IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v155y2026ics0264999325004146.html

From school to work: How alumni networks on LinkedIn shape PhD journeys

Author

Listed:
  • Zou, Haoqian

Abstract

This paper explores how alumni networks shape the school-to-work migration of PhD graduates entering nonacademic sectors. Using résumés collected from LinkedIn, I assembled a dataset of roughly 300,000 PhD graduates from 145 R1 universities between 1980 and 2016. The dataset provides detailed information on education and employment histories, enabling analysis of alumni stock and migration flows across school–state pairs. I employ panel regressions at the school–destination level, incorporating origin-year, destination-year, and origin–destination interactive fixed effects to address omitted-variable bias. The results show that a larger number of managerial alumni is positively associated with migration, likely reflecting a supportive role for new graduates. Conversely, more junior alumni are linked to lower migration, suggesting potential competitive pressures.

Suggested Citation

  • Zou, Haoqian, 2026. "From school to work: How alumni networks on LinkedIn shape PhD journeys," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:155:y:2026:i:c:s0264999325004146
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107419
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999325004146
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2025.107419?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    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:eee:ecmode:v:155:y:2026:i:c:s0264999325004146. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    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.