Patterns of informal networking and upward career mobility: A comparative analysis of African American and black immigrant women from Africa and the Caribbean

This qualitative study explores differences in patterns of informal networking related to the career advancement of three cultural groups of Black women---African American and Black immigrant women from Africa and the Caribbean---working in two multicultural, international development organizations. The study considers the impact of background socialization and racial socialization on their networking patterns within the organization, including interactions with Whites. Informed by literature in social psychology, the study explores the possible effect of background socialization and racial socialization on the perceptions and attitudes of members of each group towards Whites that may impede or facilitate their ability to develop informal relationships related to career advancement. The total number of informants comprised 32 women: 10 native African Americans, 9 Black immigrants from Africa, and 13 Black immigrants from the Caribbean who are currently employed in 2 large multinational organizations on the East Coast of the United States. All 3 groups of women report that they network with both Blacks and Whites, however, the groups differ in the kind of support they seek. African American and African Caribbean women tend to network primarily for expressive benefits that is, for social and psychosocial support, while the African women reach out for and receive not only expressive benefits but also instrumental career-related benefits. Second, the study found that differences in networking patterns may interact in terms of race, culture and racial resocialization in the following ways: (1) regarding informal networking for career advancement, members of each group tend to share a perspective that is strongly informed by the norms and values of their particular cultural groupings; (2) regarding informal networking with male superiors, members of each group tend to share similar perspectives informed by their cultural values regarding gender relations; (3) regarding informal networking with White peers and superiors, there emerge two general perspectives, that of African Americans tends to be shaped by the history of race relations in the U.S.A (socialization) and that of the Black immigrants involves a process of resocialization after arrival in the U.S.A; and (4) individual positions about relating to Whites are found within all three cultural groups. (Some express high close-mindedness; others strive for high open-mindedness; some appear to be in the middle, not either/or). Third, the study found that the career advancement of all 3 groups of women followed 4 mobility patterns: fast movers, slow steady movers, strugglers and immobiles. These mobility patterns appear to differ in the informal networking patterns used and also the amount of organizational support received from line managers. The fast movers and slow steady movers differ from strugglers and immobiles in two ways: (a) they do more heterogeneous informal networking for instrumental support, and (b) they receive more instrumental support for career advancement from line managers and immediate supervisors. Conversely, the career advancement of the strugglers and immobiles appear to be negatively impacted by the fact that these women tend to network only for expressive support and not for instrumental support. Strugglers and immobiles also tend to depend on the formal organizational system to advance their careers and appear to receive only limited support from their line managers and immediate supervisors. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).