ABSTRACT Academics are increasingly seeking employment abroad. Despite their growing number, there is limited research on how academics secure positions at foreign universities. The literature does indicate however, that academic hiring is not a standardised meritocratic process, but influenced by academic tradition and social capital. Drawing on this perspective, this study explores the role social capital plays among international and local hires at two universities (located in the U.S. and Flanders), that exhibited contrasting approaches towards recruiting foreign talent. At the U.S. university, social capital was used to counterbalance lacking elements in a candidate's curriculum vitae related to their professional experience. At the Flemish university, social capital was used to signal a candidate's compatibility with the ethos of the hiring university or system. The study demonstrates that the role social capital plays is not exclusively determined by nationality but linked to an academic's professional background which signals their insider/outsider status in the system of their employment.

中文翻译：

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跨越学术边界：探索社会资本在学术招聘中的作用

摘要 越来越多的学者到国外寻找工作。尽管他们的人数不断增加，但关于学者如何确保外国大学职位的研究有限。然而，文献确实表明，学术招聘不是一个标准化的任人唯贤过程，而是受学术传统和社会资本的影响。从这个角度出发，本研究探讨了社会资本在两所大学（位于美国和法兰德斯）的国际和本地招聘中所起的作用，这两所大学展示了招聘外国人才的不同方法。在美国大学，社会资本被用来抵消候选人简历中与其专业经验相关的缺失元素。在佛兰德大学，社会资本被用来向候选人发出信号” 与招聘大学或系统的精神相容。研究表明，社会资本所扮演的角色不仅取决于国籍，还与学者的专业背景有关，这表明他们在就业系统中的内部/外部身份。