Gendered double embeddedness: Finding jobs through networks in the Chinese labor market

Inspired by the concept of “double embeddedness,” we argue that the gender gap in network-based job searching depends on the degree of legitimacy of gender status beliefs across institutional contexts. Analyses from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey show that the gender gap in network-based job searching is larger in the market sector than in the state sector, as the gender status beliefs are more legitimate in the former than in the latter. Additionally, the sector difference of the gender gap in network-based job searching is significant when the resources channeled through networks are information-related, but it is insignificant when the network resources are influence-related. These findings indicate that job searching is double embedded in social networks and in cultural institutions.