Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31784/zvr.14.1.3
The contribution of network social capital and networking comfort in predicting job satisfaction
Ivona Čarapina Zovko
orcid.org/0000-0001-6978-5844
; University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Katerina Malić Bandur
; University of Mostar, Faculty of Economics, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the current employment status in the educated profession among participants who were graduating students in the period 2017–2019, and to analyse the contribution of their network social capital and networking comfort in explaining job satisfaction among those who are employed. The study was conducted from December 2024 to March 2025 as a follow-up to a longitudinal project in which the same cohort of graduates had previously participated in 2017 and left their contact details in the research database. Out of 743 e-mail invitations, around 30% of addresses were invalid, and after two reminders 78 participants took part in the study (65.4% women and 34.6% men). The average age of participants was 34 years (M = 33.69; SD = 1.13), and on average they had graduated eight years earlier (M = 8.54; SD = 0.95). The data were collected online. According to the results, 72 participants (92.3%) reported being employed in the profession for which they were educated, while 6 (7.7%) were employed outside their field. Regression analysesshowed that actor status in the social network (β = 0.131; t(73) = 2.34; p < 0.05) and networking comfort (β = 0.241; t(73) = 2.32; p < 0.05) significantly contributed to explaining the variance in job satisfaction. The originality of the study lies in the eight-year follow-up of the same cohort of graduates and in the inclusion of several dimensions of network social capital and networking comfort in understanding job satisfaction.
Keywords
social capital; social networks; networking comfort; job satisfaction; follow-up study
Hrčak ID:
348086
URI
Publication date:
3.7.2026.
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