspective of Social Capital and Technology Readiness

Internet offers job seekers additional options such as help from friends in the virtual community and recruitment sites. This exploratory study compares social capital in the real and virtual world through job seeking, an instrumental social support. The study shows that social capital of the virtual communities is lower than the real communities. Virtual communities also do not perform well in job seeking. Social capital in the real world, through extensity and lower reachability, influence whether e-employment sites are used for seeking new jobs. Certain aspects of technology readiness also affect the use of such e-employment sites.