How women navigate the use of social networks in the new Saudi workplace

Access to social capital and networks has been identified as being important for job attainment and career development. This is particularly true in the context of networked societies where informal networks such as Guanxi in China, Blat in Russia and Wasta in the Arab countries of the Middle East have a substantial impact on the social, economic and political activities (Horak et al., 2020; Ali and Weir, 2020). Whilst there is now a developing stream of research on the use of informal networks in career attainment and development (Alsarhan et al., 2021; Helal et al., 2023) previous studies have largely focused on men or have not signposted the challenges and nuances of the use of social networks by women in their career in such societies (Alsarhan et al., 2021). This paper seeks to address this gap by exploring the use of informal networks by Saudi women in the workplace. A combination of qualitative online self-completion interviews (26) and ‘live’ online interviews (5) was conducted with graduate women who work in Saudi Arabia. Preliminary analysis of the data highlights how informal networks/ Wasta is used by women to get access to jobs, manage work more efficiently and progress their careers. Whilst there is a perceived difference and historic advantage for men in accessing and using informal networks in their advantage, this is perceived to be diminishing in the modern Saudi workplace.