Different cultures, different gateways: culture shapes stratified job descriptions on LinkedIn

ABSTRACTRecruiting process serves as an important gateway context to fuel social disparity. Previous studies on social inequality focused on how independent competence valued in high-status contexts, aligns with dominant American cultural norms, while interdependent competence valued in low-status contexts, clashes with these norms. Scholarstheorised that individuals with higher status have more resources to afford independence than those with lower status. However, the reliance on Western samples may overlook the influence of cultural norms, leading to ineffective inclusive human resource development strategies. To explore how societal culture shapes competence models at different levels of status, we utilised big data analysis methods to examine job descriptions across occupational statuses and cultures. We analysed 150,708 online job descriptions posted in China and the U.S.A. on LinkedIn. Our research findings indicate that in the U.S.A, higher-status jobs place greater more emphasize independent competence, whereas in China, higher-status jobs require candidates to possess more interdependent competence. This suggests that culture, rather than material resources, shapes social stratification in the labour market. We discuss these findings’ implications, including the vital role of job descriptions in facilitating or hindering access to desired opportunities and upward social mobility across cultures and how HRD professionals can intervene in different cultural contexts.KEYWORDS: Cultureoccupational statusjob descriptiontext miningcompetence model Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. By the term working-class contexts, we refer to contexts in which most people have relatively low incomes or relatively low-status occupations. In contrast, by middle-class contexts, we refer to contexts in which most people have relatively high incomes, or relatively high-status occupations (Stephens, Townsend, and Dittmann Citation2019).2. By the term gateway institutions, we refer to the established organisations that can function as key access points to future work opportunities, valued life outcomes, and upward social mobility (Ridgeway and Fisk Citation2012).3. By the terms higher status groups and lower status groups, we mean people from groups deemed to have higher status and people from groups deemed to have lower status. To avoid wordiness, we will use higher status groups and lower status groups hereafter.