Previous attempts at determining the reasons why seasonal laborers in the ski industry choose to continue their employment in the following year have elucidated how difficult the process is. This research, using an online sampling technique, has been able to reach a much broader range of seasonal laborers than previous research has succeeded in doing, and attempts to address three main issues previously unexamined. The first issue is that, while previous research has identified that seasonal workers’ intentions to return are influenced, among other things, by feelings of camaraderie with fellow workers, this research furthers the idea of camaraderie with the more theoretically-based social capital. Second, this research identifies the recent increased use of social network websites (SNSs) for both personal use and, currently, work-related use, and how they have produced a new medium for information dissemination, knowledge sharing, and the development of interpersonal relationships that affect seasonal workers’ impressions of their colleagues and feelings of camaraderie towards them. This research examines the role of SNSs in developing social capital (relationships between acquaintances and, specifically in this case, co-workers) and examines how this social capital—possibly influenced by new social media like SNSs—influences intention to return. Third, since job satisfaction of seasonal workers in the ski industry has been previously identified as dependent on relationships with management, this research examines the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) as a moderator of certain social capital measures as a determinant of intention to return. Finally, despite the fact that much anecdotal evidence suggests that the opportunities for skiing or snowboarding figure highly into seasonal workers’ satisfaction and intention to return, no study has yet incorporated this into their research. This study ameliorates that by considering it as a variable affecting intention to return.
Results indicate significant positive relationships between SNS usage intensity and online bridging and bonding social capitals as well as offline bridging and bonding social capitals. No other significant positive relationships were found affecting intention to return, nor indicating LMX as a moderating force. An unexpected negative relationship was found between offline bonding social capital and intention to return with LMX as a moderator.

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