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Developmental networks are ego-centered networks, and were found to be beneficial for career success and advancement. Especially in academia, the benefits of developmental networks are critical due to limitations in career stability, and its up-or-out character. Overall, they facilitate career success and advancement by providing access to social capital, which is more or less attainable depending on certain structural network characteristics. Diverging access to social capital for women and men is well known, however, little is known about developmental networks of female and male academic staff. Therefore, this study investigated cohesion and brokerage as indicators for access to social capital to explore gender differences. The sample consisted of n = 594 ego-networks of PhDs and postdocs, working at German universities and research institutes. Cohesion was measured by density and degree; brokerage by effectiveness and constraint. Results revealed that based on Coleman’s cohesion theory (1988, 1990), female researchers showed less access to social capital through less dense networks, but bigger ones implying more social capital. Moreover, based on Burt’s brokerage theory (1992, 2005), female researchers showed, against our assumptions, more brokerage social capital by showing greater effectiveness, and less constraint. Results provide insight into men’s and women’s access to social capital.

Related to role theory's expansion approach, this study focused on how various social roles in one focal person-network member relationship (i.e., multiplexity) relate to the amount of psychosocial and career support. We expected different types of multiplex relationships in comparison to simplex relationships to be positively associated with the support received by the focal person. Via multilevel analysis in M plus, 2995 dyadic relationships of developmental networks nested in 533 persons were analysed. Concerning psychosocial support, a positive association with multiplex relationships from the non-work context, and the combination of work and non-work context could be observed. Multiplex relationships from the work context and multiplex relationships from the work and non-work context were positively associated with career support.

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