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Yuyun Liu (Sun Yat-sen University) - Does Dialect Serve as a Signal of Social Networks in Job Search? Evidence from China

Date and Time: June 3rd, 2019, 3:00 pm - 5:00pm

Room: A 101 in the Economics Building (Museum)

Abstract

Team diverstiy is beneficial for performance but also decrease team cohesion (O´Reilly et.al. 1989; Milliken & Martins, 1996), then when hiring a team member how do the leader treat the cultural difference between them? This paper address this problem using a novel database drawing from the Chinese job-interview television show Only You during 2010-2016, and study how the dialectal distance between the applicant and the interviewer, who is also the team leader, affect the outcome of hiring.

We have found a U-shape relationship which implies an applicant with either closer cultural identity or more distant cultural identity helps to increase the probability of being hired by the leader compared to a moderate cultural distance. Mechanism analysis shows, culture-fit and complementary in social networks explains different parts of U-shape respectively.