Network-based job recruitment has long been viewed as a crucial driver of gender and ethnic segregation. However, a study by François Collet at Esade in collaboration with Martin Arvidsson and Peter Hedström at Linköping University shows that it may be the opposite.

The authors have identified a previously overlooked mechanism, the Trojan horse, which shows that network-based recruitment reduces rather than increases segregation. The mechanism provides new insights into how networks can help to increase diversity.

The findings, published in Science Advances, could have important implications for social policy, say Collet and co-authors Martin Arvidsson and Peter Hedström.

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