Career networks : the use of personal and professional relationships by women administrators in the University of North Carolina system

The primary focus of this research investigated how women in academic administration used their personal and professional relationships, networking, for job acquisition and as a career advancement tool. The study examined the specific network characteristics used by women in top-level and middle-level administrative positions and delineated the similarities and differences in the networks of each hierarchical group. Findings explained the impact administrative level had on the perceptions, development, and usage of career networking by women in academe. The final sample consisted of 119 women (17 top-level administrators and 102 middle-level administrators) who were employed in the University of North Carolina system during the 1984-85 academic year. Eighty-eight administrators noted that they used personal and professional relationships in acquiring administrative posts. No other method of job acquisition was rated nearly as high as the reliance on network relationships. Data were gathered from a research questionnaire developed by the author. Descriptive statistics, i.e., Frequency distributions, tests of association, measures of central tendency, and measures of variability, were used to analyze the data