IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/asiaec/v39y2025i1p49-74.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Power or information”: How social networks affect the self‐employment decision of rural migrants in Beijing?

Author

Listed:
  • Jie Zhang
  • Jingyi Ye
  • Chenyu Meng

Abstract

As non‐financial resources, social networks have a pervasive influence on career prospects. However, among social networks, which relationships are most beneficial for self‐employment? This study used survey data from rural–urban migrant workers in Beijing to examine the role of personal networks in rural migrants' self‐employment decisions. Social networks were categorized based on the heterogeneity of occupational status. The analysis revealed that networks related to information exchange are more pivotal than those associated with the influence of migrants' self‐employment decisions. Furthermore, social networks emanating from lower occupational status significantly decreased the likelihood of self‐employment in individuals. Additionally, males and newcomer migrants received greater social support from information‐related networks and were more likely to pursue self‐employment. Our findings indicated that self‐employed migrants earn higher incomes than wage earners, exhibit a greater propensity to settle in Beijing, and report higher satisfaction with their lives and economic status.

Suggested Citation

  • Jie Zhang & Jingyi Ye & Chenyu Meng, 2025. "“Power or information”: How social networks affect the self‐employment decision of rural migrants in Beijing?," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 49-74, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:39:y:2025:i:1:p:49-74
    DOI: 10.1111/asej.12347
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/asej.12347
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/asej.12347?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:39:y:2025:i:1:p:49-74. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.