Differential returns from networking behaviours for men and women: A longitudinal study

Abstract Networking is an important career self‐management strategy that affects objective and subjective career outcomes. Concerning gender differences, the prevailing assumption is that women benefit less from networking than men. Yet, some findings on the effects of specific subdimensions of networking suggest that although men benefit from most dimensions, women may benefit as much or even more from at least some dimensions. Based on theories of stereotypes and homophily, as well as findings from social network studies, we explore whether internal and external networking have different effects on career outcomes for men and women. Using data from an 8‐year longitudinal study ( N = 229), we employ hierarchical linear modelling to examine how internal and external networking behaviours affect changes in salary and career satisfaction. We find that men's salary growth benefits from internal networking, whereas women's salary growth benefits from external networking. Contrary to our expectations, we find only cross‐sectional, but no longitudinal, effects of networking on career satisfaction. Our findings suggest that men and women might emphasize different forms of networking to maximize objective returns.