The key seems to be how people perceive their own success and professional value
The benefits of professional networking are backed by research, anecdote, and career coaches galore—and yet a lot of people shy away from it. A global survey of nearly 16,000 LinkedIn users revealed that while nearly 80 percent of professionals consider networking crucial to career success, almost 40 percent admit that they find it hard to do.
So who networks and who doesn’t? One might assume that networking is largely the domain of those who have lower social status who are early in their careers. After all, the benefits of a larger network are especially important as you’re establishing yourself.
But a lot of research suggests that this isn’t the case—that higher-status individuals have larger social networks.
[This article has been republished, with permission, from Kellogg Insight, the faculty research & ideas magazine of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University]