دانلود رایگان مقاله عوامل تعیین کننده استفاده از سایت شبکه اجتماعی از طرف دارندگان مدرک دکترا

abstract

Social networking sites are an increasingly important tool for career development, especially for highly skilled individuals. Moreover, they may constitute valuable sources of data for scholars and policy makers. However, little research has been conducted on the use by highly skilled individuals of those social networks. In this paper, we focus on PhD graduates, who play an important role in the innovation process and in particular in knowledge creation and diffusion. We seek to increase understanding of the determinants that induce PhD graduates to register on LinkedIn and to develop wider or narrower networks. Controlling for the most relevant individual characteristics, we find that (i) PhD holders moving to the industry sector are more likely to have a LinkedIn account and to have a larger network of connections in LinkedIn; (ii) PhD holders are more likely to use LinkedIn if they have co-authors abroad; and (iii) they have wider networks if they have moved abroad after obtaining their PhD. In light of our analyses, we discuss the usefulness of – and main concerns about – the adoption of LinkedIn as a new data source for research and innovation studies.

6. Conclusions

In this study, we have focused on determinants that lead PhD holders to register and develop wider or narrower networks on LinkedIn.We have found that PhD holders whomove to industry, go abroad, and have international collaborations are more likely to use LinkedIn. In particular, the probability of having a LinkedIn account is higher for PhD holders that move to industry and, to a lesser extent, for those who had international collaborations during their graduate studies. International mobility has no correlation with the probability of having an account, but it is positively correlated with the size ofthe network. These results suggestthat LinkedIn, for PhD holders, can be a means to seek career opportunities and collaborations outside the academic environment where they obtained their PhD. In this sense, SNSs may help overcome geographic boundaries and information asymmetries (Autor, 2001; Varian, 2010). In our study, we have also provided a methodological discussion related to the use of SNSs data for research. Using fine-grained data gathered from LinkedIn and complemented with additional data sources, we have shown that LinkedIn can be used as a new data source to deepen the analysis of the behavior of highly skilled individuals. The fact that some of our most intuitive hypotheses have been verified suggests that LinkedIn may be used as a reliable data source in future studies. However, in the context of each specific analysis, problems of self-selection, self-reporting, and self-promotion should be taken into account. The adoption of complementary sources of data is clearly advisable.