Work Motivation and Social Networking Development in Professional's Job Change Behavior: A Comparison Between the U.S. and Japan

As professionals' work-related knowledge is not dependent on the organization to which they are employed, professionals are thought to be able to move between organizations more easily than non-professionals. However a great number of professionals in Japan enjoy a lifetime employment system and never change organizations as many large companies in highly professional fields such as science and technology, etc. adopt internal labor market-type employment systems. Therefore, Japanese professionals tend to hope their growth in the same company, and not to change jobs even if the work is not interesting enough.

In the U.S. on the other hand, professionals in Silicon Valley, California found ventures one after another and frequently change jobs.  They dislike to continue the same job for three years, because they always are anxious to the opportunity which makes them grow.  They have a lot of interesting to the new projects which satisfy their curiosity.  For this purpose, they are extending their network not only in the same professional area, but also with other professionals or even non-professionals to meet new idea.  They are also looking for colleagues with whom to collaborate to realize such idea.

As a result, professional social networking development in Japan tends to be confined to professional groups such as affiliated companies and academic conferences, etc. Meanwhile, as professionals in Silicon Valley are in a high-risk situation with the fear of bankruptcy and dismissal lurking behind success, a wide variety of social networks consisting of former colleagues, persons in the community, PTA members, and members of the same ethnic group, etc. have developed. These differences in the social environment surrounding professionals have impacted the development of social networks; while employment in Japan divides networks into public organizational networks and private networks, Silicon Valley professionals acquire job opportunities through mixed public and private networks.