Social capital deficit in online learning: An ego-centric approach to occupational attainment

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Oguz, Fatih

Affiliations: Department of Library and Information Studies, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1400 Spring Garden Street, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA. E-mail: f_oguz@uncg.edu

Abstract: This study examined how social networks of LIS graduates contribute to their job attainment. Graduates from three ALA-accredited programs in the Southeastern U.S. who took some or all of their coursework online to earn the MLIS degree participated in the study. Findings suggest that recent graduates of entirely online programs have social capital deficit with the absence of their MLIS peers in their social networks. However, the results also showed that such a deficit may not be an important concern as graduates found most of the jobs with the information provided by LIS professional contacts. Having relatively older contacts in their networks, graduates increased their likelihood of finding new employment after graduation.

Keywords: Social capital, social networks, online learning, job mobility

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-150958

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 227-244, 2015