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Senior Management Aspirations of Managers and Professionals: A Career Decision-Making Perspective

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Drexel University by Barrie Elise Litzky in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2002

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Dedication

With Love For Elizabeth Henley Dillon And Gordon Boyd Lang

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Acknowledgments There are a number of people who have helped me through the dissertation process, the Ph.D. program, and through the highs and lows of the last seven years. First and foremost, I would like to thank Dr. Jeffrey H. Greenhaus, my supervising professor, who by his example as a scholar, a teacher, a mentor and a colleague, has motivated me to demand excellence from myself and to not be so shocked on the occasions that I may actually achieve it. Dr. Greenhaus is one of the most generous individuals I have ever met. His generosity with his time, his wisdom, and his humor sustained me throughout the dissertation more than I can express. Dr. Greenhaus has set an example of the type of scholarship that is attainable when you are truly dedicated to your field. I respect him tremendously, and hope that I will take the tools that he has imparted on me and make him proud, and glad that he spent the last three years in the “front row” seat of this wonderful and challenging journey. Dr. Saroj Parasuraman, honorary committee member, mentor and friend. Truly one of the most creative individuals I have ever met, Dr. Parasuraman’s agility with words is something that I continue to be awed by. Not only is Dr. Parasuraman to be thanked for believing in me from the beginning, but for passing along her passion for research, and for being a constant reminder to me of what being determined really means. Dr. Karen Collins from Lehigh University was extremely supportive and helpful throughout the entire dissertation process. Dr. Collins was always there for me with a quick turnaround, excellent suggestions and encouragement. I am very grateful to Dr.

iv Collins, whose knowledge of aspirations in the accounting field brought tremendous insight to this project. Dr. Dona DeCarolis was enthusiastic about my dissertation from the beginning. Her adeptness at research and her knowledge of the management literature, helped in the framing and definition of some of the major constructs in this paper. Dr. DeCarolis is a good friend, whose sincerity and belief in my abilities helped to keep me motivated. Dr. Veronica Godshalk of Penn State Great Valley, sits in the office next door to me. Aside from her vast knowledge of the careers literature, Ronnie was available to talk, every time I popped my head into her doorway. She always finished the conversation with “you’re doing great, you’re almost there.” I am so grateful that Ronnie and I have the opportunity to work together. Dr. Frank Linnehan is an extremely prolific researcher, and an equally wonderful human being. Dr. Linnehan challenged me from the beginning to think through the implications of all of my decisions. His vast knowledge of methodology and statistics brought tremendous value to this research project. I cannot thank Dr. Linnehan enough for his extremely quick turnarounds, his thoroughness and his ongoing support. Aside from my committee members, I would like to thank Dr. Steve Bagjier and Dr. Patrick Donnelly, two wonderful statistics professors without whom I don’t think I could have gained the understanding that I needed to make it through the Ph.D. program. Their passing was a terrible loss to the Drexel community, and I am very thankful that I had the pleasure of learning from them. I would also like to thank Dr. Andrew Verzilli who offered an enormous amount of social support the first year of the program, especially during the core exam.

v A list of thank yous would certainly be incomplete without mention of my other wonderful friends and colleagues from Drexel, Rachel Becker, Carolyn Feruggia Coco, JB Dickinson, Michele Galan, June Morris, Sandy Naringsingh, Charlene Nessler, Jenifer Pierce, Dr. Yasmin Purohit, Dhatri Purohit, Dr. Cathy Ridings, Dr. Sidney Siegel, Dr. Romila Singh and Dr. Stephanie Weidman, who offered support, encouragement, and empathy throughout the entire Ph.D. program. My colleagues at Penn State Great Valley have also been very supportive and encouraging through the dissertation process. I would especially like to thank Dr. Ellen Foster-Curtis and Dr. William Milheim for the belief that they had in my ability to work full-time and complete the Ph.D., to Dr. David Fritzsche for hiring me, to the office staff, Lillian Mina, April Pumala, Cari Raezer, Susan Rivera, Suzanne Shaffer and Carolyn Wilson. A special thanks to April Pumala for her help with the typing and editing of the dissertation, and to Stacy Wessel for her help in the final edits. Additionally, I would like to thank Julie Meyer, whose instructional design capabilities helped me with the online survey and data collection. Without Julie, I would still be fiddling around with Perseus. My friends are a wonderful group of people. Whether they were calling long distance, emailing to cheer me on, or over at my house doing my laundry while I was at work, I will never be able to express what it is that their love and support has meant to me over these last seven years. I would like to make a special mention of Joan and Barry Dickinson, my faux parents in Philadelphia, who always took care of me through their generosity and love, and to Andrea Klopfer, my aunt, who always took me to dinner on her business trips and always was expressed a true interest in my research.

vi I would like to thank Sheila and Marty Litzky, my parents, who I love more than ever. It is the two of you who helped to fuel my intellectual curiosity and my love of learning. It is also the two of you who made me know that it didn’t matter what I “did” as long as I “did my best”. And finally, it is because of the two of you, that I developed the imagination to dream, the self-confidence to pursue my dreams, and the tenacity to achieve them. Additionally, I am thankful to my siblings, for their love, support and encouragement. Last, but certainly not least, I must thank Solomon Shag, my best friend, for his unique ability to sense my every emotion, and for allowing me to experience pure, genuine, unconditional love.

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Table of Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................vii List of Tables...........................................................................................................................xii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................xiv Abstract

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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 1 Research Opportunities and Scope of Study................................................................... 5 Senior Management Aspirations: What We Know - What We Need To Learn ....... 5 Individual, Lifestyle and Work Factors: An Interaction at Work .............................. 8 Theoretical Contributions and Practical Significance................................................... 12 Overview of Forthcoming Chapters.............................................................................. 15 Chapter 2: SENIOR MANAGEMENT ASPIRATIONS OF MANAGERS AND PROFESSIONALS..................................................................................... 16 Literature Review.......................................................................................................... 16 Senior Managers........................................................................................................ 16 What are Aspirations? ............................................................................................... 20 Determinants of Senior Management Aspirations .................................................... 26 Career Development of Managers and Professionals ............................................... 28 Senior Management Aspirations as a Component of a Career Decision .................. 31 Research Opportunities ................................................................................................. 62

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Chapter 3: RESEARCH FOCUS ............................................................................................ 64 Research Purpose and Questions................................................................................... 64 Hypothesized Relationships .......................................................................................... 65 The Impact of Congruence on Desired Aspirations .................................................. 66 The Impact of Lifestyle Factors on Desired Aspirations .......................................... 72 The Impact of Desired Aspirations on Enacted Aspirations ..................................... 74 The Role of Expectancy in a Model of Senior Management Aspirations................. 77 Potential Contributions to the Literature....................................................................... 88 Chapter 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY................................................. 90 Overview ....................................................................................................................... 90 Research Design............................................................................................................ 90 Data Collection Procedure ............................................................................................ 91 Pilot Study ................................................................................................................ 92 Main Study ............................................................................................................... 93 Respondents .............................................................................................................. 93 Sample........................................................................................................................... 93 Desired Sample Size.................................................................................................. 94 Demographics of Respondents.................................................................................. 95 Measurement of Variables ............................................................................................ 96 Tests of Reliability and Validity ............................................................................... 96 Independent Variables............................................................................................... 98 Moderator Variables................................................................................................ 103 Dependent Variables ............................................................................................... 109

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Additional Variables of Interest .............................................................................. 111 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 112 Descriptive Statistics and Correlational Analysis ................................................... 112 Tests of Hypotheses ................................................................................................ 113 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 119 Chapter 5: RESULTS............................................................................................................ 120 Correlational Analysis................................................................................................. 120 Intercorrelations Among Demographic and Model Variables ................................ 120 Intercorrelations Among Model Variables.............................................................. 122 Tests of Hypotheses .................................................................................................... 124 Hypothesis 1: Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations. ......... 124 Hypothesis 2: Moderating Effect of Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations.................................... 125 Post Hoc Analysis ................................................................................ 126 Hypothesis 3: Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations ………………………….............................. 127 Hypothesis 4: Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations....................... 128 Post Hoc Analysis ................................................................................ 128 Hypothesis 5: Moderating Effect of Career Support on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations....................... 129 Hypothesis 6a: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations.................................... 130 Post Hoc Analysis ................................................................................ 131 Hypothesis 6b: Relationship Between Gender and Off-Job Involvement. ............. 131

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Hypothesis 6c: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Off-Job Involvement. ........................................ 132 Hypothesis 6d: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations....................... 132 Hypothesis 6e: Relationship Between Gender and Advancement Prospects.......... 133 Hypothesis 6f: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Advancement Prospects. ............................................. 134 Hypothesis 6g: Relationship Between Gender and Career Support........................ 134 Hypothesis 6h: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Career Support................................................... 135 Post Hoc Analysis: Model of Senior Management Aspirations........... 135 Summary ..................................................................................................................... 136 Chapter 6: DISCUSSION...................................................................................................... 138 Research Gaps in the Career Development and Decision-Making Literature ............ 138 Congruence as a Determinant of Senior Management Aspirations ............................ 139 Environmental Factors as Determinants of Senior Management Aspirations ............ 141 Attitudes, Intentions and Behaviors in Senior Management Aspirations ................... 143 The Role of Gender ..................................................................................................... 145 Dominant Concepts in Career Development and Decision-Making........................... 147 Theoretical Contributions of the Study ....................................................................... 149 Practical Implications of the Study ............................................................................. 151 Limitations of the Research......................................................................................... 152 Directions for Future Research in this Area................................................................ 154

xi List of References.................................................................................................................. 159 Appendix A – Study Measures.............................................................................................. 211 Appendix B – Polynomial Regression Results ..................................................................... 231 Appendix C – Web Survey.................................................................................................... 237 Vita ………………. .............................................................................................................. 253

xii List of Tables Table 1 Empirical Studies of Managerial Aspirations .......................................................... 171 Table 2 Expectancy Theory as a Framework for Present Study ........................................... 173 Table 3 Summary of Hypotheses .......................................................................................... 174 Table 4 Demographic Summary ........................................................................................... 175 Table 5 Rotated Factor Structure of Senior Management Schema Scale………..……………..177 Table 6 Rotated Factor Structure of Senior Management Self-Assessment Scale .…………178 Table 7 Factor Structure of the Global Congruence Scale .…………………………………….…179 Table 8 Rotated Factor Structure of Subjective Off Job Involvement Scale ........................ 180 Table 9 Rotated Factor Structure of Subjective Advancement Prospects Scale ................... 181 Table 10 Factor Structure of the Career Support Work Domain Scale................................. 182 Table 11 Factor Structure of the Career Support Non-Work Domain Scale ........................ 183 Table 12 Factor Structure of the Desired Aspirations Scale ................................................. 184 Table 13 Factor Structure of the Enacted Aspirations Scale................................................. 185 Table 14 Summary of Factor Analyses and Reliability Analyses......................................... 186 Table 15 Descriptive Statistics, Reliabilities and Intercorrelations among Demographic and Study Variables.......................................................... 188 Table 16 Moderating Effect of Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations (Hypotheses 1 and 2)................ 191 Table 17 Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypotheses 3 and 4) ...................... 192 Table 18 Moderating Effect of Career Support on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypothesis 5)................................. 194 Table 19 Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations (Hypotheses 6a)........................ 196

xiii Table 20a Relationship Between Gender and Objective Off-Job Involvement (Hypothesis 6b) ................................................................................................... 197 Table 20b Relationship Between Gender and Subjective Off-Job Involvement (Hypothesis 6b) ................................................................................................... 197 Table 21 Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypotheses 6d) .............................. 198 Table 22a Relationship Between Gender and Objective Advancement Prospects (Hypothesis 6e) ................................................................................................... 199 Table 22b Relationship Between Gender and Subjective Advancement Prospects (Hypothesis 6e) ................................................................................................... 199 Table 23a Relationship Between Gender and Career Support in the Work Domain (Hypothesis 6g) ................................................................................................... 200 Table 23b Relationship Between Gender and Career Support in the Non-work Domain (Hypothesis 6g) ................................................................................................... 200 Table 24 Summarized Hypothesis Results............................................................................ 201 Table B1 Simultaneous Effect of Senior Management Schema and Senior Management Self Assessment on Desired Aspirations ………..…………..236 Table B2 Test of Constraints to Determine Realiability of Squared Difference Model.....…238 Table B3 Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Schema and Desired Aspirations and Self-Assessment and Desired Aspirations (Hypothesis 6a)..……240

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List of Figures Figure 1 General Model of Career Decision-Making ........................................................... 204 Figure 2 Senior Management Aspirations of Managers and Professionals .......................... 205 Figure 3 Moderating Effect of Objective Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations .................................................... 206 Figure 4 Moderating Effect of Subjective Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations .................................................... 207 Figure 5 Moderating Effect of Subjective Involvement Community Activities on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations ............................... 208 Figure 6 Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects in a Different Organization On the Relationship between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations................... 209 Figure 7 Mediated Model of the Relationships Between Gender and Senior Management Aspirations........................................................................... 210

xv Abstract Senior Management Aspirations of Managers and Professionals: A Career Decision-Making Perspective Barrie Elise Litzky Dr. Jeffrey H. Greenhaus

A number of demographic, technological, and economic shifts have redefined the composition of today’s workforce and the concept of a career. Corporate downsizing and the delayering of management have affected the career advancement prospects available to individuals pursuing a managerial career path. The traditional means of rewarding employees through promotion appears to be an infrequent option in the current business environment. Subsequently, the level of competition among those individuals aspiring to higher levels in organizations is expected to increase. Because the responsibilities associated with positions in senior management are vast, and competition for entry into those positions is arduous, an important question arises: what factors influence an individual’s aspirations to advance to senior level management? This dissertation examined the determinants of managers’ and professionals’ aspirations to achieve senior management positions within the context of a career decision. Findings suggest that individuals whose career self-concepts “match” their perception of the roles, responsibilities, and rewards of positions in senior management aspire to senior management positions. Furthermore, advancement prospects, personal life involvements, and gender play significant roles in aspirations to pursue a career in senior management. An examination of the precursors of senior management aspirations within the context of career decision-making contributes to theory development in a number of

xvi ways. First, while a variety of theoretical approaches touch upon the issue, a review of the existing literature reveals that to this point there has been very little empirical work done in the area of senior management aspirations. Furthermore, much of the prior research in the area of aspirations has neglected to distinguish between attitudes and behaviors regarding aspirations. Having employed a conceptually rich and methodologically sound measure of aspirations, this study was able to make the distinction between the attitudes individuals possess regarding aspirations and the behaviors they engage in which reflect those attitudes. Additionally, this study examined both lifestyle and work-related factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. Prior studies have tended to look at either work or non-work factors, very few having included factors from both domains for investigation.

1 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION This I believe, and this my whole life’s experience has taught me: the managerial life is the broadest, the most demanding, by all odds the most comprehensive and the most subtle of all human activities. And the most crucial. From Management: A Humanist Art by David E. Lilienthal (Aguilar, 1992) There are a number of characteristics inherent in today’s world that are redefining the composition of the workforce and the concept of careers. Demographic, technological, and business factors are all contributing to the changes that necessitate a rethinking of the traditional models of career development (Arthur, 1994; Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Schein, 1996) and definitions of career success (Mirvis & Hall, 1994). The evolving structure of organizations, from functionally divided, hierarchical structures, to more flexible, modern structures like the network, will affect the sizes and shapes of organizations, including the numbers of managers needed to operate effectively. Twenty-first century businesses will be working with fewer numbers of managers, as individuals are called upon to be self-managing professionals (Allred, Snow, & Miles, 1996). Corporate downsizing and the delayering of management will affect traditional advancement prospects, in the hierarchical sense (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2000). Traditionally, hierarchical advancement has been used in organizations to motivate and reward individuals. It has been suggested that quite possibly the most positive event that can happen to an employee is to ascend into top management (Feldman, 1988), as the succession to an executive position is often the fulfillment of personal dreams and the culmination of years of hard work. For the greater part of the 20th century, the defining characteristic of most career paths was movement up a pyramidal hierarchy, often within the same company (Allred et al., 1996). Most

2 individuals were groomed at middle management levels to take on positions in senior management, and most senior managers were career veterans at one, or at most two organizations (Allred et al., 1996). Evolving organizational structures have affected the managerial competencies needed to compete successfully (Allred et al., 1996), as well as the nature of managerial career paths and career management strategies. For example, senior managers in nontraditional organizations must possess strong collaborative skills to work with their more empowered subordinates. These changes in managerial competencies and careers are reflected in the theoretical developments and empirical research in the careers literature. Research in the careers area has positioned the notion of the “boundaryless career” as a dominant concept in current thought. By definition, the boundaryless career denotes an independence from traditional organizational career principles (Arthur, 1994), such as formal hierarchical progression in one organization (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). Few companies can offer lifetime employment, and the conceptualization of career success is no longer strictly defined by organization position or tenure (Arthur, 1994). Aside from being solely responsible for managing their own careers, individuals are redefining themselves in terms of how their careers fit into their total lives (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). The vast changes in organizations and the workforce have affected individuals in managerial careers tremendously. For example, fewer positions exist in top management, yet the numbers of well-educated people with high career expectations have increased (Lashbrook, 1992). When these individuals enter organizational tournaments, or contests for advancement, a large number of managers and professionals experience longer

3 assignments in the same positions with lower prospects for future mobility within their firm (Tremblay & Roger, 1993). Being forced to stay at the same level and in the same job can lead to frustration and loss of motivation on the part of many of these managers (Tremblay & Roger, 1993). With a decrease in the number of senior management positions available, and an increase in the numbers of individuals vying for promotion, the level of competition among those individuals aspiring to higher levels in organizations will increase. This seems to suggest that organizations will have a pipeline of interested candidates capable of performing successfully in top management positions. For individuals interested in gaining entrée to top management, the competition will be stiff since there is no longer a guarantee of promotion in exchange for hard work or years of service (Mirvis & Hall, 1994). Intense competition for coveted senior positions may further be influenced by changes in the priority that different roles play (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000) in the lives of those who may be most qualified for senior management positions. For these reasons, organizations, as well as organization scholars, must contemplate, “Who are the individuals who will want these positions badly enough to pursue them?” This prompts the larger question, who will be the future leaders of our organizations? The necessity to answer these questions is couched in the assumption that organizations, as flat as they become, will always rely on a team of senior managers to chart the course of their operations. Answers to these questions may be gained through an inquiry into the aspirations of those individuals who are likely to enter the mobility tournaments, those who have expressed an interest in managerial careers. Individuals with prior management

4 experience (Kay, 1974) or those who have been in the workforce long enough to develop an understanding of their likes and dislikes regarding work (Super, 1990) and have an affinity toward management (Schein, 1975) are likely aspirants to positions in senior management. Research in career development and decision-making provides the context for the exploration of the senior management aspirations of managers and professionals. The body of career development and decision-making literature has grown tremendously in the past two decades. However, senior management aspirations, a very specific topic housed within the domain of career development and decision-making, has garnered relatively little theoretical and empirical attention. Many studies have identified factors that have influenced the advancement of individuals in management. From this plentiful research, we have a better understanding of the types of individual and organizational variables that affect an individual’s advancement through an organizational hierarchy. What remains unclear however, is the decision process an individual may undertake to determine whether to enter a hierarchical tournament, or to gain career success and satisfaction through other means. From a broad perspective, this research sought to contribute to the careers literature by gaining an understanding of the career decisions that confront individuals and the factors that influence those decisions. More specifically, this research hoped to answer the following question: What factors influence an individual’s aspirations to advance to senior- level management? The model tested in this study was built on the assumption that an individual’s senior management aspirations must be considered in a career decision-making context. Additionally, select individual, lifestyle and work-related factors were identified as those

5 which help to shape one’s aspirations to senior management. In general terms, this study examined the interaction between an individual’s occupational self-image, the image he or she holds of a senior management job, and various lifestyle and work-related factors posited to influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. In the following sections, the gaps in the careers literature regarding senior management aspirations will be briefly described, with specific attention being paid to how this study can contribute to the overall knowledge of senior management aspirations within a career decision-making framework. The theoretical and practical contributions that this research hoped to make are presented as well. Finally, a brief outline of the chapters in this study is offered.

Research Opportunities and Scope of Study Because a formal theory of senior management aspirations has not been offered to date, the present study drew upon theories of career development and decision-making, occupational and managerial aspirations, and the literature on the nature of managerial work. Whereas a critical examination of the literature will be presented in Chapter 2, a basic overview of the state of the scientific research on senior management aspirations is presented below. Senior Management Aspirations: What We Know - What We Need To Learn Prominent gaps in the literature include the lack of theory development in the area of senior management aspirations as well as the limited number of studies which have examined managers poised to make a career decision. Research on the aspirations construct is vast, with a majority of the work having been done in the area of the occupational aspirations of adolescents. A distinction between occupational and

6 management aspirations must be made, because whereas there is an abundance of empirical research on the general subject of occupational aspirations (Rojewski & Yang, 1997), there is an almost negligible amount of research on the specific topic of management aspirations. Occupational aspirations reflect the specific jobs or occupations to which an individual aspires. A desire to become a physician, a teacher, or a manager is an example of the occupational aspirations an individual may hold. Individuals who aspire to particular levels in the management hierarchy of an organization hold managerial aspirations, a specific type of occupational aspiration. A dichotomy exists in the literature on aspirations. Studies of the occupational aspirations of adolescents and young adults appear to include demographic and personal determinants, such as gender or parental occupation (Haller & Miller, 1971). Studies of the aspirations of managers have tended to focus on work-related determinants such as career management strategies (Rynes, Tolbert, & Strausser, 1988) and managerial selfefficacy (Van Vianen, 1999; Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996). One way in which this study seeks to contribute to theory development in management aspirations is to include both personal and work-related determinants of senior management aspirations. The number of studies examining management aspirations in general and senior management aspirations in particular, as a dependent variable, is scant in the careers literature. Of those studies, inconsistencies in the conceptualization and measurement of management aspirations are evident. Single item measures, and attitudinal conceptualizations of aspirations to management are most commonly found in the literature. There has been difficulty in the literature distinguishing between the various functions and roles of managers, which may have also fueled inconsistencies in studies of

7 senior management aspirations. Consequently, the images that respondents may hold of senior management positions may be highly variable, and may potentially limit the interpretability of the findings. The present study applied the prior literature on the nature of managerial work in the top levels of the management hierarchy to conceptualize and measure the senior management position in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and rewards. Furthermore, studies on aspirations for advancement to management were reviewed to derive what is believed to be a viable definition of senior management aspirations. Senior management aspiration is defined here as an individual’s desire and intention to move into a senior management position in an organization, and is conceptualized as a dual-faceted construct with attitudinal and behavioral components. The two related but distinct facets of aspirations include one’s feelings about becoming a senior manager, as well as the behaviors exhibited by an individual which reflect his or her intention to pursue a position in senior management. From a theoretical standpoint, aspirations have been identified as developmental in nature (Gottfredson, 1981). Given this, a theory of senior management aspirations must be tested in a population whose aspirations to management have developed over time. Prior studies often include a single item asking respondents, who are very often undergraduate college students, to identify the level of the management hierarchy to which they aspire. The appropriate candidates to answer this question are those who have already had time either to experience the reality of management positions or at least, the reality of the corporate world. Managers and professionals may be well suited to

8 provide insight into their desire to attain and intention to pursue a position in senior management. Past research has framed aspirations as an independent variable, a potential antecedent of managerial advancement (Goffee & Scase, 1992; Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995; Tremblay & Roger, 1993). Managerial advancement scholars (Tharenou, 1997 a, 1997 b; Tharenou & Conroy, 1994; Tharenou, Latimer, & Conroy, 1994) observed the need for studies in the area of management aspirations to help identify the factors that constrain entry into or dropping out of the managerial hierarchy. There are very few studies of the determinants of management aspirations, and none that examine management aspirations within the context of career decision-making. The present study hopes to shed light on the individual, lifestyle, and work-related factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. Individual, Lifestyle and Work Factors: An Interaction at Work The conceptual rationale for the incorporation of the individual, lifestyle, and work-related factors pertinent to a model of senior management aspirations will be detailed in Chapter 3. At this point, a brief overview of the constructs will be introduced in the following paragraphs. Many career decision-making models suggest that individuals choose occupations that “match” their own unique sets of talents, needs, motives, and values. This view further suggests that when individuals are confronted with the need to choose an occupation, they will consciously analyze their vocational assets and liabilities, accumulate information about occupations, and arrive at a decision (Crites, 1969). Consistent with this view, this study postulates that a cognitive process takes place within an individual which allows an individual to conclude whether he or she

9 possesses characteristics that match, or are congruent with, the characteristics vital to a senior management position. In general, this cognitive process is the result of assessing one’s occupational self-concept with the mental picture one holds of what it means to be a senior manager. People assess the compatibility of occupations with their images of who they would like to be and whether they are willing to exert efforts to enter those occupations (Gottfredson, 1981). An occupation that is highly compatible with one’s sense of self will be highly valued. In this research, the congruence between an individual’s occupational self-concept and a senior management position is thought to influence an individual’s aspirations to a position in senior management. While congruence may be an influential factor in one’s occupational choice, congruence alone may not determine whether an individual aspires to a career as a senior manager. Past research has shown that environmental factors from both the work and non-work domains influence a variety of career-related decisions (Callanan & Greenhaus, 1990; Greenhaus, Collins, Singh, & Parasuraman, 1997; Hicks & London, 1991; Tharenou et al., 1994). In this study, both work and lifestyle factors are posited to affect the relationship between an individual’s level of congruence with a senior management position and his or her aspirations to senior management. In terms of lifestyle, individuals’ involvement in activities other than work may serve to hinder their aspirations to advancement, again, regardless of the perceived compatibility between self-concept and positions in senior management. If, for example, an individual is highly involved in a community service project that occupies numerous evening and weekend hours, he or she may perceive his or her lifestyle as incompatible with that of a senior manager. Since working long hours often characterizes individuals

10 seeking and attaining positions in senior management (Markham, Harlan, & Hackett, 1987; Wentling, 1996), an individual with extensive off-job activities may alter his or her aspirations for advancement to reflect a more realistic view of the number of hours an individual must work to be selected for promotion, even in the presence of congruence between occupational self-concept and a senior management position. In the work domain, the environmental cues individuals receive regarding the probability of advancement is one such factor. If individuals perceive limited opportunities for advancement, their aspirations for advancement may be lowered, regardless of the relationship between their desires to attain and intentions to pursue senior management positions. For example, if an individual works in a declining industry, where promotions to top positions are few and far between, he or she may feel that no matter how much he or she works, or how successful he or she may be as a manager, the possibilities of being promoted are extremely narrow. An individual in this situation may alter his or her aspirations for advancement to reflect a more realistic view of the current organizational policies on promotion (Markham et al., 1987), regardless of occupational self-concept – senior management position fit. Career support, a form of social support, both on and off the job, may serve to enable or constrain the relationship between one’s desire to become a senior manager and his or her intentions to pursue such a position. Social support from individuals at work and at home has been shown to benefit career-focused individuals (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). At work, career support by a superior may provide an individual the necessary developmental opportunities or access to individuals who may be instrumental in career progress and development. An individual who has been encouraged by a

11 supervisor to engage in behaviors that will likely result in promotion may reveal strong intentions to pursue a position in senior management. At home, a partner who offers emotional or behavioral support may fuel an individual’s sense that aspiring to a position in senior management is an attainable goal. In both the work and non-work domains, an individual’s aspirations to senior management are posited to be influenced by the presence (or absence) of career support. Finally, women are underrepresented in senior management positions (Andrew, Coderre, & Denis, 1990) and fewer women than men are promoted to positions in senior management (Hede & Ralston, 1993). Evidence exists which suggests that women have lower aspirations for advancement than men (Greenhaus et al., 1997) and women managers aspire to lower managerial positions (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993). Because women and men hold similar values regarding advancement and promotion (Rowe & Snizek, 1995), additional factors related to gender must account for differences in aspirations. This research explored the relationships between gender and various lifestyle and work factors such as advancement opportunities, off-job involvement and career support as potentially influencing an individual’s aspirations to positions in senior management. To reiterate, the primary goal of this study was to test the relationships between the individual, lifestyle, and work-related factors thought to influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. To this end, a model of senior management aspirations is presented within a career decision-making framework, and the target population is professional men and women, for whom such a decision is most salient.

12 The following section highlights the research contributions that this study aimed to accomplish.

Theoretical Contributions and Practical Significance While knowledge expansion regarding senior-level managers is often found within the realm of strategic management, the career decision-making perspective taken in this study has far-reaching theoretical implications for the organizational behavior (OB) and human resource management (HRM) disciplines, both of which envelop the body of knowledge in the careers area. An examination of the correlates and precursors of management aspirations within the context of career decision-making will contribute to theory development in a number of ways. First, while a variety of theoretical approaches touch upon the issue, a review of the existing literature reveals that to this point there has been very little empirical work done in the area of senior management aspirations. In her review of the vocational decision-making literature, Fouad (1994) reports that various scholars have studied the occupational aspirations of children, yet studies of the career aspirations of adults are less prevalent. Aspirations represent a critical component of the decisionmaking process because individuals must first dream about a choice before they can make a decision. Positioning this line of inquiry under the career decision-making umbrella will link any current and future findings on this subject to what we currently know about how careers unfold, as well as the decisions that arise during the course of one’s career.

13 Second, many of the career decision-making theories have been criticized for lack of applicability to women and minorities (Brown & Brooks, 1996; Greenhaus et al., 2000; Osipow, 1990). The sample of managers and professionals used in this study hopes to include women and minorities, since the glass-ceiling phenomenon has been used to explain the disparity in representation of women and minorities in senior-level, as opposed to mid-level management positions (Hede & Ralston, 1993; Powell, 1999). In this manner, the opportunity to empirically test a theory of senior management aspirations as an aspect of the career decision-making process, in a diverse, contemporary sample would be capitalized upon. Third, much of the prior research in the area of aspirations has neglected to distinguish between attitudes and behaviors regarding aspirations. By employing a conceptually rich and methodologically sound measure of aspirations, this study hopes to make the distinction between the attitudes individuals possess regarding aspirations and the behaviors they engage in which reflect those attitudes. Fourth, this study examined both lifestyle and work-related factors that may influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. Prior studies have tended to look at either work or non-work factors, very few having included factors from both domains for investigation. Methodologically, this study hopes to contribute a new measure based on the notion of the importance of congruence in occupational choice. The development of a theoretically grounded conceptualization of a senior management job would allow individuals to assess their own capabilities against those required of senior managers. Additionally, a measure designed to assess the attitudinal and behavioral components of

14 management aspirations (Tharenou & Terry, 1998) was slightly modified for use in this sample. The hope was to construct validate this relatively new measure. An examination of the factors that influence senior management aspirations has practical implications as well. First, it is necessary for organizations to identify the individuals who are the most likely candidates for hierarchical progression. Staffing initiatives and career development programs aimed at identifying the relevant competencies for senior-level managers speaks to the strategic nature of the human resource function. Early identification of the long-term leadership needs of organizations can be addressed more readily when the in-house talent pool is assessed for potentially capable candidates to fill those positions. Second, taxonomies of senior-level management job characteristics can help to identify the skills necessary for success in these positions, as well as to offer bases for training and development programs. Identifying senior management aspirants and nonsenior management aspirants can aid in the development of meaningful reward systems. Additionally, grooming the individuals who possess the necessary skills, or are interested in and capable of learning them, can help to ease the burden of succession planning in organizations. Third, organizations concerned with recruitment and retention can benefit from their employees’ perceptions of the advancement opportunities and career support offered by the organization. Organizations may capitalize on a career development infrastructure as a tool for recruiting. Furthermore, employees who perceive career opportunities with a firm are less likely to leave (Stout, Slocum, & Cron, 1988).

15 Finally, while not everyone can become a senior-level manager, research on the management aspirations of managers and professionals will offer some insight into this previously understudied segment of the corporate population. An understanding of the competencies of managers and professionals, in terms of leadership potential and even regarding technical and interpersonal skills, can only serve as an aid in strategic human resource planning and initiatives.

Overview of Forthcoming Chapters In an effort to investigate and understand the factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management, Chapter 2 reviews the research literature on aspirations, senior management, and career development and decision-making. Following that, Chapter 3 presents the model that was tested and the rationale for the hypothesized relationships among the constructs. Chapter 4 discusses the methods used in this study, which includes a description of the instrument, a description of the sample, and the statistical techniques used to analyze the collected data. Chapter 5 presents the results, and finally, Chapter 6 presents a discussion of the findings in relation to the broad literature on career development and decision-making.

16

Chapter 2: SENIOR MANAGEMENT ASPIRATIONS OF MANAGERS AND PROFESSIONALS Chapter 2 begins with a description of senior managers including the definition adopted in this study. Next, the evolution of the aspirations construct is reviewed, including the theoretical rationale behind the derivation of the definition of management aspirations used in this study. A review of the empirical work in the area of managerial aspirations helps to establish the research gap that this study addressed. Research on career development is presented to lend support for the need to study the aspirations of managers and professionals. The theoretical rationale for establishing senior management aspirations within the context of career decision-making, as well as a brief description of the constraints individuals may confront when faced with such a decision, is followed by a summary of the opportunities for research to be addressed in this study.

Literature Review Senior Managers A proliferation of research exists on the topic of managers: who managers are, what roles they fill, tasks associated with management, where they fall in the hierarchy of organizations (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000), as well as the relationships between managers and various work-related outcomes (Bray, Campbell, & Grant, 1979; Goffee & Scase, 1992; Krau, 1997; Rosenbaum, 1984; Wentling, 1996). According to a critical review by Hales (1986), scientific evidence suggests that there are common elements of managerial work identified in early research. Three primary weaknesses exist. The weaknesses described by Hales (1986) include the diversity or inconsistency in research findings, the problem of interpreting managers’ behavior and its relation to managerial

17 tasks, responsibilities, or functions, and the problem of the extent to which exclusively managerial work has been identified. Loosely defined, a manager is an individual who oversees the work activities of others (Robbins & DeCenzo, 2001). Typically, managers are classified as first-line, middle, or senior. At each level of the hierarchy, the functions of a manager are to plan, organize, lead, and control the activities within the organization. However, the scope and scale of each function is different depending upon the manager’s rank. In a recent study assessing the likes and dislikes of managers regarding the duties associated with their roles, Konrad, Waryszak, and Hartmann (1997) reviewed past studies of managerial activities. The common elements agreed upon by recent authors can be broken into three main functions of managerial work: administration/maintenance (i.e. maintain organizational processes), agenda setting/innovation (i.e. initiate organizational change), and interpersonal relations (i.e. build interpersonal relationships) (Konrad et al., 1997). Katz (1974) proposed three general skill areas in which effective managers must be proficient: conceptual skills, interpersonal skills, and technical skills. Conceptual skills refer to the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations; they are what managers draw upon to see how things fit together and to facilitate making good decisions. Interpersonal skills encompass the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups. Finally, technical skills constitute the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. According to Katz (1974), managers at the top levels of the organization are more inclined to draw upon their conceptual skills than middle or lower-level managers, due to the nature of the complex

18 situations they face. Technical skills for senior managers tend to be related to knowledge of the industry and a general understanding of the organization’s processes and products. Conversely, the technical skills needed by mid-level managers are related to the specialized knowledge required in the functional areas in which they work, such as finance, accounting, human resources, manufacturing, information systems, and marketing (Robbins & DeCenzo, 2001). Both senior and mid-level managers rely upon interpersonal skills in similar manners and for similar purposes. A common struggle among researchers is to distinguish between each level of management, such that the roles and tasks associated with each level are clearly defined. Senior manager is particularly difficult to define. Perhaps the most well known body of work that exists in the area of senior management are the studies by Kotter (1986; 1988). Kotter’s (1986) data, collected over a seven-year period beginning in the late 1970’s, provides an in-depth look into a group of individuals in general management jobs. He defines general managers as those individuals “who hold positions with some multifunctional responsibility for a business or businesses” (p.2). Kotter (1986) notes that there are multitudes of responsibilities associated with being a general manager and that most jobs are defined by the responsibilities and challenges for which that position is accountable. Additionally, an individual’s title is likely to be influenced by the type of firm in which the individual works. Kotter (1986) identifies seven different kinds of general management jobs that are associated with more complex organizational structures: CEO in a functionally organized company, corporate CEO in a multidivisional company, group GM, autonomous division GM, semi-autonomous division GM, product/market GM, and operations GM. The most common types of general

19 management jobs identified by Kotter (1986) include functional CEO, autonomous division GM, and operations GM. In a more recent work, Aguilar (1992) reviews prior definitions of general management, offered by well-known management scholars, Kenneth Andrews and Peter Drucker. Their respective definitions follow. “General management is in its simplest form the management of a total enterprise or of an autonomous sub-unit. Its diverse forms in all kinds of businesses always include the integration of the work of functional managers or specialists” (Andrews, 1980). “There are a number of tasks which are topmanagement tasks...because they are tasks that can be discharged only by people who are capable of seeing the whole business and of making decisions with respect to the whole business” (Drucker, 1974). Aguilar’s (1992) own definition of the general manager is “the person in charge of an enterprise (a relatively autonomous operating organization), with responsibility for the timely and correct execution of those actions promoting the successful performance and well-being of the unit” (p. 4). This research is focused upon individuals aspiring to positions at the top of the management hierarchy. The definition of senior manager in this study is comprehensive, and although it originates in the work of Kotter (1986), seems to encompass the important elements identified by other scholars. In addition to the general managers described by Kotter (1986) and Aguilar (1992), the top positions of reference in this study may also include titles such as vice president, president, managing director, chief operating officer, chief executive officer, or chairman of the board. In this manner, senior managers as defined in this study meet the upper limit criterion set by Kay (1974).

20 Therefore, a senior manager is defined in this research as an individual who is partially responsible for setting the long-run priorities for the organization, for deciding how to allocate resources effectively to achieve long-run goals, and for the efficient use of the human, financial, and material resources employed in that business or business segment, including some profit responsibility (Kotter, 1986). In terms of reporting structure, the senior manager will generally be accountable to either a CEO or board of directors, and will have authority over a very diverse set of subordinates (Kotter, 1986). The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. An understanding of the concept of aspirations as well as a review of relevant empirical knowledge of the aspirations construct is pertinent to this research. What are Aspirations? According to the American Heritage Dictionary, aspiration is defined as 1.) a strong desire for high achievement, or 2.) an object of this desire. Thus, according to this definition, an aspiration is either the desire to achieve an end state or the end state itself (goal). Scientific interpretations have encompassed elements of these two definitions of aspiration. The concept of aspiration has been referred to as an expectation or goal (Lewin, 1956), which may be comprised of intentions (Haller & Miller, 1971; Jacobs, Karen, & McClelland, 1991) and attitudes (Haller & Miller, 1971). Intentions are a plan of action one undertakes to achieve a particular goal (Locke & Latham, 1990 a; Pinder, 1998). Attitudes represent one’s personal orientation toward a goal (Haller & Miller, 1971). Thus, the intention to pursue the goal and the attitude toward the goal appear to comprise an individual’s aspirations. The concept of aspiration as it relates to occupations and more specifically to careers in management, has been conceptualized

21 and operationalized in various manners in the empirical research that exists to date. Research on occupational and management aspirations is reviewed briefly in the following two sections. Occupational Aspirations. Occupational aspirations, defined as the single occupation named as one's best alternative at any given time (Gottfredson, 1981), are considered developmental in nature (Gottfredson, 1981; Jacobs et al., 1991; Rojewski & Yang, 1997; Trice & McClellan, 1993), suggesting that as young people grow, their vocational preferences become more crystallized over time. Empirical studies provide evidence that occupational aspirations are influenced by various individual characteristics such as age (Harmon, 1989; Jacobs et al., 1991), race (Jacobs et al., 1991), sexual orientation (Chung & Harmon, 1994), and social class (Jacobs et al., 1991; Rojewski & Yang, 1997). Furthermore, cognitive variables such as extrinsic valence (valence of rewards associated with getting a job) and ease-of-success self-efficacy (perceived ease of achieving what one wants to achieve) consistently predicted career aspirations (Singer, Stacey, & Lange, 1993). Three prominent gaps exist in the literature on occupational aspirations, which appear to parallel and perhaps amplify the lack of knowledge specific to the literature on management aspirations. First, theoretical development in the area of occupational aspirations is sparse, with Gottfredson’s (1981) developmental theory appearing as the one exception in the literature. Second, while occupational aspirations have been examined extensively regarding their role in career choice and attainment (Rojewski & Yang, 1997), much remains to be learned about the possible antecedents of aspirations and their role in career behavior (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996; Rojewski & Yang, 1997).

22 Finally, the studies on aspirations focus primarily on children and adolescents, which suggests that a need exists for future studies which include how occupational aspiration patterns may change after adolescence (Rojewski & Yang, 1997). There are relatively few studies of managerial aspirations in the literature. Within the existing research, there has been little or no consistency in the definition of management aspirations. Perhaps as a result of this, there is also no consistent definition of senior management aspirations in the literature. The definition of senior management aspirations used in this study was derived from prior research on aspirations, occupational aspirations and management aspirations, and attempts to address some of the conceptual and methodological issues that have surfaced in the research on management aspirations. These conceptual and methodological issues are discussed next, followed by the definition of senior management aspirations to be used in this study. Managerial Aspirations. In their effort to understand the potential correlates of management aspirations, researchers have conceptualized and measured management aspirations differently (Goffee & Scase, 1992; Judge et al., 1995; Martin, Price, Bies, & Powers, 1987; Rynes et al., 1988; Sloan, 1993; Steiner & Farr, 1986; Stout et al., 1988; Tremblay & Roger, 1993; Van Vianen, 1999; Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996; Wentling, 1996). Conceptually, management aspirations have been labeled career aspirations of managers (Goffee & Scase, 1992; Wentling, 1996), senior manager or CEO aspirations (Sloan, 1993), ambition for a managerial position (Judge et al., 1995; Van Vianen, 1999), advancement aspirations (Tremblay & Roger, 1993), managerial aspirations (Rynes et al., 1988), promotion aspirations (Stout et al., 1988), career goals (Steiner & Farr, 1986), sales manager aspirations (Martin et al., 1987) and intention to manage (Van Vianen &

23 Keizer, 1996). While management aspirations in these studies have been conceived of as either an end state (e.g. position) or the desire to achieve an end state (e.g. ambition), the conceptualizations and definitions are as different as the studies in which they are employed. In terms of measurement, management aspirations has been measured primarily as single items asking respondents to indicate a hierarchical level on a checklist to which they ultimately aspire (Judge et al., 1995), to indicate whether they would like to move into a management position (Martin et al., 1987; Rynes et al., 1988), to mark an occupational category (Jacobs et al., 1991), or to answer a question such as “Have you attained the highest position to which you aspire?”(Goffee & Scase, 1992; Wentling, 1996). Two-item measures of management aspirations include a combination of items asking respondents (1) to indicate their preferences for moving into a position in management and (2) to rate the importance of such a move (Sloan, 1993; Steiner & Farr, 1986; Stout et al., 1988; Tremblay & Roger, 1993). Finally, two studies used five and six-item scales to measure ambition for a managerial position (Van Vianen, 1999) and intention to assume a managerial job (Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996), respectively. These studies used the same or similar items such as, “I want to fulfill a management position in the near future”, “I have said to my relatives that I want to get a promotion”, and “Management is a special challenge to me”. Studies of management aspirations have primarily used cross-sectional surveys, although some researchers have performed experiments (Martin et al., 1987) or employed case study methodology including face-to-face interviews (Sloan, 1993; Wentling, 1996). While the studies of management aspirations have used working adults as the sample

24 population, only a handful have specifically used managers as the population of interest (Goffee & Scase, 1992; Judge et al., 1995; Sloan, 1993; Tremblay & Roger, 1993; Wentling, 1996). The lack of uniformity in the conceptualization and measurement of management aspirations limits any systematic study of potential antecedents of senior management aspirations in three ways. First, aspirations have primarily been measured by single items, which identify a management position by title (e.g. CEO) as a career goal. Second, the notion of aspirations as a goal (Lewin, 1956), which includes both intention (Haller & Miller, 1971; Jacobs et al., 1991) to pursue the goal and attitude towards the goal, is clearly missing from prior research (Haller & Miller, 1971). A more thorough investigation of aspirations, one that most clearly reflects its scientific roots, requires that it encompass both an attitudinal and a behavioral component. Third, prior studies have assessed the relationships between some combination of demographics, personal factors, environmental variables, and management aspirations, but to date, a comprehensive theoretical framework upon which the hypothesized relationships are based, appears to be absent from the literature. Finally, while prior studies do include adult populations in their samples, only a few of them include managers in their populations of interest, and of those, the levels of management have been defined differently. In this manner, the aspirations of managers and professionals to positions in senior management have not been isolated from management aspirations in general. By employing a specific definition and measure of senior management aspirations, a sample consisting of managers and professionals, and a theoretical framework to build upon, the present study hoped to address the prior

25 conceptual and methodological limitations in the work on management aspirations. A definition of senior management aspirations is offered next. Senior Management Aspirations. Based upon the notions of goals, intentions, and attitudes introduced above, in this study, senior management aspiration is conceptualized as a dual-faceted construct and defined as an individual’s desire and intention to move into a senior management position in an organization. The measurement of senior management aspirations used in the present study supports this conceptual definition. Based upon prior work of Tharenou and Terry (1998), the measure includes an attitudinal and a behavioral component. The attitudinal component represents an individual’s preferences, desires, and likes regarding a position in senior management, and is called desired aspirations. Desired aspirations represent the emotional component of one’s pursuit of a career goal. Tharenou and Terry (1998) argued that “an individual’s desires are likely to be an important motivational force when progression into or within the managerial hierarchy is difficult, enabling the high effort and persistence needed to progress” (p. 6). The behavioral component, enacted aspirations, includes behaviors that represent one’s intention to gain a position in senior management and is influenced by one’s desire. Behaviors include career planning, seeking developmental experiences, and improving skills. The items identified were indicative of the strategies associated with managerial aspirations (Tharenou & Terry, 1998). Since people engage in acts that are consistent with their intentions and goals (Pinder, 1998 p. 369), we can conclude that individuals who are engaged in the behaviors represented by the enacted aspirations construct have the intention to pursue a position in senior management. Thus, enacted

26 aspirations are elements in the plan of action (Locke & Latham, 1990 a; Pinder, 1998) one undertakes to achieve the ultimate goal of attaining a position in senior management. The proposed conceptualization and operationalization of senior management aspirations will allow the aspirations of individuals who have the desire and intention to pursue a position in senior management to be assessed. Individuals with managerial experience, particularly middle managers, are the individuals for whom this desire and intention are most salient, since they are the individuals who are promoted into the ranks of senior management (Applebaum, 1977; Kay, 1974). Furthermore, research has shown that as young people grow, the reality of the job market in terms of opportunities (Jacobs et al., 1991) as well as their own self-perceived capabilities (Schein, 1978; Singer et al., 1993) may affect their occupational aspirations. So individuals who have been in the workforce for some time may have a more realistic view of their occupational selfconcepts. These factors, coupled with the developmental nature of aspirations, suggest that it is imperative that we gain an understanding of the factors that influence the senior management aspirations of individuals for whom these aspirations are most important. The career-related issues of managers and professionals will be reviewed in a forthcoming section. At this point, it is necessary to review existing research that has examined the determinants of senior management aspirations. Determinants of Senior Management Aspirations Empirical research on the determinants of management aspirations is somewhat sparse. Table 1 summarizes the empirical work that has been done to date. Cognitive variables found as positively related to managerial aspirations include managerial self-efficacy (Van Vianen, 1999), outcome expectancies and valence regarding managerial tasks (Van Vianen, 1999; Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996), and

27 subjective norms and their associated valence (Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996). Managerial competence career anchors (Rynes et al., 1988) and sex-role ideology (Martin et al., 1987) were also positively related to managerial aspirations. Managerial self-efficacy refers to an individual’s degree of confidence that he or she can successfully perform in a management position (Van Vianen, 1999). Outcome expectancies and valence regarding managerial tasks refer to one’s beliefs about the positive consequences of holding a managerial job as well as the evaluation one holds of the outcomes or rewards of such a job (Van Vianen, 1999). Subjective norms and valence represent the importance of beliefs about what others want the individual to do regarding a career in management (Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996). Career anchors, based on the work of Edgar Schein (1978), represent one’s self-perceived occupational image, which is a natural outgrowth of his or her environmental experiences. These environmental interactions create an occupational self-concept or paradigm regarding an individual’s talents, abilities, motives, needs, attitudes, and values (Schein, 1978). The above findings suggest that individuals who see their occupational selfimages in terms of management positions feel that they would be successful in managerial jobs and value the rewards associated with management positions. These individuals also hold aspirations to positions in management. Additionally, studies suggest that individuals with management aspirations are those for whom work is a salient aspect of their total life (Stout et al., 1988), who feel that a position in senior management is attainable (Stout et al., 1988), and who participate in strategies to enhance their career advancement potential (Rynes et al., 1988). Having worked in management positions, or within the workforce long enough to have developed a true understanding of

28 the nature of managerial work, managers and professionals may be the best candidates to assess their managerial talents and abilities, as well as their affinity for positions in management. As Table 1 illustrates, the term management aspirations was defined differently in each of the above studies. In one study, the type of aspirations investigated was senior management or CEO aspirations (Sloan, 1993). The interpretability of the findings of the other studies is limited because conclusions that one may draw about management aspirations may not extend to senior management aspirations specifically. Furthermore, the samples used in the preceding studies limit the generalizability of the findings. Secretaries (Martin et al., 1987) and students (Rynes et al., 1988) may be managerial aspirants, but it is unlikely that respondents within such samples can realistically assess their occupational self-images in the context of senior management positions. The present study will go beyond the existing research to focus specifically on aspirations to senior-level management. Managers and professionals, having gained insight into the characteristics of senior management positions, are in a position to scrutinize their own capabilities in terms of these jobs. Career Development of Managers and Professionals A proliferation of research has been conducted in the area of the career development of managers and professionals. Career development is defined as an ongoing process by which individuals progress through a series of stages, each of which is characterized by a relatively unique set of issues, themes, or tasks (Greenhaus et al., 2000). The research on career development (Greenhaus et al., 2000; Schein, 1978; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996) is informed by the adult life development literature, which theorizes that adults progress through a series of stages in a relatively systematic manner

29 (Erikson, 1963; Levinson, 1986). These stages represent common phenomena in terms of the issues that surface in the lives of most adults. For example, Levinson (1977) suggests that a major task during early adulthood is to form aspirations, to make commitments to people and to organizations and to strive toward the achievement of one’s goals. He introduces the concept of the Dream, which he defines as “an imagined possibility of self-in-world, a vision of the adult self living the good life. It is a soil in which joyful hopes can flower, but it also nourishes illusive beliefs: that I am capable of accomplishing everything the Dream envisages, that certain others will unequivocally support my efforts, that fulfilling the Dream will bring me true happiness” (p. 108). Similarly, career stages represent common phenomena in terms of the issues that surface in one’s work-life. Career advancement is an issue which surfaces in several of the career stage models. For example, Super’s (1990) establishment phase, which he connects loosely with ages 25-44, is suggestive of a time when individuals seek to secure a permanent place at work, by committing more strongly to work and to advancement. Greenhaus et al., (2000) suggest that during the achievement period of the early career stage (approximate age late 30s), many individuals are concerned with moving upward within the organization. Senior management aspirations are particularly relevant for managers and professionals since very often industry conditions or corporate restructuring limit hierarchical advancement opportunities (Goffee & Scase, 1992). Thus, the issues reflected in the career stages described above are most likely relevant to the population sampled.

30 Given the career-related issues of managers and professionals in the establishment stage (Super, 1990) or achievement stage of early career (Greenhaus et al., 2000), aspirations to senior management seem indicative of one type of issue these individuals may face when making career decisions. Career decisions, which are part of an individual’s career development, are made within the context of one’s total life. The five stage-career development model presented by Greenhaus et al., (2000) views an individual’s total life, with work, family, and self-development concerns as interrelated. As other career development scholars have suggested, while the focus of career development research is obviously career-related, it cannot be separated from other aspects of individuals’ lives (Krau, 1997). Greenhaus et al., (2000) take the position that age and/or life experiences strongly shape career aspirations, experiences, and concerns and therefore play a critical role in the identification of career stages. While age ranges and career stages are not of primary importance to this research, the work and life experiences of managers and professionals do serve to highlight the factors that stand out as determinants of aspirations to a seniorlevel management position for this group of individuals. In broad terms, the identification of these factors is the research gap that this study hopes to address. An integration of the findings from the empirical studies reviewed above and the evidence of issues regarding managers and professionals provide support for the following four major considerations. First, because aspirations develop over time, adults are the most logical population to study when ascertaining factors that influence aspirations to senior management. Second, individuals who are in management positions or have been in the workforce for a number of years are best to judge whether they like

31 management and whether or not they are good at it. Third, as individuals pass through various life and career stages, it becomes important for them to know where their talents lie, what their interests are, and to address or reassess their current situations. Finally, career issues cannot be studied in a vacuum. It is necessary to understand the forces that may serve to promote or constrain career decisions, in both the work and non-work domains. Aspirations play a role in career decisions, as they are reflective of the goals and intentions that influence individuals toward a particular course of action (Lewin, 1956). This study draws upon the career decision-making literature in an attempt to provide a theoretical framework for the empirical investigation of the senior management aspirations of managers and professionals. Senior Management Aspirations as a Component of a Career Decision The definition used in this study of career decision is based upon previous research (Brown, 1990), which considers a career decision to be a psychological process in which one organizes information, deliberates among alternatives, and makes a commitment to a course of action. Thus, career decisions are the internal processes that allow the individual to analyze various alternatives, and ultimately to accept or reject each one. Aspirations are a component of many career decision models because they represent the commitment one makes toward a course of action. Aspirations are also the basis for Hall’s (1976) concept of psychological success, which he considers a facilitator of career decisions. Hall (1976) defines psychological success as the person’s feelings of success and is based upon Lewin’s prior work on aspirations. According to Lewin (1956), a person’s experience and the degree of success and failure depend upon whether the achievement is above or below an expectation, which in this case is the momentary level of aspiration.

32 In this manner, he inextricably links the concepts of level of aspiration and psychological success, such that the level of aspiration is fundamental for the experience of success and failure, and is ultimately changed by success and failure. Based upon Lewin’s prior work, Hall (1976) posits that a sense of psychological success is likely to be achieved under the following conditions: 1. When the person sets a challenging goal for him/herself (i.e. one representing a high level of aspiration) 2. When the person determines his/her own means of attaining the goal 3. When the goal is important to his/her self-concept (i.e. he values the task) 4. When he/she actually attains the goal. In terms of career decisions, the combined ideas of Lewin and Hall suggest that individuals will continue to engage in career-related behaviors that result in feelings of psychological success. Thus, when an individual aspires to a position and thinks it is attainable, he or she is likely to pursue it, as long as the signals received along the way are positively reinforcing. Career decisions may be broad, like what type of occupation to enter, or narrow, like whether to accept a promotion that will require relocation. The career decisionmaking process seems to take place within the context of the overall career development process, in the sense that the issues one confronts during the course of one’s career will most likely involve choices and decisions. Osipow (1990) and Osipow and Fitzgerald (1996) note that there are important differences among the theories of career decision-making with respect to the emphasis on actual choices or decisions, as opposed to the process of deciding. For example, traitfactor theories like Holland’s typology, and the self-concept aspects of Super emphasize the choices and decisions themselves (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). Information-oriented

33 theories like expectancy or those based on subjective probabilities place emphasis on the actual decision-making process. Senior management aspirations as a component of a career decision encompass both perspectives. In this section, the process of decisionmaking is addressed. The career decision-making models grew out of more comprehensive psychological theories of decision-making (Brown, 1990; Greenhaus et al., 2000; Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). The two types of models that have evolved are prescriptive (how decisions should be made) and descriptive (how people actually make decisions). The descriptive models are more relevant to this research and the few that are particularly fitting are reviewed briefly in the following paragraphs. Osipow and Fitzgerald (1996) review a variety of studies that attempt to address career decision-making. Osipow and Fitzgerald (1996) considered the essential variables involved in decision-making as outcomes, valences of outcomes, expectancies of outcomes, and possible alternatives. Other writers tried to apply the concept of subjective probability estimates of success in vocational decision-making (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). Gelatt and Clarke (1967) observe that very possibly what takes place in educational-vocational decision-making is a series of estimates of probability of success combined with the personal value of the activities available. Osipow and Fitzgerald (1996) and Gelatt (1962) report that career decision-making takes place as a sequence of cognitive events. The sequence begins with collecting information, assessing the information, and predicting outcomes of various courses of action in terms of probability and desirability, identifying alternatives, evaluating and selecting, and

34 finally implementing the decision. Depending upon the finality of the solution, the process may be iterative. Osipow and Fitzgerald (1996) report on the work of Mitchell and Beach (1975) who reviewed the research on expectancy in decision models in the context of career choices. Mitchell and Beach (1975) concluded that empirical results substantially support the use of models, such as decision models, in understanding career decisionmaking. The models assume that individuals will choose careers believed to result in the greatest personal benefit, provided the individuals believe that there is a good probability they can actually obtain a position in that career. Of the descriptive models that use an expectancy component in decision-making, Vroom’s expectancy model is touted as the most influential (Brown & Brooks, 1996). The appeal of using expectancy theory as a theoretical framework for a model of senior management aspirations is described in the next section. The Role of Expectancy Theory in Senior Management Aspirations. Expectancy theory is a rational, goal directed model of decision-making in which people choose courses of action that are expected to produce desirable consequences (Vroom, 1964). Simply stated, the actions one takes, or the level of effort one expends, is a combined function of what one can do and what one wants to do. A general model of career decision-making based upon expectancy theory is presented in Figure 1. In expectancy theory, a distinction is made between first and second-level outcomes. A first-level outcome is the attainment of a particular position, which leads to a number of second-level outcomes. Second-level outcomes are the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards associated with a position. For example, becoming a college professor

35 is a first level outcome. Some of the rewards and responsibilities associated with becoming a college professor are autonomy, creativity, and teaching. These are the second-level outcomes associated with the job. Individuals may hold positive, negative or neutral feelings about first and second-level outcomes. The affective orientation one holds about an outcome is called valence (Pinder, 1998). Valence of first-level outcomes (V1) represents things that an individual wants or values, or the “want” component in the decision-making process. Two elements, instrumentality (I) and valence of second-level outcomes (V2) determine the valence of first-level outcomes (V1). Instrumentality (I) refers to the connection between first and second-level outcomes. In the career decision-making process, instrumentality represents the perceived likelihood that entering a particular position will result in certain rewards and responsibilities. Decision-makers assess the likelihood that each of the career alternatives will lead to the valued outcomes. In essence, the decision-maker perceives how instrumental each career alternative will be in attaining the valued outcomes. A person deciding to become a college professor will assess the likelihood that becoming a college professor will lead, for example, to participation in scientific research. Valence of second-level outcomes (V2) refers to one’s desire to acquire positive outcomes and to avoid negative outcomes (Super, 1990). An outcome is positively valent for an individual who prefers having it to not having it (Pinder, 1998). For example, a promotion to department head is positively valent for a college professor who would rather be promoted to department head than not be promoted. An outcome that has negative valence is one that an individual prefers to avoid. Budget responsibilities

36 associated with becoming a department head, for example, are negatively valent for a college professor who would rather not have budgetary responsibilities. As Figure 1 depicts, in addition to being a consequence of valence of first-level outcomes (V1), the valence of second-level outcomes (V2) is also an input. Because V2 represents the way a person feels about the rewards and responsibilities associated with entering a particular position, it influences a person’s overall feelings about attaining that position. If an individual positively values autonomy, he or she will be attracted to positions for which autonomy is an outcome. Expectancy theory assumes that people will mentally multiply the value (V2) of each outcome by the instrumentality (I) for that outcome to obtain a total attraction score (V1). A person is predicted to be most attracted to the occupation with the highest score (Greenhaus et al., 2000). Expectancy (E) represents the strength of a person’s belief about the degree to which a particular first-level outcome is the result of his or her actions (Pinder, 1998). These subjective beliefs defined as expectancies are the degree to which an individual feels that the outcomes can be realized. The expectancy component represents the “can” or cognitive element in the decision-making process. For an aspiring college professor, an individual who has been accepted into a Ph.D. program is likely to have the expectation that he or she can become a college professor by completing the Ph.D. In sum, an individual is likely to decide upon a career if the career choice holds valuable outcomes, the individual feels that entering into that career can attain the outcomes, and finally, the individual believes that there is a high probability he or she will be able to enter into that occupation. Expectancy theory is not about predicting outcomes, but predicting behaviors. According to expectancy theory, if the valence of a

37 particular career alternative is high, the instrumentality of that choice is high and the expectancy for attainment of that choice is high, then it is predicted that an individual will expend substantial effort in pursuing that career choice (Brown, 1996). Vroom’s expectancy theory has been subjected to rigorous empirical tests and the findings of using expectancy theory as a model of occupational decision-making have been generally supportive (Brown, 1990; Greenhaus et al., 2000). The model of senior management aspirations proposed in this study is conceptually consistent with expectancy theory. It is important to note that expectancy theory is not being tested in this study. Rather, it is used as the theoretical framework upon which the relationships between the elements in the model of senior management aspirations are built. In a model of senior management aspirations, effort towards attaining a position in senior management will be expended if an individual believes that his or her effort will result in being promoted into a senior management position, and if the person desires such a promotion. An explanation of the components of an expectancy model of career decision-making as they relate to the components of a model of senior management aspirations follows. The definitions of the constructs that comprise the model of senior management aspirations of managers and professionals are offered in the next section, while the hypothesized relationships among the constructs are forthcoming in Chapter 3. See Table 2 for a summary of the components of expectancy theory and the corresponding variables introduced in the present study. Please note that not all of the variables proposed in the model of senior management aspirations have conceptual equivalents in the expectancy model of career decision-making depicted in Figure 1.

38 The Notion of Fit: Instrumentality and the Valence of Second-Level Outcomes. Whether implicit or explicit, the ultimate goal of successful career choice is to achieve high person-environment fit (Hackett, Lent, & Greenhaus, 1991; Osipow, 1990). The notion of career choice as a process of “matching” people and occupations is a predominant theme in a number of highly regarded career decision-making approaches. Whether referred to as person-environment fit, implementation of the occupational self-concept, or congruence, the theories that emphasize this “matching” phenomenon are characterized by the position that optimal career outcomes arise from the fit between individual characteristics and the rewards and demands of the job. In general, such theories traditionally emphasize the importance of abilities as the major determinant of job success, and interests, needs, and values as the major factors affecting job satisfaction (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). Two widely cited theories that employ the concept of fit are Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice (1985) and Super’s Life-Span Life-Space Perspective (1990). Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice (1985) views occupational choice as a process of matching occupations and people. Holland (1985) believes that vocational choice is an expression of an individual’s personality and his theory regarding vocational personalities and work environments essentially attempts to match an individual’s personality type with a work environment where that individual is likely to be a success. Holland posits that individuals seek environments that are congruent with their personality type. The congruence construct in Holland’s theory, taps the degree of fit between an individual's personality and the type of work environment in which the person currently resides or anticipates entering (Spokane, 1996).

39 Super’s Life-Span Life-Space Perspective (1990) is based upon the notion of the self-concept, the self-perceived image we hold of our abilities, personality traits, values, needs, and interests. According to Super (1990), the self-concept develops over time, as a function of the various life stages and life roles individuals confront. Super holds that as individuals progress through the various stages and master the associated tasks, they reach a level of vocational maturity (Osipow, 1990) which enables them to more easily make choices and be satisfied with those choices. The ultimate goal of an individual, according to Super, is to select the occupation that is most congruent with his self-concept. Invoking the matching approaches described above suggests that individuals who are attracted to senior management positions are those for whom senior management positions are congruent with their self-concepts. Additionally, these are individuals who have had work-related experiences that have enabled them to gain a realistic picture of what they like and what they are good at doing. The instrumentality and valence of second-level outcomes components in expectancy theory are conceptually consistent with the notion of fit. In this study, the notion of fit is derived as an assessment of one’s senior management schema (instrumentality) relative to one’s self-concept (valence of second-level outcomes). Senior management schema (SMS) refers to the cognitive structure in which the characteristics attributed to the position of senior manager are housed. These characteristics include the requirements and rewards associated with a senior management position. Senior management schema is really an individual’s mental picture of a senior management position (first-level outcome) and its associated

40 characteristics (second-level outcomes). Since instrumentality serves to link the first and second-level outcomes in an expectancy model of career decision-making, becoming a senior manager is seen as instrumental in attaining specific outcomes like high salary, long work hours, power, profit and loss responsibility, and the sovereignty to make strategic decisions. The senior management self-assessment (SMSA), based upon Super’s (1990) notion of an occupational self-concept and Schein’s (1978) managerial competence career anchor, represents an individual’s perception of his or her abilities, skills, motives, and talents in the context of a senior management position. A career anchor is defined as one’s self-perceived talents, abilities, motives, needs, attitudes, and values (Schein, 1978). These self-perceptions are based on actual work experiences (Schein, 1978). The managerial competence career anchor closely matches the abilities, skills, motives, and talents identified in various studies on senior managers. The characteristics of the managerial competence career anchor reveal an individual who appears to thrive on the challenges presented by a career in general management. The valence of second-level outcomes suggests that individuals view the outcomes associated with a position in senior management as having positive, negative, or neutral value. The senior management self-assessment is essentially asking an individual to make a value judgment regarding his or her abilities, skills, and motives in the context of a senior management position. Consider the following example. A second-level outcome associated with being a senior-level manager may be to make decisions under conditions of extreme uncertainty. For an individual who has a low tolerance for uncertainty, this job requirement will have negative valence (or not be valued). The

41 second-level outcomes associated with becoming a senior manager must be positively valent to an individual for that individual to think about attaining such a position. The combination of positively valent second-level outcomes along with the belief that entering a particular position will be instrumental in attaining those outcomes, predicts the overall level of valence that obtaining a position in senior management (valence of first-level outcome) has for an individual. It is essentially the fit or congruence between an individual’s senior management schema and senior management self-assessment that will influence the overall level of valence an individual holds towards a position in senior management. As suggested in the theories of career decision-making discussed above, to determine a level of congruence, one must possess substantial knowledge of his or her capabilities and interests as well as the environmental requirements. While some scholars indicate that the occupational self-concept may include lifestyle characteristics (Gottfredson, 1981), both the SMS and the SMSA focus only on the work-related characteristics associated with positions in senior management. The primary reason for this is that the literature which views career decision-making as a process of “matching” is characterized by the position that optimal career outcomes arise from the fit between individual characteristics and the rewards and demands of the job. In general, such theories traditionally emphasize the importance of abilities and needs as the major determinant of career interests and job success (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). The matching process involved in a career decision-making task involves only work-related characteristics and not non-work or lifestyle characteristics.

42 In this research, congruence is conceptualized as the degree of compatibility between one’s senior management schema (SMS) and one’s senior management selfassessment (SMSA). Thus, the product of instrumentality and the valence of second level outcomes (I x V2) is consistent with the notion of fit. In a model of senior management aspirations, an individual with high congruence sees a senior management position as instrumental in the attainment of positively valued outcomes. These individuals aspire to positions in senior management. Desired and Enacted Aspirations: Valence of First-Level Outcomes and Behavior. Expectancy theory is consistent with the distinction between desired and enacted aspirations, the two facets of the dependent variable in the present study. As mentioned previously, senior management aspirations are considered an aspect of a very specific career decision and defined as an individual’s desire and intention to move into a senior management position within an organization. Senior management aspirations encompass both attitudinal (desire) and behavioral (intention) components of an individual’s aspirations to a senior management position. Conceptually, the attitudinal and behavioral components of senior management aspirations are consistent with the valence of firstlevel outcomes and behavior components in an expectancy model of career decisionmaking. Desired aspirations refers to the internalized feelings an individual possesses regarding a senior management position. Desired aspirations is conceptually consistent with the valence of first-level outcomes or the “want” component in the expectancy model of career decision-making. In a model of senior management aspirations of managers and professionals, valence of a first-level outcome is represented by an

43 individual’s desire to attain a position in senior management. As mentioned in the prior section, valence of a first-level outcome is influenced by the combination of positively valent second-level outcomes and the belief that becoming a senior manager will be instrumental in attaining those outcomes, which in the present study is consistent with congruence. Therefore, an individual’s congruence will predict his or her desire to attain a position in senior management or (I x V2 ➔ V1)1. Consistent with expectancy theory, the current study suggests that an individual’s desire to attain a position in senior management will influence his or her behaviors. The behavioral component of senior management aspirations is referred to as enacted aspirations and defined as those behaviors exhibited by an individual which reflect his or her desire to attain a position in senior management. Behaviors might include participating in career development opportunities, networking, and working long hours. The enacted aspirations facet of senior management aspirations provides tangible evidence of an individual’s intention to pursue a position in senior management. As expectancy theory suggests, an individual’s enacted aspirations (behavior) will be predicted in part, by his or her desires. Thus, while attitudes and behaviors are both part of the senior management aspirations construct, expectancy theory supports the notion that they are conceptually distinct. Given the conceptual distinction between desired and enacted aspirations, it is possible that they will be influenced differentially. An expectancy model of career decision-making suggests that valence of first level outcomes, or what an individual wants, in combination with what an individual believes is possible or expects (E) will ________________________________________________________________________

1

In the model in the present study, ∑IV2 connotes congruence, which influences V1. In most expectancy models ∑IV2=V1.

44 predict a level of effort or behavior. Thus, in combination with desired aspirations or “wants,” enacted aspirations will be predicted by a “can” component or expectancy variable(s). The variables in the present study, which are conceptually similar to the expectancy (E) component in a model of career decision-making, will be introduced shortly. First, it is necessary to recognize that in addition to congruence, other factors may affect an individual’s desired aspirations. These factors are discussed in the next section. Factors thatIinfluence Desired Aspirations. Greenhaus et al., (2000) suggest that lifestyle encompasses the balance between work, family and leisure activities. All individuals, single or in committed relationships, with or without children, have aspects of their personal lives that could potentially affect the relationship between their compatibility with the requirements of a senior management position and their desire to pursue such a position. Krau (1997) posits that an individual’s vocational aspirations must be realized to attain one’s overarching life aspirations, since career as an element of life is expected to fulfill certain needs. In this manner, career aspirations cannot be extricated from one’s overall life aspirations or lifestyle. Levinson’s (1986) concept of the Dream suggests that individuals possess an idealized picture of themselves in the world. The Dream reinforces one’s beliefs that he or she is capable of accomplishing all that he or she wants, that significant others will be supportive of his or her efforts toward accomplishment and that the fulfillment of the dream is a means to attain overall happiness. The views of Krau (1997) and Levinson (1986) seem to suggest that aspects of one’s total life must be considered when any career decisions are made. Specifically,

45 career decisions must be made within the context of one’s non-work involvement and commitments. One factor which individuals may contemplate when considering the fulfillment of career aspirations is off-job involvement. Off-job involvement represents the commitments one has with family and other non-work activities such as leisure, social, community, and self-preservation (Godshalk, 1997). Primarily used in the work-family literature, measures of off-job involvement are thought to capture more of the non-work demands placed on the individual than traditional family involvement measures were capable of (Gutek, Searle, & Klepa, 1991; O'Driscoll, Ilgen, & Hildreth, 1992). Off-job involvement can be behavioral or psychological. Behavioral involvement refers to time commitments or actual hours spent on an off-job activity, such as household chores, community activities, or self-preservation. Psychological involvement refers to the thoughts and feelings generated by the activity, such as thinking about obligations to serve in a political group, or worrying about a sick child. Off-job involvement (as off-job interference with job activities) has been found to be related to psychological strain (O'Driscoll et al., 1992). Other findings suggest that off-job involvement is related to non-work attitudes such as off-job satisfaction (Godshalk, 1997). To date, off-job involvement has been studied as a mediating variable (Godshalk, 1997; O'Driscoll et al., 1992), where this study treated it as a moderating variable because of the impact it is expected to have on the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. Recent research suggests that priorities regarding career versus family and other aspects of life may influence an individual’s aspirations to positions in senior level

46 management (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Schwartz, 1992). Career focused individuals tend to aspire to senior-level management positions, compared to family focused individuals who are less likely to aspire (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Schwartz, 1992). These findings indicate that heavy involvement in some off-job activities affect an individual’s aspirations to positions in senior management. Individual’s who see their occupational selves in terms that are congruent with senior management positions may still not want to pursue such a position, given the priorities they have placed on activities outside of their careers. Individuals may not be willing to sacrifice the physical time and psychic energy they spend in off-job activities to meet the demands of a senior management position, even if a senior management position is appealing to them. Individuals who are highly involved in off-job activities may see their lifestyles as incompatible with the lifestyle requirements of senior management positions. For these people, the desire to become a senior manager is lowered by their involvement in, and maybe even preference for, activities outside of work. Prior research suggests that in addition to off-job involvement, gender may influence the relationship between an individual’s schema-self congruence and desired aspirations. In fact, gender may affect multiple relationships in a model of senior management aspirations. Because of the multiple effects of gender in this research, it will be discussed in detail in a forthcoming section. At this point however, it is important to note that regardless of how desirous an individual is of becoming a senior manager, there may be conditions in the environment that will constrain the relationship between

47 the desire to become a senior manager and the actual intention to pursue such a position. These constraints are the subject of the next section. Expectancy Variables: Advancement Prospects and Career Support. In a model of senior management aspirations, expectancy is translated as the perception that an individual holds that his or her actions will result in a position in senior management. Congruence simply suggests that individuals are attracted to jobs that they like and that they think they will be good at performing. Expectancy theory supports these ideas but also suggests that it is the valence of a first-level outcome multiplied by the expectation that the outcome is attainable by engaging in certain behaviors, that ultimately predicts those behaviors (V1 x E). An individual’s perception about whether his or her actions will result in a senior management position may be influenced by extraneous factors. For example, Schein (1993) notes that a person’s career anchor may not always match what he or she is doing occupationally because of external constraints over which the person has no control. Thus, valence of a first-level outcome and instrumentality do not automatically result in behavior. Expectancy also plays a critical role (V1 x I x E). In their career management model, Greenhaus et al., (2000) suggest that the feedback one obtains from work or non-work sources can reinforce or lead to modification of a goal. As such, work and non-work factors may serve to enable or constrain the relationship between one’s self-appraisal and environmental-appraisal (i.e. congruence) and one’s aspirations to senior management. Since expectancy theory suggests that an individual will pursue outcomes that are valuable as long as he or she has the expectation that his or her efforts will result in those outcomes, it is imperative to understand the factors that may influence an individual’s level of expectancy and its

48 effect on the relationship between the valence of first-level outcomes and behaviors. In an effort to understand the factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management, this research focused on factors that could serve to constrain the relationship between one’s desired aspirations and one’s enacted aspirations. A distinction must be made between the factors that influence the relationship between one’s congruence and desired aspirations, and those that affect the relationship between one’s desires and his or her intentions to act. As described in the previous section, lifestyle factors are expected to influence one’s desire to become a senior manager, regardless of his or her congruence, because of the potential incompatibility between one’s lifestyle involvements and the lifestyle of a senior manager. Alternatively, even if an individual has a desire to become a senior manager, that is, a high degree of fit and a compatible lifestyle, one’s perceptions of the attainability of a position in senior management may impact his or her decision to pursue such a position. Consistent with the notion of expectancy, an individual must believe that a position in senior management is attainable before engaging in behaviors that may to lead to such a position. Two elements that are consistent with the notion of expectancy, or the “can” component in a model of senior management aspirations, that may affect an individual’s perception of the attainability of a position in senior management are advancement prospects and career support. These factors reflect “current” experiences and may seem to have no potential influence on aspirations, which are “future” oriented. The argument here is that current incompatibilities between environmental demands and personal career desires do have the potential to impact future outcomes. This is so because of the intensity of effort

49 needed to progress hierarchically in a career, such that any deviation from specific career enhancing behaviors may diminish an individual’s chances of success. The ecological approach to decision making helps to further explain the relevance of current constraining forces on future aspirations. This approach to career decisionmaking views decisions as links in a chain, where each decision can be made only immediately prior to action, yet preparing for the act of deciding and planning the implementation of the decision itself are necessary (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). Although decisions in the present have immediate implications, their long-range effects and estimates of their effects on future decisions are to be considered at the time of deciding (Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). An individual who decides to move geographically for a promotion now may be doing so with the expectation that the geographic move will increase his or her chances of advancement. Similarly, if an individual who is constrained geographically refuses a transfer, he or she may see this as self-selecting out of future advancement opportunities (Stroh, Brett, & Reilly, 1992), a factor which could diminish any future intention to pursue advancement. Advancement prospects are the beliefs an individual holds regarding his or her probability of achieving a senior management position in an organization. These beliefs arise as a result of cues from the environment. Cues may be real or perceived, organization specific or non-organization specific, and include the number of positions or opportunities available, the number of past promotions or the type of past work assignments. Conceptually, advancement prospects are based upon Gottfredson’s (1981) notion of perceived accessibility which refers to opportunities in the environment that affect

50 one’s chances of getting into a particular occupation or position. Gottfredson (1981) suggests that individuals judge the accessibility of an occupation or position by a number of factors: availability of the job within the surrounding geographic area, perceptions of discrimination or favoritism, ease of obtaining training for the job, or lack of knowledge of how to enter the job. Gottfredson (1981) suggests further that an individual’s judgments about the accessibility of a position reflects his or her opinion about how probable it is that one could enter a particular job, and therefore influence how seriously the person will consider that job as a viable career alternative. Empirical findings indicate that an individual’s perceived mobility opportunities are positively related to career exploration (Sugalski & Greenhaus, 1986), suggesting that a person must see a potential payoff before he or she engages in the process of career decision-making. In the context of senior management aspirations, even an individual who sees him or herself in terms that are congruent with a position in senior management must perceive advancement as likely before he or she engages in behaviors associated with attaining such a position. This decision process is reflective of components of expectancy theory, which suggests that career decisions are partially based on one’s expectations for attainment of the desired career alternative. Essentially, advancement prospects which result from an individual’s assessment of environmental cues will interact with an individual’s desire to attain a position in senior management (which has already been influenced by congruence), and may alternately encourage or discourage an individual from actively pursuing a particular position.

51 Based on a comprehensive review of the literature, Markham et al. (1987) suggest that employees base their mobility expectations on organizational opportunity structures including how fast they’ve been promoted to date, rates of promotion for peers with similar qualifications, how their education, training, and performance compare to competitors, the number of vacancies in positions to which people in their job often advance, and how long they have been in the present job (Alvarez, 1979; Anderson, Milkovich & Tsui, 1981, p. 258; cf. Kipnis, 1964; Kanter, 1977). Additional reasons for low promotion expectations include low accessibility, unfairness in the promotion system, holding an unfavorable position in the opportunity structure (Markham et al., 1987), a perception that positions outside of one’s area of expertise are inaccessible (Kotter, 1986; Sloan, 1993), that a large number of individuals are competing for a small number of high level positions (Wentling, 1996) and finally, that individuals who have reached a plateau within their own organization perceive themselves as having low marketability in other organizations (Stout et al., 1988). The above studies indicate that individuals rely on environmental cues that suggest that advancement is not only feasible, but also likely. For these reasons, it is expected that regardless of congruence and desire, the intensity of one’s intentions to pursue a senior management position may be affected by one’s perceived advancement prospects. Career support is a type of social support which indicates to an individual that the provider of the support has taken an active interest in his or her career aspirations. Based upon the social support construct, career support allows an individual to translate his or her desire to attain a position in senior management into an enacted behavior. Career

52 support may come from providers in either the work or the non-work domain. In the work domain, one’s supervisor may provide support (Jiang & Klein, 2000). In the nonwork domain, social support may be provided by a spouse or partner, the family unit, and others who comprise an individual’s social network (Carlson & Perrewe, 1999). Social support has been defined as an exchange of resources between two individuals perceived as the intention to enhance the well-being of the recipient (Shumaker & Brownell, 1984) and as an interpersonal transaction that involves emotional concern, instrumental aid, information, or appraisal (Carlson & Perrewe, 1999). Thus in broad terms, social support may be either emotional or instrumental (Granrose, Parasuraman, & Greenhaus, 1992). Emotional support represents the affective aspects of support and includes such things as trust, empathy, love, and encouragement (Granrose et al., 1992). Friedman and Greenhaus (2000) suggest that two types of emotional support exist, personal and career support. Personal support helps with personal and family problems, while career support helps with work-related problems (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). Instrumental support, also referred to as tangible support (Purohit, 1999) or behavioral support (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000), refers to the non-affective aspects of support and includes providing time, resources, and skills used for both physical help, as well as cognitive help such as feedback, problem solving, and factual information (Granrose et al., 1992). Individuals can benefit from personal and career-related support (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000) from a variety of sources within their social networks, or within the non-work domain. While a majority of studies focus on support provided by a partner,

53 individuals who are not in long-term, committed relationships may also benefit from support from significant members of their social networks. Parents, siblings, and friends may provide emotional and behavioral support to individuals, which may enable them to face career-related challenges and decisions. As Friedman and Greenhaus (2000) suggest, individuals who benefit from social support may experience enhanced well-being, which may bolster feelings of confidence and self-esteem, and potentially aid in solving career related problems, or influence occupational success. Additionally, behavioral support can provide time and flexibility at home that better enables individuals to meet demands at work (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). Individuals who desire positions in senior management will benefit from social support provided in the non-work domain. Empirical research has shown that social support has an influence on a variety of work-related outcomes such as career satisfaction (Carlson & Perrewe, 1999), job satisfaction (Purohit, 1999), job commitment (Purohit, 1999), time commitment to work (Parasuraman, Purohit, Godshalk, & Beutell, 1996), absenteeism (Purohit, 1999), and job performance (Purohit, 1999). Social support from one’s supervisor has been shown to act as a buffer in stressful situations, giving individuals the strength to tackle difficult issues (Spreitzer & Quinn, 1996). Three important mechanisms for support include sharing information, sharing resources, and providing access to essential sociopolitical networks (Spreitzer & Quinn, 1996). Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990) suggest that supervisory support may take the form of career guidance and information, performance feedback, and challenging work assignments that promote development. Supervisory social support is

54 particularly important for enhancing middle managers’ motivation to take risks and make changes (Spreitzer & Quinn, 1996). Career support may take the form of presenting opportunities for career development and training, both viewed as facilitators of advancement (Gould & Penley, 1984; Kotter, 1986; Lyness & Thompson, 2000; Wentling, 1996). Career support from one’s supervisor has been found to be positively related to training and development (Tharenou et al., 1994) as well as to promotions and managerial level (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994). Mentoring, a type of career support has also been found to be positively related to career development (Wentling, 1996). Career support may provide signals to individuals that they can attain positions in senior management. Since a lack of career support from superiors (Wentling, 1996) and prevention of training opportunities (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994) were negatively related to career development, they may also have a negative impact on an individual’s career aspirations. Specifically, regardless of congruence, career support is posited to attenuate the relationship between an individual’s desire to become a senior-level manager and his or her enacted behaviors. From a career decision-making perspective, expectancy theory holds that an individual mentally multiplies the attractiveness, or valence, of an occupation by his or her beliefs that he or she will be able to enter that particular occupation. The product of one’s belief that he or she could attain a particular position and the attractiveness or valence of the position, will lead to certain behaviors. In a model of senior management aspirations, if an individual believes that he or she is capable of attaining a position in senior management, and desires a position in senior management (based on the fact that he or she desires the rewards associated with

55 the position and feels that once in the position those rewards are likely to come), then that person will expend the effort, or participate in certain behaviors that will most likely lead to a position in senior management. In this manner, a model of senior management aspirations is framed within the context of a career decision. It is not enough for an individual to merely hold desired aspirations; one must believe that those aspirations have the potential to be realized before any decisions regarding their attainment will be made. The prior sections reveal that individuals account for lifestyle and environmental variables when making career-related decisions. Evidence suggests that these lifestyle and environmental factors may affect women and men differently, ultimately leading them to make different career decisions. This suggests that gender may play a role in affecting an individual’s senior management aspirations. In the next section, the role of gender as it relates to an individual’s aspirations to senior management will be explored. The Role of Gender and Senior Management Aspirations. Between 1983 and 1996, the percentage of women managers increased from 34 to 44 (Greenhaus et al., 2000). However, recent empirical findings indicate that less than 1 percent of top executive positions in Fortune 500 companies are held by women (Schneer & Reitman, 1995). In their longitudinal study of 676 men and women MBA’s (49% men, 51% women), Schneer and Reitman (1995) found that only 9 percent of the women compared to 23 percent of the men held top management positions. In general, women appear to reach upper-middle management but go no further, a concept generally referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Powell, 1999; Schneer & Reitman, 1995). Studies that explore the discrepancies in the numbers of women versus men senior-level managers are plentiful. Personal, organizational, and societal factors have all

56 been cited as contributing to the low numbers of women who reach the top of the corporate hierarchy (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). For example, career interruptions, dualcareer demands, and parenting demands have affected the rate at which women advance up the corporate hierarchy (Bailyn, 1980) as well as impact the decisions they make about the directions their careers should take (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). In terms of individual differences, the gender discrepancies at the top of corporate hierarchies are apparently not accounted for by differences in work values (Rowe & Snizek, 1995; Sagie, Elizur, & Koslowsky, 1996). For the most part, men and women hold very similar work values. The small differences that do exist tend to be reduced as women become more firmly entrenched in the workplace (Rowe & Snizek, 1995). In general, since gender differences do not remain stable over time (Sagie et al., 1996), gender by itself is thought to be a poor predictor of preference for particular work values (Rowe & Snizek, 1995). Data suggest that while employment rates for women are lower than those for men until mid-life, this trend is reversed for workers at mid-life and beyond (Greller & Stroh, 1995). It has been suggested that this trend can be attributed to the importance women place on work as they age and their child-rearing responsibilities decrease. How might this be related to the discrepancies between men and women in management positions? If, as the research suggests, there are no gender differences in work values, and that once women reach mid-life, they appear in the workforce in numbers very close, if not equal, to those of men, there must be some explanation for why there are so few women who are senior-level managers as compared with men.

57 Organizational practices regarding alternative work arrangements and family friendly supports, staffing and promotion decisions, and career path planning have also been associated with the low numbers of women in senior management positions (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). Astin (1984) suggests that women make career decisions based upon the expectation that their work choices will satisfy their needs. Distribution of jobs, sex typing of jobs, discrimination within career paths, and family structure all affect women’s career decisions (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). Research has shown that in terms of advancement, the individuals who have benefited the most in the workplace are men with children whose spouses are not employed outside the home (Brett, 1997). Most men do not see career as a constraint on decisions to marry and have children, whereas women, who carry the bulk of the family responsibilities, often accommodate their careers for their family lives (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). This suggests that men have not had to choose between having children and having a career, yet women have. If more women than men have had to choose between having children and having careers, then it seems plausible that fewer women would be in the viable labor pool being groomed for promotions. This is consistent with findings that reveal that by mid-career, there is a lower percentage of women managers, as compared with men managers, who have a post-traditional family structure (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993; Schneer & Reitman, 1995). This indicates that of the small minority of senior-level managers who are women, the majority of them are either single or married without children.

58 Some studies suggest that gender-based discrimination and differential demands of family life individually fail to account for the magnitude of the differences in the advancement of female and male managers (Ohlott, Ruderman, & McCauley, 1994). Perhaps some of the variability in the advancement of men and women in management can be accounted for by differences in aspirations. There is some evidence that women’s aspirations for advancement are lower than men’s aspirations (Greenhaus et al., 1997) and that women managers aspire to lower managerial positions (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993). The notion of lower aspirations may seem contradictory to the findings that suggest that there are no significant gender differences in work values. One could argue that while advancement has been defined and studied as a work value, aspirations has not been specifically measured in these studies. In correspondence with past research, the expectation in the present study is that gender will account for differences in an individual’s desire to become a senior manager, regardless of schema-self congruence. Furthermore, it is expected that gender will attenuate the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations. This study hopes to extend existing research by providing additional explanations as to why women hold lower aspirations toward senior management positions than men. Gender and Off-Job Involvement. More often than not, women assume primary responsibility for the care of the household and the children (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000), spend more time involved in family activities (Gutek et al., 1991), and are more likely to be family focused than career focused (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Schwartz, 1992). Powell and Mainiero (1992) suggest that the balance women seek to achieve

59 between work and non-work relationships affects their career decisions and choices. Jobs in senior management have enormous responsibilities, time demands and pressures, and require a tremendous amount of sacrifice in one’s personal life (Powell, 1999). For these reasons it appears that senior management jobs hold less interest for women than for men (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). Women may seem less likely to aspire to positions in senior management, when in reality the differences in aspirations may be accounted for by the fact that women are more likely than men to be deeply involved in off-job activities (O'Driscoll et al., 1992). That is, women may see their lifestyles as less compatible with senior management positions than men do. When accounting for off-job activities, the expectation in this study is for the gender difference in aspirations to disappear. As mentioned previously, even if individuals see themselves as fitting into positions in senior management, have low off-job activities and a strong desire to attain such positions, advancement prospects and career support are still necessary to allow individuals to translate their desires into actions and behaviors. In other words, the expectation for attainment of senior management positions must be present for individuals to actively pursue such positions. The literature suggests that women may view lower advancement prospects and less career support than men, perhaps accounting for differences in aspirations. Gender and Advancement Prospects. Since women appear to encounter a glass ceiling when trying to move from middle to senior management positions (Powell, 1999), it is likely that they perceive fewer opportunities for advancement than men. While Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992) found a weak relationship between gender and

60 advancement prospects, many studies suggest that the opportunity structures necessary for advancement are more limited for women than for men (Gould & Penley, 1984; Powell, 1999; Powell & Mainiero, 1992). For example, line experience is necessary for advancement into the ranks of senior management (Kanter, 1977), and women have found it difficult to move from the staff positions into which they were initially hired to line positions (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). Since the challenge associated with line positions may result in more challenging managerial assignments (Rosenbaum, 1984) and women are less likely to work in line positions (Powell & Mainiero, 1992), it follows that they would view fewer opportunities for challenge and advancement than men would. Baron, Davis-Blake, and Bielby (1986) found that women were significantly less likely to be in jobs that lead to hierarchical success, whereas men were less likely to be in dead-end jobs and more likely to be promoted. When women who desire positions in senior management encounter the glass ceiling they become frustrated and consider other options (Powell, 1999). Stroh, Brett, and Reilly (1996) report than women are more likely to leave their organizations when they are frustrated by a lack of career opportunities than men who experience the same amount of frustration. While it may appear that women have lower aspirations to positions in senior management than men, the reality may be that women refrain from engaging in behaviors that are indicative of their aspirations, seeing those behaviors as futile. When accounting for advancement prospects, the expectation in this study is for the gender difference in aspirations to disappear. Gender and Career Support. Research suggests that in both the work and nonwork domains, the outcomes of the types of support received are different for women and

61 men. For example, Friedman and Greenhaus (2000) found that behavioral support at home leads to higher organizational levels for men. Personal support at home for women leads to higher job performance but not to promotions. Konrad and Cannings (1997) found that men who were offering tangible support by participating more fully in family labor were penalized in terms of promotability, suggesting that men may be sacrificing their careers by offering support for their wives careers. King, Mattimore, King, and Adams (1995) found that high levels of emotional support from one’s family positively influenced job satisfaction but that for women, the support was contingent on whether or not their husbands worked. Men received the same amount of emotional support and reported the same levels of job satisfaction whether their wives worked or not. These findings seem to suggest that women provide emotional support for their spouses regardless of their own employment status but men are less emotionally supportive to their spouses when they are employed full-time. Support from one’s supervisor can provide access to the appropriate developmental assignments, work experiences, and networking opportunities needed to make it to the top of an organization (Tharenou, 1997 a). There is some evidence that suggests that the support received by men and women from their supervisors may have differential outcomes. For example, while mentoring has been determined to be crucial to an employee’s personal development (Powell & Mainiero, 1992) and career success (Kanter, 1977), evidence suggests that access to mentors and the quality of the mentoring relationships are different for women and men (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). The type and quality of feedback women receive from their supervisors may be different than the feedback that

62 men receive (Kanter, 1977), which could make it more difficult for women to prepare for promotional opportunities (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). In terms of networking, women encounter problems developing effective networks because the relationships they form are often outside of the organization’s dominant male hierarchy (Powell & Mainiero, 1992). As the research suggests, women may perceive less support for their career aspirations to positions in senior management than men, lowering their intentions to pursue such positions. Thus, the expectation is, when accounting for career support, there are no differences in the aspirations of men and women to positions in senior management.

Research Opportunities Empirical evidence suggests that research on the aspirations of managers and professionals is needed in order to better our understanding of the special career development needs of this group (Goffee & Scase, 1992; Tharenou, 1997 a, 1997 b; Tharenou & Conroy, 1994; Tharenou et al., 1994; Tharenou & Terry, 1998). Furthermore, an exploration of the determinants of senior management aspirations is most relevant in this population, as they are the individuals for whom such as career decision is most salient (Applebaum, 1977; Kay, 1974; Wentling, 1996). The literature review presented in this chapter has shown that our understanding of senior management aspirations is somewhat limited. Limitations of prior research are in part due to the use of unidimensional measures, as well as the lack of uniformity in the conceptualization of management aspirations. Existing research has failed to identify

63 antecedents of aspirations and perhaps more importantly, has been limited by the absence of a theoretical underpinning upon which strong empirical research can be built. This study hopes to address each of these concerns in order to further our understanding of the factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management. The model proposed in this research, and detailed in Chapter 3, is grounded in the career development and decision-making literature, and poses management aspirations as a very important element in the career decision-making process. The literature reviewed above has led to two major assumptions upon which the model of senior management aspirations of managers and professionals is based. First, an individual who desires to move into a senior management position will undergo various cognitive and behavioral processes in an attempt to satisfy that desire. Second, specific lifestyle and work-related factors may affect an individual’s aspirations to senior management. In keeping with the logic provided by the theories of career development and decision-making, the model of senior management aspirations of managers and professionals requires that an individual possess self-knowledge and environmental knowledge. The cognitive nature of senior management aspirations is based upon the notion that individuals seek occupational environments that are congruent with their selfconcepts. Furthermore, while congruence may drive an individual toward a particular career decision, one’s gender, as well as conditions such as off-job involvement, advancement prospects, and career support may influence the outcome of the decision.

64

Chapter 3: RESEARCH FOCUS The aim of this chapter is to describe in detail a model of senior management aspirations. The factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to senior management are introduced, and the hypothesized relationships among them are analyzed. The following sections include the research questions that this study addresses and the theoretical rationale upon which each hypothesized relationship is based. The chapter concludes by explaining the potential contributions of this study to the literature.

Research Purpose and Questions The broad purpose of this research is to enhance our understanding of the factors that influence an individual’s aspirations to a position in senior management within an organization. First, this study offers a conceptualization of senior management aspirations that takes into account prior empirical research, and incorporates the use of a multi-dimensional measure of aspirations. Second, this research identifies potential antecedents of senior management aspirations, in the context of a career decision-making framework, in an effort to provide a theoretical basis for understanding the phenomenon. Third, the population of interest in this research includes managers and professionals. While prior studies have examined the aspirations of young people, primarily students, this study hopes to address the needs of a population for whom aspirations to senior management are most relevant. The specific question that this research hopes to answer is: What factors influence an individual’s aspirations to senior- level management?

65 In keeping with common frameworks set forth by theories of career decisionmaking, the hypothesized relationships in the model of senior management aspirations are consistent with an expectancy theory approach. Matching, as an approach to career decision-making, is also employed to delineate and justify relationships among the constructs. Holland (1985) proposed that career development and associated career decisions take place as a process of “matching” where individuals strive to find occupations that are congruent with their self-concepts. The “matching” process required for career decisions takes place on two levels in this model. First, an individual assesses the compatibility between his or her senior management schema and senior management self-assessment. Next, an individual who feels that a senior management position is highly congruent with his or her self-concept assesses salient aspects of the environment to determine whether circumstantial factors will constrain his or her aspirations to senior management. Both work and lifestyle variables that may ultimately serve to constrain an individual’s aspirations to senior management are included for examination.

Hypothesized Relationships This section discusses the hypothesized effects of specific variables on the desired and enacted aspirations of managers and professionals to senior management positions. The fit between senior management schema and senior management self-assessment, indicated by congruence was expected to positively influence desired aspirations. Offjob involvement and gender were expected to moderate the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations, although when controlling for off-job involvement,

66 the gender effect was expected to disappear. Advancement prospects, career support, and gender were expected to moderate the relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations. It was further expected, that when controlling for advancement prospects and career support, the moderating effect of gender would disappear. Figure 2 graphically depicts the hypothesized relationships in this study. The Impact of Congruence on Desired Aspirations A commonly accepted theme among career decision-making scholars is that occupational choice exists as a process of “matching” one’s self-perceived skills, abilities, talents, and preferences with an occupation in which these skills, abilities, talents, and preferences can best be utilized. For example, a person who feels he or she possesses strong interpersonal skills may look for an occupation that necessitates use of those skills. In the context of senior management aspirations, the notion of matching or congruence suggests that individuals perceive the functions, tasks, and roles associated with a senior management position as consistent with their own capabilities and occupational preferences. A match between senior management schema (SMS) and senior management self-assessment (SMSA) is referred to as congruence and reflects a case in which an individual perceives a senior management position in terms that are highly consistent with his or her senior management self-assessment. The conceptual and empirical evidence that supports the notion of congruence as a means of understanding senior management aspirations is reviewed below and a hypothesis is offered. A number of scholars have conceptualized the concept of matching an individual to an occupation as part of the occupational choice process. Whether it has been referred to as congruence or person-environment fit, this matching notion suggests that individuals seek occupational environments to which they are attracted both intrinsically

67 regarding the nature of the work itself, and extrinsically as in the rewards of the occupation. According to Holland (1985), congruence is a construct which taps the degree of fit between an individual’s personality and the type of work environment in which the person currently resides or anticipates entering. Other scholars refer to the individual’s personality as the occupational self-concept (Gottfredson, 1981; Schein, 1975; Super, 1990). An individual’s occupational self-concept develops over a period of time as a result of various experiences which allow the individual to succeed at certain types of tasks (Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996). As the individual grows older, he integrates the various pictures he has of himself into a consistent self-concept, which he strives to preserve and enhance through all his activities, but particularly through his occupational activities (Crites, 1969). Individuals attempt to select occupations which are compatible with their self-concepts (Crites, 1969; Gottfredson, 1981; Holland, 1985). A large amount of empirical evidence supports the notion that people prefer and/or choose occupations that are compatible with their self-concepts (Greenhaus et al., 2000). Researchers contend that a high degree of congruence between one’s occupational self-concept and occupational environment leads to preferences for occupational membership, occupational tenure, and occupational change (Chartrand & Walsk, 1999), suggesting that occupations that are highly compatible with one’s sense of self will be highly valued; those that are highly incompatible will be strongly disliked (Gottfredson, 1981). Furthermore, these preferences tend to be stable over time, because individuals tend to choose environments based upon their motives and goals (Chartrand & Walsk, 1999).

68 There is an element of expectancy theory in the congruence concept. Where congruence helps to establish that individuals aspire to positions that are compatible with their self-concepts, expectancy theory helps to explain that it is the outcomes associated with the positions that motivate individuals to choose them. Expectancy theory would suggest that individuals whose congruence is high, will desire a position in senior management because holding such a position will be instrumental (SMS) for them to receive the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards they value (SMSA). Reviews of empirical studies regarding managerial career advancement and vocational behavior in the 1990’s provide evidence of support for the idea that individuals who choose managerial positions do so because they are ambitious and motivated to manage (Tharenou, 1997 b) and value the opportunities for promotion associated with management positions (Meier, 1991). Person-environment congruence was found to correlate with job satisfaction, as well as with income and fringe benefits (Meier, 1991). The results of these studies suggest that individuals who see themselves as capable of fulfilling managerial roles and who value the outcomes associated with those roles aspire to and even attain those positions. Sloan’s (1993) research further confirms the idea that individuals seek environments that are congruent with their self-concepts, as well as the notion that individuals hold a type of mental image or schema regarding occupations. Sloan’s (1993) respondents indicated that certain characteristics associated with senior management, such as working extremely long hours, possessing a particular leadership style, having to relocate, neglecting their families, and knowing how to play golf, had a negative influence on their aspirations to senior management. These characteristics, which are

69 reflective of the senior management schema held by the respondents, when assessed against their own occupational self-images, were shown to be incongruent with images of themselves as senior managers. Thus, their aspirations and intentions to pursue advancement were low. This study empirically tested the fit between an individual’s schema of senior management characteristics and his or her own occupational selfconcept. Sloan’s (1993) findings are in line with Holland’s (1985) view that incongruence between one’s personality and occupational choice could be a reason for an individual to pursue a career change. The present study attempted to provide corollary evidence; that an individual who possesses positive self-beliefs in terms of a senior management position would aspire to such a position. More evidence of the positive influence congruence has on career decisions comes from a number of studies on career anchors. The metaphor career anchor is based on the notion of psychological success. According to Schein (1978), a career anchor operates inside of the person, functioning as a set of driving and constraining forces on career decisions. If one is in a setting where one is likely to fail, or which fails to meet one’s needs or compromises one’s values, one will be “pulled back” into something more congruent. It is important to note that in a more recent writing on the subject, Schein (1993) states that the label, career anchor, indicates an area of such paramount importance to a person that he or she would not give it up. Furthermore, the person comes to define his or her basic self-image in terms of that concern, and it becomes an overriding issue at every stage of the career.

70 Of central importance to Schein’s (1978; 1993) theory is the critical role of actual work experiences, which he emphasizes in contrast to educational experiences, internships, or other trial employment arrangements. Schein believes that although education usually precedes entry into the workforce, it is only after individuals have actually worked that they know whether their interests and abilities are well-suited for their chosen professions. As an individual’s career unfolds and the career anchor becomes more crystallized, he or she will be able to make career decisions that are more congruent with his or her career anchor, putting career desires into action. Empirical research lends support to the idea that one’s career anchor influences one’s career aspirations (Rynes et al., 1988) and job type (Crook, Crepeau, & McMurtrey, 1991). The idea that an individual’s actual work experiences influence the development of the occupational self-concept is further supported by the findings of a longitudinal study by Bray et al. (1979) and Bray and Howard’s (1983) qualitative study of general managers by Kotter (1986). These researchers found that individuals who were advancing in management were those who demonstrated strength in an area and kept refining those skills to the point of mastery. The positive reinforcement and psychological success associated with skill mastery served to reinforce the individuals’ managerial self-confidence and influenced their advancement within the ranks of management. Congruence accounts for an individual’s beliefs in his or her capabilities in the context of a senior management position. The above studies lead to a number of conclusions. First, individuals develop an occupational self-concept over time because of interactions in their work environments. Second, individuals hold mental pictures or schema about various jobs or occupations

71 (Anderson, 1995; Perry, Davis-Blake, & Kulik, 1994). Third, individuals seek to work in environments that are congruent with their occupational self-concepts. Fourth, individuals draw upon the knowledge that they hold about occupations (schema) as well as the knowledge they hold about themselves in light of particular occupations (assessment of self-concept) to determine whether they wish to pursue a particular position or occupation. Since managers and professionals have had the opportunities to experience or see management challenges in an organizational environment first hand, they are likely to possess senior management schema, as well as the ability to assess their own skills relative to the requirements and benefits of a senior management position. These individuals are expected to be able to assess whether they are desirous of a position in senior management. The individuals who see their own capacities to perform well in a senior management position, based upon the schema they hold regarding positions in senior management, are expected to aspire to those positions. According to expectancy theory, an individual’s desire for a valent outcome is what attracts the individual toward a particular goal. It was therefore predicted that:

H1.

There is a positive relationship between an individual’s congruence and desired aspirations.

As Hypothesis 1 predicts, individuals with high congruence are most likely to aspire to positions in senior management. Congruence is based only on job-related information. While it is true that individuals making career decisions assess their abilities and skills in terms of occupational requirements (Schein, 1978), it is also true that they do

72 this within the context of their total lives (Super et al., 1996). One must recognize that lifestyle factors may serve to weaken the relationship between an individual’s congruence and his or her desire to pursue a position in senior management. When individuals see their lifestyles as incompatible with positions in senior management, regardless of congruence, they are not likely to desire such positions. One such lifestyle factor, off-job involvement, which has the potential to weaken the relationship between an individual’s congruence and desired aspirations, is examined in the following section. A hypothesis regarding this moderated relationship is offered. The Impact of Lifestyle Factors on Desired Aspirations Because work and life outside of work are inseparable entities (Crites, 1969; Krau, 1997), it is imperative to understand any factors in the non-work domain which could potentially constrain the relationship between an individual’s congruence and desired aspirations to senior management. The job dedication required by individuals who are pursuing careers in senior management is great, and an individual’s off-job involvement may alter the amount of time or energy one has to expend on career-related tasks. For example, Godshalk (1997) found that individuals who had reached a career plateau were more involved in off-job activities than those who had not reached a career plateau. It is unclear from these findings whether individuals who become plateaued choose to spend more time on off-job activities, or if individuals who spend more time on off-job activities are more likely to reach a career plateau. Whether individuals consciously elect to spend more time on off-job activities and/or consciously choose to become plateaued, it is apparent that individuals who spend more time on off-job activities have less time to spend at work, and may therefore be limiting their chances for advancement.

73 It is possible that individuals limit their chances for advancement consciously by refusing to give up the activities outside of work that are important to them. Individuals who are committed to a geographic area, for example, by need or by choice, may alter their desire to advance to positions in senior management because of the number of relocations traditionally associated with this type of career pursuit (Judge et al., 1995; Lyness & Thompson, 2000; Stroh et al., 1992). Evidence of this is provided in a study examining managers’ career progression (Stroh et al., 1992) in which the assumption was made that since geographic transfers involve significant personal upheaval, less ambitious employees would be less willing to move. Findings indicate that those who were willing to move and had attitudes that were more positive toward moving were making the most progress with their salaries (Stroh et al., 1992). Behavioral (time) and psychological (mental energy) involvements in the nonwork domain may affect an individual’s career priorities (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000) such that career comes second to family and other non-work activities. For individuals whose life-role priorities are characterized by heavy involvement in off-job activities, positions in senior management may appear unattractive regardless of the degree of fit they perceive between their capabilities and the requirements of a senior management role. Research supports the idea that extensive involvement in activities outside of work, particularly regarding family, may limit an individual’s chances for advancement. For example, Greenhaus et al. (1997) suggest that it is possible that family responsibilities may affect an individual such that the amount of time and energy one has to dedicate to the demands of a senior level position is minimal. The same can be said

74 about the amount of time and energy one has to dedicate to the processes associated with attaining a position in senior management. Since strong psychological involvement in the family role can make it difficult to maintain a high level of involvement in work (Greenhaus et al., 1997), it is also possible that strong psychological involvement in other aspects of the non-work domain will have a similar effect. Family responsibilities, as one indicator of off-job involvement, may be so great that an individual’s aspirations to senior management may wane, despite the internal pull one may feel towards such a position. The above studies offer support for the notion that individuals who are highly involved in off-job activities may see positions in senior management as incompatible within the context of their total lives. It may be that individuals have decided to dedicate more time to off-job activities by choice rather than by necessity. Whether by preference or not, it is likely that an individual with extensive off-job involvement may perceive his or her life as incompatible with the demands associated with climbing the corporate ladder, and may alter his or her desire to pursue a position regardless of the degree of perceived congruence. It was expected that off-job involvement would constrain the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. Specifically:

H2:

The positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement than for individuals with extensive off-job involvement.

The Impact of Desired Aspirations on Enacted Aspirations Expectancy theory proposes that a person’s attitude toward performing a behavior is based upon his or her beliefs about the outcomes of performing that behavior, and the evaluations of those outcomes (Pinder, 1998). Furthermore, attitudes may affect

75 behavior, but only to the extent that they influence a person’s intentions to act (Pinder, 1998). Desired aspirations represent an individual’s attitude about a senior management position, and enacted aspirations represent the behaviors associated with the pursuit of a position in senior management. Prior research on attitudes, intentions, and behavior stipulates that every intention, once formed, is associated with specific behaviors (Pinder, 1998). Therefore, the enacted aspirations component of management aspirations is a measurement of behaviors, in which one’s intentions to become a senior manager are assumed. The tripartite definition of attitudes, has traditionally conceptualized them as having three components: cognitive, affective, and behavioral. Current thinking however, is that these three components can also be antecedents of attitudes (Pinder, 1998). Therefore, the attitudinal component can lead to the behavioral component. It follows that desired and enacted aspirations, two facets of the same construct, can be both the attitude toward a senior management position and the behaviors associated with becoming a senior manager. Desired aspirations represent the emotional component of senior management aspirations. Enacted aspirations are the behavioral manifestations of these emotions. Enacted aspirations represent the career strategies associated with managerial aspirations (Rynes et al., 1988) and advancement (Gould & Penley, 1984) and include but are certainly not limited to networking, politicking, participating in developmental opportunities, and extended work involvement. Career strategies by definition are behaviors which may be utilized by an individual to decrease the time required for and uncertainty surrounding the attainment of

76 important career objectives (Gould & Penley, 1984), in this case a position in senior management. It is reasonable to expect that individuals who desire a position in senior management and intend to pursue one can be recognized by the behaviors in which they engage at the workplace. Therefore, it was predicted that,

H3:

There is a positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations.

Environmental factors from both the work and non-work domains have been shown to influence career related behaviors including aspirations (Holland, 1985), advancement (Greenhaus, et al. 1990; Konrad & Cannings, 1997; Lyness & Thompson, 2000; Tharenou, 1997a; Tharenou, 1997b; Tharenou & Conroy, 1994; Tharenou, et al. 1994; Wentling, 1996), ambition (Judge et al., 1995; Van Vianen, 1999), career decisions (Callanan & Greenhaus, 1990; Callanan & Greenhaus, 1992; Sugalski & Greenhaus, 1986), career plateauing (Godshalk, 1997; Tremblay & Roger, 1993), departure decisions (Greenhaus et al., 1997), and executive success (Feldman, 1988; Judge et al., 1995). Since environmental factors can impact career outcomes, it is possible to conclude that they may also alter an individual’s expectation that his or her behaviors (despite sufficient effort) will result in a position in senior management. Vroom (1964) provides empirical evidence that occupational choices are affected by conceptions of the likelihood that they can be attained. As expectancy theory stipulates, individuals must believe that a position in senior management is attainable before engaging in behaviors that may lead to such a position. More specifically, cues from the environment may

77 constrain the relationship between an individual’s desired aspirations and his or her enacted aspirations. The Role of Expectancy in a Model of Senior Management Aspirations Desired Aspirations and Advancement Prospects. Advancement prospects refer to the beliefs an individual holds about the likelihood and availability of attaining a promotion into the senior ranks of an organization. Self-perceived advancement opportunities or expectations have been found to be positively related to advancement aspirations (Greenhaus et al., 1997). Among those individuals who desire to attain a position in senior management, the intention to pursue such a position may be affected by perceived advancement prospects within a particular organization or industry. Citing cognitive dissonance as a theoretical explanation, Markham et al., (1987) concluded that individuals who perceive minimal promotion opportunities tend to lower their aspirations for advancement in order to avoid the frustration of seeking an unattainable goal (cf. Hahn, 1977; Baker, Markham, Bonjean & Corder, 1984). Correlational studies have shown an association between perceived promotion opportunities and promotion aspirations (Markham et al., 1987). Workers who expect promotions and who experience career success are likely to raise their aspirations for advancement (Markham et al., 1987), whereas lack of opportunity was cited as the second most frequently mentioned reason for not wanting a promotion (Markham et al., 1987). The concept of career plateau, an indicator of advancement prospects, has been studied empirically. A career plateau is defined as the low likelihood of future increases in responsibility in either the current job or future job opportunities (Feldman & Weitz, 1988). Structural plateauing is defined as the end of promotions, while content

78 plateauing is defined as the end of expected increases in responsibility associated with the current job (Bardwick, 1986; Feldman & Weitz, 1988; Ference, Stoner, & Warren, 1977). Career plateaued employees have been found to perceive limited advancement opportunities (Bray & Howard, 1983; Igbaria & Greenhaus, 1992) and chances of promotion (Stout et al., 1988). Furthermore, plateaued employees have expressed low likelihood of staying in the organization (Godshalk, 1997). Advancement prospects are not necessarily limited to an individual’s current organization. Greenhaus et al. (1997) found that accountants with low expectations to advance to partner had stronger intentions to depart the firm than those with high advancement expectations. Stout et al. (1988) found that individuals who were plateaued were more likely to leave their organizations even though they still very much wanted to be promoted. Goffee and Scase (1992) reported that plateaued individuals made frequent moves between organizations in order to pursue career goals. It appears from these studies that individuals who desire positions in senior management may leave their current organizations to pursue the possibilities of advancement elsewhere. Since developmental assignments are perceived as a facilitator to advancement (Gould & Penley, 1984; Kotter, 1986; Lyness & Thompson, 2000; Wentling, 1996), individuals who are no longer gaining responsibilities or opportunities for growth are seen as having limited advancement opportunities. Tremblay and Roger (1993) found that objective plateau (number of years in current position) was positively related to subjective plateau (been on level for too long, reached a dead end). It appears that individuals who have remained for too long in a position feel that they have reached the end of their promotability, and may indicate limited advancement prospects.

79 Furthermore, non-plateaued employees seemed to use career strategies like networking, seeking-guidance, and self-nomination significantly more than plateaued employees did (Gould & Penley, 1984), perhaps indicating that non-plateaued employees still perceived opportunities for advancement. The prior research indicates that individuals who are career plateaued are less likely to perceive hierarchical advancement as a possibility. These individuals, regardless of their desire to become senior managers, may believe that engaging in behaviors thought to lead to promotions will be futile. Therefore, it is unlikely that individuals who perceive limited opportunities for advancement will engage in such behaviors. In sum, a lack of advancement prospects, possibly represented by having reached a career plateau, may be viewed as constraining an individual’s aspirations to senior management. More specifically, even for individuals with a strong desire to attain a position in senior management, lack of advancement prospects may serve to inhibit their intentions to pursue such a position. Therefore, it was predicted that:

H4:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive advancement prospects than for individuals who perceive limited advancement prospects.

Desired Aspirations and Career Support. In the present study, career support was defined as a type of social support which exhibits to an individual that the provider of the support has taken an active interest in his or her career aspirations. The receipt of support regarding senior management aspirations may affect the relationship between one’s desire to become a senior manager and one’s actual intention to pursue such a position.

80 In the work domain, career support is the social support a supervisor provides to a subordinate which the subordinate perceives as reflecting an interest in his or her career aspirations and making a positive contribution to his or her overall career development. Specifically, career support in the form of supervisory support has been identified as an important factor in influencing hierarchical advancement (Greenhaus et al., 1990). Jiang and Klein (2000) found strong evidence that employees who received support from their supervisors perceived increased career opportunities. In the non-work domain, career support in the form of spousal support has been shown to influence a variety of career-related outcomes. For example, Granrose et al. (1992) report that receiving spousal support has a positive influence on occupational success (cf. Bird & Bird, 1986) and a positive influence on career commitment, especially among parents (cf. Burke, Weir, & Duwors, 1980; Holahan & Gilbert, 1979; Orthner & Pittman, 1986). Tharenou and Conroy (1994) found that a compatible home situation, through less inter-role conflict and greater spouse support, was important for advancement to management. Friedman and Greenhaus (2000) found that behavioral support as well as personal and career-related support within the family, is positively related to higher income levels, higher job performance, more coaching opportunities and developmental assignments, more authority at work, and higher levels of career satisfaction. Aside from tangible benefits of behavioral support, such as more time and energy, these studies indicate that career support, as emotional or tangible support (or both), may serve as indicators that significant others are supportive of one’s career aspirations and believe that the individual is capable of attaining a position in senior management. For

81 example, individuals who have help with household duties may feel that they have substantial time to devote to their careers. On the job, supervisors may help individuals to prioritize such that certain assignments may favorably affect skill development. Similarly, individuals who receive encouragement to face career-related challenges, or caring advice regarding career decisions (either on or off the job), may feel more inclined to strive for challenging career goals. Individuals whose senior management schema and senior management selfassessment are congruent have the capacity to realize the behavioral and psychological investments required in senior management positions. For those who aspire to positions in senior management, career support may be a necessary ingredient for them to enact intentions and pursue such positions. Career support is so crucial to the advancement process that individuals may feel that without support, the chances of advancing hierarchically are extremely slim. It is therefore possible, that without career support, even individuals who are desirous of a position in senior management exhibit little intention to pursue such a position. The following hypothesis was offered: H5:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive career support than for individuals who perceive limited career support.

The Moderating Effect of Gender. Women hold fewer than five percent of the senior executive positions at Fortune 500 corporations. Individual and organizational variables have been associated with the differences in the numbers of female versus male senior managers. Individual factors such as gender (Kirchmeyer, 1999), presence of children (Kirchmeyer, 1999), career interruptions (Bailyn, 1980) and career versus life

82 role priorities (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000) seem to have contributed to the low numbers of women in senior management positions. The variability in the numbers of women in senior management positions has also been explained by differences in aspirations for advancement (Greenhaus et al., 1997) within the management hierarchy (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1992). While there appear to be few differences in the work values of men and women (Rowe & Snizek, 1995; Sagie et al., 1996), evidence suggests that overall, women aspire to lower levels in organization hierarchies than their male counterparts (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). Individual differences such as life role priorities may reflect an incompatibility for women between their roles and responsibilities at home and those required of a position in senior management. Since women are primarily responsible for the care of the household and the children (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000), even if they possess aspirations to senior management, it is unlikely that they will feel that their lifestyles are compatible with the lifestyles of individuals in senior management positions. Consequently, a woman may adjust her aspirations to more realistically reflect her life role priorities, and in turn, lower her desire to attain a position in senior management. This suggests that regardless of congruence, women have less of a desire to become senior managers than men. Evidence of women’s lower aspirations coupled with their absence in senior management positions led to the following hypothesis:

H6a:

The positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for men than for women.

83 The fact that there are no gender differences in work values (Rowe & Snizek, 1995; Sagie et al., 1996), suggests that men and women both value promotion and progression up the corporate hierarchy. Why then, are women’s aspirations to senior management lower than men’s aspirations? Although gender role stereotypes are diminishing (Gutek et al., 1991), evidence suggests that men and women may experience substantially different demands on their time in the off-job domain (O'Driscoll et al., 1992). In addition to family involvement, interference with work may come from time spent on household activities, time spent on childcare, or time spent on aging parents (Swanson, 1992), and has the potential to affect work-related outcomes for men and women differently. For example, women still bear most of the responsibility for rearing children and assuring the well-being of the family (Greenhaus et al., 1997). Evidence suggests that women have always spent more hours than men in household work, and have spent more hours than men in combined work and family activities (Gutek et al., 1991), yet on average, women tend to work only 2 fewer hours per week (Schneer & Reitman, 1995). Swanson (1992) notes that mothers retained primary responsibility for childcare and remained less involved and rewarded in the labor market, even in families where fathers participated in parental leave (cf. Haas, 1990). Furthermore, family responsibilities produce work-family conflict, to which women respond by reducing their work involvement, which, in turn, restricts career opportunities and advancement (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993). For example, a spouse and children at home limited managerial advancement for women, indirectly through work experiences, while a spouse and children at home was positively related to

84 the work experiences and subsequent managerial advancement for men (Tharenou et al., 1994). These findings suggest that:

H6b: Women experience more extensive off-job involvement than men. Although Tharenou and Conroy (1994) report that a spouse and children at home was not directly related to advancement for men or women, women who had advanced in the managerial ranks were more likely to be single and childless. Coupling the evidence that women experience more extensive off-job involvement than men, that women’s advancement aspirations are lower than men’s aspirations (Greenhaus et al., 1997) to higher managerial positions (Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1993) regardless of similar work values (Rowe & Snizek, 1995; Sagie et al., 1996), it may be that women are not willing to sacrifice the time they spend in off-job activities to pursue senior level positions. Therefore, the following hypothesis was offered:

H6c:

The moderating effect of gender between congruence and desired aspirations disappears when controlling for off-job involvement.

At the organizational level, statistical discrimination (Konrad & Cannings, 1997), the glass ceiling effect (Hede & Ralston, 1993), fewer developmental job opportunities (Ohlott et al., 1994), lack of interpersonal encouragement (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994), differences in career progression rates (Kirchmeyer, 1999), organizational bias (McKeen, 1992), and prevalence of male hierarchies (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994) have been cited as contributing factors in the barriers to women’s advancement to positions in senior management.

85 In terms of career decisions, expectancy theory suggests that in addition to valuing the first and second-level outcomes associated with a position, individuals must believe that positions are attainable before they decide to pursue them. As Hypotheses 4 and 5 predict, advancement prospects and career support can potentially constrain the relationship between one’s desire and one’s intentions to pursue a position in senior management. The literature suggests that organizational opportunity structures are different for men and women (Gould & Penley, 1984; Powell, 1999; Powell & Mainiero, 1992). Differential opportunities may signal to women that despite high congruence and strong desires to attain positions in senior management, the reality is that these positions remain unattainable. Given this, the following hypothesis was offered. H6d:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for men than for women.

Women who encounter a glass ceiling when trying to move from middle to senior management positions (Powell, 1999) are likely to perceive fewer opportunities for advancement than men. Explanations for the existence of a glass-ceiling barrier have been the subject of numerous empirical studies. Access to top management positions may be influenced by bias in the promotional decision-making process, which is often unstructured and ad hoc (Powell, 1999). Since individuals seek to hire similar individuals to positions to help reduce uncertainty (Kanter, 1977), gender-based schemas may serve to perpetuate the higher numbers of men in top management positions, unless there are already a number of women in these positions (Powell, 1999).

86 Whatever the reasons women are overlooked for promotions, the fact is that fewer women than men reach the upper echelons of management. It was therefore expected that, H6e:

Women perceive less extensive advancement prospects than men.

Stroh et al. (1996) found that women experience frustration when they reach the glass ceiling and consider other options. This supports the notion that women managers have a lower tolerance for lack of career opportunities than men managers (Powell, 1999) and are likely to leave the organization. If women perceive barriers to advancement, they are unlikely to engage in behaviors thought to lead to positions in senior management. It appears that women may not desire senior management positions less than men, but that in the face of limited advancement prospects, they choose not to engage in behaviors associated with attainment of positions in senior management, feeling that efforts to do so will be futile. Therefore, the following hypothesis was offered.

H6f:

The moderating effect of gender between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations disappears when controlling for advancement prospects.

Documented research has shown that women and men receive different types and amounts of career support. For example, Friedman and Greenhaus (2000) found that behavioral support at home leads to higher organizational levels for men. Personal support at home for women leads to higher job performance but not to promotions. Particularly in families with children, it appears as though men are more likely to receive the amount and type of support needed to attain positions in senior management (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). Additionally, women are less likely than men to attain

87 promotions for reasons associated with spouse’s careers (Hede & Ralston, 1993) and are more likely to report family obligations as a barrier to advancement (Hede & Ralston, 1993). The outcomes of mentoring, a form of career support that can be arranged through one’s supervisor, are different for women and men. Powell and Mainiero (1992) report that women may not benefit from mentoring in terms of promotion because they are generally not mentored by key individuals in top-management positions who are most often men. In addition to differential occurrences of mentoring by key individuals, women also report insufficient experience, favoritism, discrimination, and being excluded from informal networks as barriers to advancement (Hede & Ralston, 1993; Lyness & Thompson, 2000). Women report lower levels of organizational encouragement (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994) and face greater challenges in gaining appropriate developmental assignments due to a lack of personal support and insufficient access to important networks (Ohlott et al., 1994). Additionally, women and men have received different types of feedback from their supervisors about their performance (Kanter, 1977). Given the lack of career support for women’s career aspirations, the following hypothesis was offered.

H6g:

Women perceive less extensive career support than men.

Gender differences in career aspirations may be accounted for, in part, by differences in the types and amount of career support received. Since women do not seem receive as much career support as men, it is likely that in spite of their desires to rise to positions in senior management, they will feel that these positions are unattainable.

88 Since individuals must believe that effort expended will result in a desired outcome (Vroom, 1964), women who perceive a paucity of career support will not exhibit behaviors indicative of the pursuit of positions in senior management regardless of their desires to enter senior management. Therefore, it was expected that,

H6h: The moderating effect of gender between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations disappears when controlling for career support. Table 3 provides a summary of all of the hypotheses tested in this study.

Potential Contributions to the Literature The present research can make several contributions to the career decisionmaking literature regarding management aspirations. First, this study builds on the work of Tharenou and Terry (1998) in an attempt to refine the conceptualization and measurement of management aspirations. Senior management aspirations as conceptualized in this study includes both an attitudinal and a behavioral component, thereby illustrating the richness of the construct. Employing the present study’s definition of senior management aspirations within a career decision-making framework allows for theory development in the area of senior management aspirations as a component of a career decision. Testing a model of senior management aspirations in a population of managers and professionals seeks answers to the research questions from individuals for whom the phenomenon is most relevant. Most prior studies of the antecedents of management aspirations have examined cognitive personality variables and work factors. In addition to employing a cognitive

89 component associated with career decision-making, this study draws potential determinants of senior management aspirations from both the work and non-work domains. Inclusion of lifestyle factors as potential antecedents highlights the multifaceted nature of individuals’ lives and acknowledges the importance that individuals place on factors outside of the work domain that have the potential to influence their career decisions. Two new measures, one that assesses individuals’ senior management schema and one that assesses individuals’ senior management self-assessment, were offered in this study. Both build upon prior work that has characterized the knowledge, skills, abilities, and rewards associated with senior management positions (Aguilar, 1992; Dulewicz & Herbert, 1999; Kotter, 1986; Miner, 1993; Mintzberg, 1973; Schein, 1978). The analysis employing these measures assesses congruence, a crucial component of the career decision-making process (Greenhaus et al., 2000; Holland, 1985; Schein, 1978; Super, 1990). In summary, this study systematically tested the factors that influence the senior management aspirations of managers and professionals and applied a theory of career decision-making to a sample of individuals.

90

Chapter 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

Overview Chapter 4 describes the research design and methodology used in this study. To this end, the following sections provide a detailed description of the research design, sample, and data collection procedures. Summary statistics of the sample are presented. Finally, the measurement of variables and the data analysis techniques used in this research are described.

Research Design A research design refers to the plan or strategy of investigation devised to enable a researcher to answer the research questions as validly and reliably as possible. Kerlinger (1986) argues that the primary function of the research design is to control variance by maximizing systematic variance, regulating extraneous variance, and minimizing error variance. A key objective is to assure the generalizability of the results found to a wider population. According to Scandura and Williams (2000), various research designs result in more (or less) generalizability, precision in measurement, control of the behavioral variables, and realism of context (p. 1250). Scholars of research methodology concur that there are a series of “trade-offs” (Scandura & Williams, 2000) associated with all research designs, no one design being free of limitations. This research uses a cross-sectional, correlational design. Although acknowledged to have inherent limitations, there are also a number of strengths associated with this design that are discussed below.

91 Cross-sectional research collects data on all relevant variables at one time and is appropriate for studies that involve data on many variables from a large group of respondents (Judd, Smith, & Kidder, 1991). Correlational designs include those in which the independent variables are observed in their naturally occurring state as opposed to being manipulated in an experiment. Compared to experiments, the potential strengths associated with correlational research designs are that they enable the researcher (a) to examine independent variables that cannot be experimentally manipulated, (b) to examine multivariate models, and (c) to generalize to a larger population due to strong external validity (Kerlinger, 1986). Summarily, correlational research designs are well suited to the multivariate nature of behavioral research (Kerlinger, 1986). The limitations associated with cross-sectional, correlational research designs are the inability to assess causal relationships among the variables of interest, the potential presence of confounding or unmeasured variables, and the possibility of common method variance. Because this study is the first to assess the effects of multiple factors on senior management aspirations, of central concern is the need to establish the presence of relationships before any investigation of causality among those relationships is pursued.

Data Collection Procedure The survey instrument for this research was posted as a web page and completed by the respondents online. This is a relatively new way to collect data that offers the potential of much higher response rates than those associated with traditional postal surveys (Dillman, 2000). In addition to higher response rates, electronic surveys offer efficiencies to the design and implementation of self-administered questionnaires such as

92 elimination of paper, postage, data entry errors and costs (Dillman, 2000). In addition, time required for survey administration can be reduced from weeks to days (Dillman, 2000). Pilot Study The purpose of the pilot study was to test the questionnaire for readability and clarity, and to identify any potential technical problems regarding the use of the World Wide Web as the means for data collection. The pilot study took place in two phases. Phase one consisted of a pretest, which included the administration of a paper copy of the questionnaire to four individuals who closely resembled the potential respondents. As a group, the pretest respondents were timed while completing the questionnaire, and were asked for feedback regarding clarity and readability. Minor wording changes resulted from the pretest session were implemented prior to phase two, the online collection of pilot data. Phase two consisted of collecting data from a pilot sample via the worldwide web. The questionnaire was loaded onto a server connected to the web and an email with the appropriate web address was sent to a convenience sample of 14 managers at a national healthcare organization located in the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area. In addition to being asked to complete the online survey, the respondents were asked to comment on the readability, clarity, and ease of use of the online survey via a return email to the researcher. The pilot study respondents also participated in a conference call with the researcher to provide detailed feedback regarding the clarity, readability, and overall appropriateness of the survey instrument. Minor wording changes were made to the online survey as a result of the pilot test.

93 Main Study To legitimize the study and encourage participation, an introductory email was sent to the study participants. The contents of the introductory email explained the significance of the study, who was being asked to participate in the study, and emphasized voluntary participation and anonymity. Additionally, an incentive to be entered into a drawing to win a gift certificate was included for those who completed a survey. Instructions for completing the online survey, along with a hyperlink that took the participants directly to the questionnaire website, were outlined. Respondents The introductory emails were sent randomly to 2000 individuals from a list generated by the registrar’s office at the participating university. All potential respondents were currently enrolled in either Master’s degree or continuing education programs at the university. Over the course of three weeks after the email was sent, the researcher made visits to Master’s degree classes at the university personally asking students to participate. When the online surveys were completed, an email containing each response was sent immediately to the researcher and then loaded directly into SPSS for statistical analysis. After six weeks, 368 usable surveys had been received, reflecting a response rate of 18%.

Sample Due to the need to study individuals for whom aspirations to senior-level management are salient, working professionals were the target population for this research. A non-probability convenience sample of Master’s degree program in business, engineering, and education, and continuing education students in business and

94 management areas, from a university in the greater Philadelphia region participated in this research. Non-probability sampling is appropriate for surveys of specific groups, such as a group of working professionals (Fink, 1995). A practical sampling method, convenience sampling relies on a group of individuals that is readily available (Fink, 1995). One risk of using a convenience sample is the bias associated with individuals who voluntarily participate in the study (Fink, 1995). The concern is the lack of generalizability to populations whose characteristics do not exactly match the characteristics of the individuals sampled. The participants in this study represent a variety of industries, functional areas, and firm sizes, three factors that strengthen the generalizability of the findings from this research. Desired Sample Size Statistical power is a function of the relationships among sample size (N), significance criteria (α), and population effect size (ES) (Cohen, 1992). Following Cohen (1992), the sample size (N) necessary to have a specified power for a given α and ES was calculated through the use of a power analysis. For a medium1 effect size (.15), with a desired power of .80 and a significance level of .05, 109 usable surveys must be collected. If the desired power is raised to .95, and the effect size and significance level remain the same, the total number of usable surveys required is 160. The calculations2 for the sample size needed for this research were conducted according to the procedures outlined by Cohen (1988) and calculated using G*Power for the Macintosh, Version 2.1.2 (Buchner, Faul, & Erdfelder, 1997).

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

(Cohen, 1992) suggests that a standard convention for effect size be followed. Calculations based upon 8 predictor variables.

95 Demographics of Respondents The demographic summary statistics for this study’s respondents are reported in Table 4. The average age of the respondents was 38 years. These individuals were typically in their current job for 3 years, and their current organization for 7 years. The size of the organizations represented in the sample varied broadly with 18% working for organizations with fewer than 100 employees, 45% working in organizations with between 100-9,999 employees and 22% working in organizations with more than 10,000 employees. As a result of numerous changes to the survey that took place after an organization, chosen as the original sample site withdrew its support, an item asking respondents to indicate their job-level was inadvertently left off of the survey. A followup email was sent to study participants who had voluntarily included their email addresses, asking them to indicate the level of the organization to which they belonged (1 = Supervisor, 2 = First Line Manager, 3 = Middle Manager, 4 = Senior Manager, 5 = Top Manager). Responses to this email came from 67% of the sample. Of the 67% of the individuals who responded to this email, 14% reported their job level as first line manager and 36% identified themselves as middle managers. The respondents came from diverse functional backgrounds, including Information Systems (23%), Marketing (10%), Research and Development (7%), and Sales (7%). Industries most frequently represented by the respondents were Financial/Insurance (11%), Manufacturing (11%), Pharmaceutical (11%), Consulting (7%) and Services, such as health or legal (5%). Slightly more than half of the sample (51%) was male and most of the respondents were Caucasian (86%). The majority of the respondents were married or living with a partner (72%) and 46% had children. The highest level of education

96 completed for a majority of the sample was Bachelor’s degree (52%), while 27% had completed a Master’s program. The majority of the respondents reported annual salaries between $50,000 and $74,999 (31%) with 24% of the respondents earning between $75,000 and $99,999 annually.

Measurement of Variables In this section, the measuring instruments used in this research along with the results of validity and reliability analyses are described. The study measures are shown in Appendix A. A copy of the survey in its entirety is shown in Appendix C. Many of the items for measuring the independent and dependent variables were adapted from previous studies, although there are several measures that were developed specifically for this research. Model variables included were senior management schema, senior management self-assessment, global congruence, off-job involvement, advancement prospects, career support, gender, desired aspirations and enacted aspirations. Aside from these variables, several demographic variables were also assessed. Tests of Reliability and Validity The validity and reliability of the constructs of interest were tested using factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Factor analysis can help to achieve scientific parsimony in a study, and is widely used to analyze the construct validity and reliability of the measures in a study (Kerlinger, 1986). Factor analysis identifies the latent constructs underlying measures (Kerlinger, 1986) and is used to determine the dimensionality of a construct (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1995). The factor analysis produces an eigenvalue, which is examined to determine how many factors, or

97 dimensions exist. Eigenvalues equal to or greater than one are considered significant (Hair et al., 1995). Assessing an item’s relationship to its underlying construct identifies the reliability of a measure. This relationship is determined by the item’s factor loading, which is essentially measuring the amount of shared variance between the construct and the item. While there is no general principle regarding acceptable factor loadings, most researchers ignore loadings less than .40 (Kerlinger, 1986). Inter-item correlations, which ascertain the pattern of relationships among items, may also be used to group items in a meaningful way. Acceptable factor loadings and inter-item correlations were used to determine which items needed to be eliminated to establish a composite scale that is most representative of the construct of interest. The internal consistency reliability for each multi-item scale was computed using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha. Acceptable alpha coefficients of .70 (Nunnally, 1978; Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994) indicate that the items in the scale are internally consistent with one another and that the scale is a sufficiently reliable measure of a construct. The nine scales used in this research produced alphas ranging from .77 to .95, showing adequate levels of internal consistency. Factor analysis can also be used to establish the convergent and discriminant validity of the measures. A valid measure should correlate with other measures related to the construct (converge) and should fail to correlate with other measures that are supposed to tap basically different constructs (diverge). Convergent and discriminant validity are the “strongest empirical support of a measure’s validity” (Judd et al., 1991, p.56).

98 Independent Variables Traditionally, organization scholars measure congruence by assessing the difference between two constructs, one that measures job characteristics, and one that measures the respondents’ assessment of their capabilities regarding the job characteristics. Congruence measures can assess fit with multiple aspects or facets of a job, known as facet fit, or as an overall assessment of the job, referred to as global fit (Singh, 2001). In this study, two measures of congruence, one facet measure and one global measure, were employed. The facet measure of congruence was assessed through the senior management schema and senior management self-assessment measures. The senior management schema represents the perceived characteristics of a senior management job and the senior management self-assessment represents the respondents’ assessment of their capabilities in terms of a senior management position. Because of the methodological difficulties associated with the use of difference scores as reliable and valid measures of congruence (Edwards, 1994 a, 1994 b; Edwards & Parry, 1993), the congruence or degree of fit between these two dimensions (schema and self-assessment) was assessed using a polynomial regression analysis technique that is described in detail in the Tests of Hypothesis section of this chapter. To assess global fit, and as an additional precaution against the inherent problems associated with the use of difference scores, a measure of global congruence was included in this study. Senior Management Schema. Senior management schema (SMS) refers to the cognitive structure in which the characteristics attributed to the position of senior manager are housed. These characteristics include the competencies and extrinsic

99 rewards associated with a senior management position. A scale developed specifically for this study assessed senior management schema. Research shows that the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) necessary for positions in senior management generally fall into one of three categories: analytical competence, interpersonal and inter-group competence, and emotional competence (Kotter, 1986; Schein, 1978, 1993). The Prospector Instrument, a measure of international executive potential (Spreitzer, McCall, & Mahoney, 1997), assessed these three dimensions and was used as a basis for the SMS measure. While this research is not focused on international potential per se, it is imperative that international scope be included in an assessment of senior management KSAs, since the current global business environment is becoming more international in orientation (Spreitzer et al., 1997). The fourteen-dimension Prospector Instrument measures both end-state competencies and the ability to learn from experience. The fourteen dimensions include: uses feedback, sensitivity to cultural differences, is culturally adventurous, seeks broad business knowledge, has the courage to take a stand, brings out the best in people, seeks opportunities to learn, is open to criticism, acts with integrity, is insightful, is committed to success, takes risks, seeks feedback, and is flexible. Spreitzer et al. (1997) asked respondents to indicate on a 7-point Likert-type scale the extent of their agreement that the items described a particular individual. Sample items are “Can turn a group into a high performing team” and “Has a strong drive for results.” Reliabilities between .70 and .92 for each of the 14 factors were reported (Spreitzer et al., 1997). Eight relevant items from the Prospector Instrument were tailored for the SMS measure by collapsing the response categories into 5 from 7 points and by asking

100 respondents to indicate the extent to which each statement describes a position in senior management. The SMS measure employed a 5-point scale. Two items meant to tap the analytical competence dimension were adapted from the Prospector Instrument and two more were developed. A sample item reads, “Senior managers have knowledge of the various parts of an organization and how they fit together” (1 =Not at all, 5 =A great deal). Three items meant to tap the interpersonal and inter-group competence dimension were adapted and three more were developed. Interpersonal and inter-group competence items include “Senior managers work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other cultures.” Finally, three items that tap emotional competence were adapted from the Prospector Instrument, and three more were developed for this study. Emotional competence items include “Senior managers persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism when they believe in what they are doing.” Since the Prospector Instrument does not include any items that describe the rewards associated with senior management positions, the SMS scale was supplemented with items derived from Schein’s (1993; 1996) research on career anchors and Kotter’s (1986) work on general managers. Reward systems for senior managers focus on key intrinsic and extrinsic motivators such as merit-based promotions, ample opportunities for leadership, contributions to the success of the organization, high income, high levels of challenge and responsibility, status, and power (Schein, 1993). Seven items that reflect the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards associated with senior management positions were constructed. A sample item meant to tap intrinsic rewards reads, “Senior managers work on highly visible and challenging projects.” An item

101 meant to assess extrinsic rewards is “Senior managers equate status and prestige with rank and job title.” The senior management schema items are shown in Appendix A. Table 5 displays the factor analysis of the senior management schema items. All 23 of the original items were entered into the analysis; two factors emerged and were rotated to a varimax solution. Nineteen of the 23 items fell into one or the other dimension; therefore, four ambiguous items were dropped from the calculation of the composite variable. The four ambiguous items are: make unpopular decisions such as laying people off or cutting programs, measure their achievements through the attainment of critical results, work on highly visible and challenging projects, and have high levels of responsibility. Factor 1 was comprised of 15 items with an eigenvalue equal to 6.74. The variance explained by this factor was .35. This factor was referred to as Competencies. Factor 2 was comprised of four items, with an eigenvalue equal to 2.82. Factor 2, deemed Extrinsic Rewards, explained .15 of the variance. These findings confirm the existence of the two constructs, which the senior management schema variable was designed in this study to address. In the current study, the reliability of the scale in its entirety was acceptable (α = .84), as were the alpha levels of each dimension (Factor 1, α = .91; Factor 2 α = .79). Senior Management Self-Assessment. The senior management self-assessment (SMSA) represents an individual’s perception of his or her knowledge, skills, abilities and valued rewards in the context of a senior management position. All items from the senior management schema measure, which characterize a position in senior management, were converted for this measure to reflect the characteristics of the

102 individual with regard to a position in senior management. The respondents were asked to indicate how well each statement describes them. Sample items read, “I am able to identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue” and “I am able to exercise power without guilt or shame.” A 5 point scale indicates responses (1 =Not at all, 5 =A great deal). The senior management self-assessment measure is shown in Appendix A. Table 6 displays the factor analysis of the senior management self-assessment items. Again, 23 of the original items were entered into the analysis and two factors emerged and were rotated to a varimax solution. The same four items that were ambiguous in the senior management schema analysis were ambiguous within the selfassessment context and were not included in the calculation of the composite variable. Factor 1 was comprised of 15 items with an eigenvalue equal to 5.94. The variance explained by this factor was .31. Because the senior management selfassessment was designed as a mirror image of the senior management schema items, this factor was also labeled Competencies. Factor 2 was comprised of four items, with an eigenvalue equal to 2.35. Factor 2, labeled Extrinsic Rewards, explained .12 of the variance. These findings confirm the existence of the same two constructs, with the same 19 items that emerged from the senior management schema factor analysis. In the current study, the reliability of the scale was acceptable (α = .86), as were the alpha levels of each dimension (Factor 1, α = .89; Factor 2 α = .72). Global Congruence. The global indicator of congruence, designed to assess selfperceived person-job fit (Singh, 2001), was adapted to fit the needs of the present study. The global congruence measure is shown in Appendix A. Respondents were asked to

103 indicate the extent of their agreement (1 =Disagree strongly, 5 =Agree strongly) with six statements including, “A position in senior management would be a good fit for me” and “My personality fits in well with the requirements of a senior management position.” The results of the factor analysis are displayed in Table 7. Six items were entered into the factor analysis and a one-factor solution emerged. The eigenvalue was 4.60 and the variance explained by this factor was .76. An acceptable reliability was found (α = .95). Moderator Variables Off-Job Involvement. Off-job involvement represents the commitments one has to family and other non-work activities such as leisure, social, community, and selfpreservation (Godshalk, 1997). The measure used in the present study was adapted from a scale developed by Godshalk (1997) which assessed both objective and subjective offjob involvement. The off-job involvement items are shown in Appendix A. Objective off-job involvement represents the number of hours individuals spend on activities in the non-work domain. The measure of subjective off-job involvement asked respondents to indicate the importance of specific non-work activities in their lives, using a 5-point scale (1 = Unimportant, 5 = Very Important). Activities in the non-work domain assessed in both the objective and subjective off-job involvement measures included: household chores, household maintenance, shopping, basic child-care, sports activities, social activities, community activities, religious activities, civic and/or political activities, leisure and hobby pursuits, and education. The results of the factor analysis for subjective off-job involvement are shown in Table 8. Twelve of the thirteen items were entered into the analysis; four factors emerged and were rotated to a varimax solution. Item number thirteen, labeled “other” was not

104 expected to relate to any of the other items since by nature, the “other” item is open ended and ambiguous. Factor 1 comprised of 4 items with an eigenvalue of 2.30 and labeled Community Activities, explained .19 of the variance. Factor 2, labeled Child Care, consisted of 2 items, had an eigenvalue of 1.90, and explained .16 of the variance. Factor 3 consisted of 3 items and was labeled House Chores. The eigenvalue of this factor was 1.80 and the variance explained was .15. Factor 4 was comprised of 3 items and labeled Recreational Activities. The eigenvalue of this factor was 1.60 and it explained .13 of the variance. Coefficient alpha for the total subjective off-job involvement scale was acceptable (α = .77). The internal consistency reliability of each of the four factors was: Factor 1, α = .70; Factor 2, α = .90; Factor 3, α = .64; Factor 4, α = .50). Note that the reliability of factors 3 and 4 did not make the cutoff suggested by Nunnally and Bernstein (1994). Due to the fact that these items were believed to be conceptually representative of the constructs being measured, and that the hypothesized relationships were not dependent upon these separate factors, but on the subjective off-job involvement measure as a whole, it was deemed desirable to retain all of the items. This continuous scale was converted into a categorical variable for hypothesis testing using percentile splits (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller, 2000). Specifically, the upper third, middle third, and lower third were coded extensive off-job involvement (2), moderate off-job involvement (1), and limited off-job involvement (0). Gender. Gender was assessed using a one-item measure that asked the respondent to indicate whether they are (0) male or (1) female.

105 Advancement Prospects. Advancement prospects are the beliefs an individual holds regarding his or her probability of achieving a senior management position in an organization. The measures of advancement prospects included in this study are based upon measures of objective and subjective career plateau adapted from prior research. An objective measure used by Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992), which equates career plateau status with tenure in current job, was adopted for use in this study. Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992) considered employees plateaued if their tenure in their current job was seven years or more and were considered non-plateaued, if their tenure in their current job was less than seven years. Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992) note that extensive length of tenure in one position reflects limited advancement prospects and the seven-year cut-off was close to twice the average length of job tenure observed in their sample. Using the conventions established by Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992), twice the average number of years in the current job was 2.85. Therefore, in this study, six years was used as a cutoff. Therefore, individuals who were in their positions six years or less were considered not to be plateaued and were coded (1). Those individuals in their positions seven or more years were considered plateaued and coded (0). Approximately 90% of the respondents in this sample were not plateaued. Two three-item measures of subjective career plateau were adapted from Godshalk’s (1997) structural career plateau measure to include non-organization specific items. These items are shown in Appendix A. In the first measure, respondents were asked to indicate on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = Disagree Strongly, 5 = Agree Strongly) the likelihood that they would be promoted to a position in senior management in their present organization. The second measure asked respondents to indicate on a 5-

106 point Likert-type scale (1 = Disagree Strongly, 5 = Agree Strongly) the likelihood that they would be promoted to a position in senior management in a different organization. Sample items include: “My opportunities for upward movement into a senior management position are limited” and “I expect to obtain a senior management position.” The results of the factor analysis are reported in Table 9. Because the measures were tapping the same construct (advancement prospects), with the only difference being the question stem (present organization versus different organization) all six items were entered into the analysis. Two-factors emerged and were rotated to a varimax solution. Factor 1 was comprised of the three items that addressed the present organization and was labeled Present Organization. The eigenvalue for this factor was 2.50 and the explained variance was .41. Factor 2 consisted of the three items meant to tap the respondents’ perceptions of advancement prospects in a different organization and was labeled Different Organization. The eigenvalue for this factor was 2.40 and the variance explained was .41. The coefficient alpha for the six items, which comprised the subjective advancement prospects scale, was deemed acceptable (α = .91). The internal consistency reliability of each factor was also acceptable (Factor 1, α = .88; Factor 2, α = .89). These continuous scales were converted into categorical variables for hypothesis testing using percentile splits (Ragins et al., 2000). Specifically, the upper third, middle third, and lower third were coded extensive advancement prospects (2), moderate advancement prospects (1), and limited advancement prospects (0). Career Support. In the present study, career support was defined as a type of social support which exhibits to an individual that the provider of the support has taken an active interest in his or her career aspirations. In the work domain, a supervisor may

107 provide career support whereas in the non-work domain, a significant other (e.g. partner, parent, other family member, or friend) may provide career support. Career support in either domain can be emotional (e.g. trust, empathy, love, encouragement) or instrumental (e.g. physical help such as providing time, resources and skills; cognitive help such as providing feedback, problem solving and factual information). Two scales used in prior research were modified for the present study and are shown in Appendix A. Both scales included items meant to tap emotional and instrumental support. To the extent possible, parallel items were constructed for both the work and non-work domain scales. Items from a supervisor support scale developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman and Wormley (1990) measured career support in the work domain. The only modification to the scale developed by Greenhaus et al., (1990) was the substitution of the words “my supervisor” to “my manager,” which was more appropriate for the sample in this study. Respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement (1 = Disagree Strongly, 5 = Agree Strongly) with nine items including “My manager takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations” and “My manager keeps me informed about different career opportunities for me in the organization.” Table 10 displays the factor analysis for career support in the work domain. All nine items were entered into the analysis and a one-factor solution emerged. The eigenvalue was 5.60 and the variance explained by this factor was .62. An acceptable reliability was found (α = .92). The 44-item Family Support Inventory for Workers (FSIW) developed by King, Mattimore, King, and Adams (1995) was used as a model for the development of the

108 measure of career support in the off-job domain. Past research indicates that two factors, emotional sustenance and instrumental assistance, emerged from the scale items with reliabilities exceeding .70 (King et al., 1995). Since the FSIW was developed to assess family support, many of the original 44items were not relevant to this study, which assessed career support from a significant other. For example, in the FSIW, there were an abundance of detailed questions about family and home responsibilities that were not general enough to apply to the significant others thought to provide support in the non-work domain in this study. Six of the original 44 items from the FSIW were adapted for the present study and two additional items were developed. The measure of career support in the non-work domain is shown in Appendix A. To assess career support in the non-work domain, respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement (1 = Disagree Strongly, 5 = Agree Strongly) with eight items regarding a significant other. Significant other was defined in this study as anyone who is particularly important in your life such as a spouse or partner, a parent, sibling, child or other family member, or a friend. Sample items are “My significant other takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations” and “My significant other enjoys hearing about my achievements at work.” Table 11 displays the factor analysis for career support in the non-work domain. Eight items were entered into the analysis and a one-factor solution emerged. The eigenvalue was 4.40 and the variance explained by this factor was .55. The coefficient alpha for this measure was acceptable (α = .88). As with the off-job involvement and advancement prospects scales, these continuous scales were converted into categorical

109 variables for hypothesis testing using percentile splits (Ragins et al., 2000). Specifically, the upper third, middle third, and lower third were coded extensive career support (2), moderate career support (1), and limited career support (0). Dependent Variables The dependent variables in this study, desired and enacted aspirations, are essentially two dimensions of the senior management aspirations construct described in detail in Chapter 2. Senior management aspirations is defined as an individual’s desire and intention to move into a senior management position in an organization. Desired aspirations represent the emotional component of one’s pursuit of a career goal, whereas enacted aspirations are elements in the plan of action one undertakes to achieve the ultimate goal of attaining a position in senior management. The measures of desired and enacted aspirations adopted for this research are based upon two scales developed and validated by Tharenou and Terry (1998). In two studies testing the validity and reliability of the desired and enacted aspirations measures, construct validity was established through factor analyses that met the authors’ a priori expectations, with the desired aspirations items loading cleanly on one factor (time 1 and time 2 factor loadings ≥ .55) and the enacted aspirations items loading cleanly on a second factor (time 1 and time 2 factor loadings ≥ .49) (Tharenou & Terry, 1998). Internal consistency reliability was established through acceptable coefficient alpha levels (desired aspirations time 1 α = .94 and time 2 α = .95) and (enacted aspirations time 1 α = .80 and time 2 α = .81). Desired Aspirations. The desired aspirations scale asked respondents to indicate the extent of their agreement with six items on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 =Disagree Strongly, 5 =Agree Strongly). Sample items, the first of which was reverse coded, are “I

110 have no desire to advance to a position in senior management” and “I would like to advance to a position where I can have a greater influence on policy decisions.” The desired aspirations scale is shown in Appendix A. Whereas Tharenou and Terry (1998) were eliciting responses for aspirations to management positions in general, the items have been reworded for this study to be specifically geared toward senior management aspirations. The six items were entered into the factor analysis and the results are displayed in Table 12. A one-factor solution, with an eigenvalue of 3.40 emerged. The variance explained was .57, and an acceptable reliability was found (α = .85). Enacted Aspirations. The six-item enacted aspirations scale was expanded to twelve items and asked respondents to indicate how often they had engaged in the behaviors in the past 12 months on a 5-point scale (1 = Never, 5 = Frequently). Items in the enacted aspirations scale were reworded to include behaviors that are specifically relevant to obtaining a senior management position. A sample item is “I have updated my skills in order to be more competitive for a promotion.” Additional items were added to the enacted aspirations scale following the recommendation of Tharenou and Terry (1998) to include other career strategies related to managerial advancement. The added items were expected to increase the validity and reliability of the scale. Research has shown that career strategies are positively linked to salary progression (Gould & Penley, 1984), attainment of a senior management position (Wentling, 1996) and managerial success (Konrad et al., 1997). Some of the common strategies identified in these studies are other enhancement (expressing a favorable evaluation of the superior), creating opportunities (seeking out opportunities to develop

111 and enhance skills), extended involvement (extending work involvement beyond traditional working hours), opinion conformity (sharing certain key opinions with a superior) and networking (socializing, politicking and interacting with others outsiders) (Gould & Penley, 1984; Konrad et al., 1997; Wentling, 1996). Six items thought to represent the career strategies used by managers who aspired to higher organizational positions were garnered from these studies and added to the enacted aspirations scale. Sample items include ”I have expressed my opinions when I know that they are aligned with an individual in a key senior position” and “I have demonstrated to a senior person in my organization my willingness to take risks.” The enacted aspirations scale is shown in Appendix A. The results of the factor analysis for enacted aspirations are shown in Table 13. The twelve items were entered into the analysis and a one-factor solution emerged. The eigenvalue was 5.00 and the variance explained was .41. The coefficient alpha was acceptable (α = .87). A summary of the factor analyses and reliability estimates of all study variables are displayed in Table 14. Additional Variables of Interest Demographic and Background Variables. Demographic and background characteristics were collected to provide a descriptive profile of the composition of the respondents. Furthermore, demographic and background characteristics also helped to identify potential confounding variables that were controlled during hypothesis testing. Demographic and background characteristics that were collected in this study include age, gender (also posited to be a moderating variable), race, marital status, partner’s

112 employment status, presence/number of children, education level, number of years with current employer, number of years until retirement, job function, organizational level, number of subordinates, industry, and salary. The demographic and background variables included in this study are referenced in Appendix A. Variables Included for Use in Future Analysis. Additional variables were included in the study for use in future analysis. They include demographic data of the respondent’s workgroup, and five attitudinal variables: job attribute preferences, career satisfaction, willingness to relocate, job involvement and work-home conflict. All of these measures were adapted from prior research. All additional variables and scales are shown in Appendix A.

Data Analysis As indicated in Chapter 1, the main purpose of this study was to identify the factors that influence individuals’ aspirations to senior management. To facilitate the achievement of this research goal, a number of statistical techniques were used. Descriptive statistics and correlational analysis were employed to describe the sample characteristics and the relationships among the study variables. Next, as outlined in the prior section, the reliability and validity of all study measures was assessed. Finally, the hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. All data analysis were conducted using SPSSX for the Macintosh or PC. A detailed description of the statistical techniques employed is presented below. Descriptive Statistics and Correlational Analysis Descriptive statistics of the study variables were calculated. For categorical variables such as gender, percentages were computed. Measures of central tendency such

113 as means and standard deviations were computed for ordinal and interval scales (Fink, 1995). The demographic characteristics of the sample were discussed earlier in this chapter and a summary presented in Table 4. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were computed to assess the general patterns of relationships among the study variables and to identify the presence of multicollinearity. The correlational analysis was helpful in determining whether multicollinearity was a problem and in identifying potential confounding variables, which were controlled during hypothesis testing. Studies have found age, race, and socioeconomic status (Jacobs et al., 1991) to be related to occupational aspirations. However, there is little indication in the literature that demographic characteristics have consistently been related to management aspirations. For this reason, there were no a priori predictions about which demographic characteristics must be controlled in the analyses of the hypotheses. Instead, empirical evidence was used to determine which variables to control, as discussed in Chapter 5. Tests of Hypotheses Four of the hypotheses (1, 2, 6a and 6c) in this study use congruence as an independent variable. To test these hypotheses, both facet and global measures of congruence were employed. To test the two component facet congruence measure, the conventions suggested by Edwards (1994 a; 1994 b) and Edwards and Parry (1993) for assessing congruence were adopted. To this end, the two components of congruence, senior management schema and senior management self-assessment, were tested using polynomial regression analysis. Polynomial regression analysis is used to avoid problems with difference scores, while still testing the relationships difference scores are intended to represent (Edwards, 1994 a, 1994 b; Edwards & Parry, 1993). Using

114 polynomial regression analysis to test the assumptions implicit in the analysis of difference scores can help to establish the reliability and validity of such scores (Edwards, 1994 b). Two regression equations, one constrained (1) and one unconstrained (2), were suggested by Edwards and Parry (1993) to assess the squared difference between two component measures: Z = b0 + b1 (X -Y) + e

(1)

Z = b0 + b1X + b2Y + b3X2 + b4XY + b5Y2 + e

(2)

Where Z = desired aspirations (DA) X = senior management schema (SMS) Y = senior management self assessment (SMSA) X2 = senior management schema * senior management schema XY = senior management schema * senior management self assessment Y2 = senior management self assessment * senior management self assessment In equation (1) above, the algebraic difference between X and Y represents a single predictor of Z and e represents a random error term (Veiga, Lubatkin, Calori, & Very, 2000). Equation (1) constrains the coefficients on X and Y to be equal in magnitude but not opposite in sign (Edwards, 1994 a). In equation (2), the following implied constraints are imposed by the squared difference equation: (1) the coefficients on X2 and Y2 are equal; (2) the coefficient on XY is twice as large as the coefficient on either X2 or Y2 and opposite in sign; and (3) the coefficients on X and Y are zero (Edwards, 1994 a, p.65). The results were examined to assess whether the squared difference index was an acceptable assessment of the two components of congruence (schema and selfassessment) on desired aspirations. An acceptable assessment is indicated by the following: (1) the coefficients of X2, XY and Y2 (both individually and as a set) but not X

115 or Y will be significant; (2) coefficients of X2 and Y2 will not be significantly different; and (3) a coefficient of XY that will not be significantly different from twice the negative of the coefficient of either X2 or Y2 (Edwards, 1994 a, p. 65). Following Edwards (1994 a), the difference between the coefficients were tested directly using a test of the difference between partial regression coefficients outlined by Cohen and Cohen (1983). All polynomial regression analyses and subsequent tests of coefficients were conducted using SYSTAT 10.0 for the PC. To test hypotheses 1, 2, 6a and 6c using the polynomial regression analysis described above, desired aspirations was regressed on the control variables in step 1. Equation (2) above describes the set of independent variables that were entered into the regression equation in step 2. All other independent variables were entered in subsequent steps in relevant order depending upon which hypothesis was being tested. The results indicated that the squared difference index was not an acceptable assessment of the two components of congruence (schema and self-assessment) on desired aspirations. The results of the polynomial regression analyses are discussed in Chapter 5 and detailed in Appendix B. The measure of global congruence was also used to test hypotheses 1, 2, 6a and 6c. The details of each regression analysis employed are described below using global congruence as the measure of congruence. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the effects of each independent variable on the dependent variable, while controlling for the effects of variables already in the equation (Cohen & Cohen, 1983). Prior to hypothesis testing, the study variables were standardized. The first step in testing each individual hypothesis was to include any relevant control variables.

116 For the hypotheses that predict interactions, interaction terms were entered into the regression model together. The dependent variable was regressed on each independent variable (including control variables) as well as the interaction term. The regression analysis results included a standardized beta coefficient, an R2, and a change in R2 for the addition of each independent variable. The change in R2 indicated the proportion of the variance in the dependent variable that was accounted for by the addition of each new variable or set of variables. The beta coefficients were used to assess the relative strength of the relationship of each independent variable with the dependent variable. A significant beta for the interaction term indicated the presence of an interaction effect. Interaction plots were analyzed to determine whether the hypothesized direction of the interaction was supported. Hypotheses 1 and 2. Hypothesis 1 predicted a positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. To test this relationship, the control variables were entered into the regression model in Step 1. Congruence was then entered in Step 2. The regression coefficient for congruence was examined to test Hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 2 predicted that off-job involvement would moderate the positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations, such that the relationship would be stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement. Off-job involvement was entered in Step 3, followed by the interaction between congruence and off-job involvement in Step 4. A significant beta coefficient for the interaction term was followed up with a plot of the interaction to test Hypothesis 2. Hypotheses 3 and 4. Hypothesis 3 predicted a positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations. To test this relationship, the control

117 variable(s) were entered into the regression model in Step 1. Next, desired aspirations was entered in Step 2. The regression coefficient for desired aspirations was examined to test Hypothesis 3. Hypothesis 4 predicted that desired aspirations would interact with advancement prospects in predicting enacted aspirations. Advancement Prospects was entered in Step 3 followed by the interaction of advancement prospects and desired aspirations in Step 4. A significant beta coefficient for the interaction term was followed up with a plot of the interaction to test Hypothesis 4. Hypothesis 5. Hypothesis 5 predicted that desired aspirations would interact with career support in predicting enacted aspirations. The control variables were entered into the regression equation in Step 1 followed by desired aspirations in Step 2. Career support was entered in Step 3 and the interaction between desired aspirations and career support was entered in Step 4. A significant regression coefficient for the interaction term was followed up with a plot of the interaction to test Hypothesis 5. Hypotheses 6a and 6c. Hypothesis 6a predicted that congruence would interact with gender in predicting desired aspirations. The control variables were entered into Step 1 of the regression model. Congruence was entered in Step 2 followed by Gender in Step 3. The congruence-gender interaction term was entered into the regression model in Step 4. A significant beta coefficient for the interaction term was followed up with a plot of the interaction to test Hypothesis 6a. If the beta coefficient for the interaction term were not significant, Hypothesis 6c would not be tested. Hypothesis 6c predicted that the moderating effect of gender and congruence on desired aspirations would no longer be significant when controlling for off-job

118 involvement. If Hypothesis 6a were supported, off-job involvement would be entered into the regression equation in Step 5. Support for Hypothesis 6c required that the interaction term would no longer be significant in the presence of off-job involvement. Hypotheses 6d, 6h and 6f. Hypothesis 6d predicted that the positive relationship between desired and enacted aspirations would be stronger for men than for women. The control variables were entered into Step 1 of the regression analysis, followed by gender in Step 2. Desired aspirations was entered in Step 3 and the interaction between gender and desired aspirations was entered in Step 4. A significant beta coefficient for the interaction term was followed up with a plot of the interaction to test Hypothesis 6d. If the beta coefficient for the interaction term were not significant, neither Hypotheses 6f nor 6h would be tested. Hypothesis 6f predicted that the interaction between gender and desired aspirations on enacted aspirations would no longer be significant when controlling for advancement prospects. If Hypothesis 6d were supported, advancement prospects would be entered into the regression equation in Step 5. Support for Hypothesis 6f required that the interaction term would no longer be significant in the presence of advancement prospects. Hypothesis 6h predicted that the interaction between gender and desired aspirations on enacted aspirations would no longer be significant when controlling for career support. If Hypothesis 6d were supported, career support would be entered into the regression equation in Step 5. Support for Hypothesis 6h required that the interaction term would no longer be significant in the presence of career support.

119 Hypothesis 6b, 6e and6g. Hypothesis 6b predicted that women experience more extensive off-job involvement than men. The control variables were entered into Step 1 followed by gender in Step 2. The regression coefficient for gender was examined to test Hypothesis 6b. Hypothesis 6e predicted that women perceived less extensive advancement prospects than men. The same regression steps described in Hypothesis 6b were employed, the difference was that advancement prospects was the dependent variable. Hypothesis 6g, which predicted that women perceived less extensive career support than men, was analyzed the same way, although the dependent variable for Hypothesis 6g was career support. Similar to Hypothesis 6b, an examination of the regression coefficient for gender tested both Hypotheses 6e and 6g respectively.

Summary This chapter has described the research design and methodology, measurement of the constructs, sample characteristics, and statistical techniques that were employed to test the research hypotheses offered in this study. Chapter 5 provides the detailed results of the data analyses outlined in this chapter.

120

Chapter 5: RESULTS This chapter presents the results of the data analyses beginning with the correlational analysis of the demographic and model variables. This is followed by a description of statistical results for each research hypothesis. The chapter concludes with a summary of the post hoc analysis findings.

Correlational Analysis Table 15 presents the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among all variables in the study. As noted in the preceding chapter, correlational analyses help to determine which demographic variables must be controlled during hypothesis testing, as well as help to identify whether multicollinearity is a problem. The intercorrelations among the study’s variables ranged from -.31 to .66, which suggests that severe multicollinearity did not exist among the variables (i.e., r’s ≥ .80)(Hair et al., 1995). What the correlational analysis did reveal however is that some demographic variables were significantly correlated with the independent, moderating, and dependent variables in the model. Intercorrelations Among Demographic and Model Variables The demographic variables that were consistently related to the model variables were age, marital status, education, and functional area. Age was positively correlated with subjective off-job involvement (r = .130, p < .05) and negatively correlated with objective advancement prospects (r = -.167, p < .01), subjective advancement prospects (r = -.213, p < .001), desired aspirations (r = -.225, p < .001), and enacted aspirations (r

121 = -.151, p < .01). Consequently, respondents’ age was included as a control variable in all regression analyses. Marital status was also controlled in all regression analyses because it was positively correlated with self-assessment (r = .141, p < .01), global congruence (r = .127, p < .05), objective off-job involvement (r = .146, p < .01), subjective off-job involvement (r = .123, p < .05), subjective advancement prospects (r = .134, p < .05), and career support in the non-work domain (r = .222, p < .001). Education was positively correlated with global congruence (r = .163, p < .01), subjective advancement prospects (r = .127, p < .05), desired aspirations (r = .119, p < .05) and enacted aspirations (r = .119, p < .05). Since education was correlated to both an independent variable (global congruence) and both dependent variables, it was controlled in subsequent regression analyses. Various demographic characteristics such as spouse employment status, number of children, organization tenure, organization size, number of subordinates, salary, and spouse salary were correlated with model variables, but were not included as controls because they were significantly related to other demographic variables that were already controlled in the analysis. An additional control variable was determined through the use of analysis of variance (ANOVA), which was employed to assess whether categorical variables such as race, functional area, and industry were related to model variables. Results of the ANOVA revealed that functional area was significantly related to global congruence (F8, 334

= 2.54, p < .01) and enacted aspirations (F8, 335 = 2.01, p < .05). Because functional

area was related to key independent (global congruence) and dependent (enacted aspirations) variables, it was controlled during all subsequent regression analyses. A

122 Bonferroni pairwise multiple comparison was used to test the difference between each pair of means at the alpha level of .05. The results of the Bonferroni tests reveal the largest mean differences were present between the human resources, the legal functional areas, and all other functional areas. The legal area means were significantly lower than the means for the human resources area, and both legal and human resources had significantly lower means than the sales, information systems, and research and development areas. Therefore, two control variables, human resources functional area (All others =0, HR = 1) and legal functional area (All Others = 0, Legal = 1), were created for use in the regression analyses for hypothesis testing. Intercorrelations Among Model Variables Gender was negatively related to self-assessment (r = -.119, p < .05), global congruence (r = -.170, p < .001), subjective advancement prospects (r = -.152, p < .01), and desired aspirations (r = -.226, p < .001). This means that women had lower selfassessment scores, lower congruence scores, lower desired aspirations, and perceived fewer prospects for advancement than men. Senior management schema was positively correlated with self-assessment (r = .210, p < .001), global congruence (r = .148, p < .01), subjective advancement prospects (r = .104, p < .05), career support in the work domain (r = .323, p < .001), desired aspirations (r = .106, p < .05) and enacted aspirations (r = .164, p < .01). Senior management self-assessment was positively related to global congruence (r = .502, p < .001), subjective advancement prospects (r = .348, p < .001), desired aspirations (r = .432, p < .001), and enacted aspirations (r = .493, p < .001).

123 Global congruence was positively correlated with subjective advancement prospects (r = .561, p < .001), career support in the non-work domain (r = .145, p < .01), desired aspirations (r = .659, p < .001), and enacted aspirations (r = .439, p < .001). Objective off-job involvement (actual number of hours spent on activities outside of work) was positively related to subjective off-job involvement (r = .390, p < .001). Objective advancement prospects was positively related to subjective advancement prospects (r = .116, p < .01) and enacted aspirations (r = .151, p < .05). These results indicate that individuals who are not plateaued perceive more extensive prospects for advancement and have higher enacted aspirations than their plateaued counterparts. Subjective advancement prospects was positively related to career support in the work domain (r = .169, p < .001), career support in the non-work domain (r = .144, p < .01), desired aspirations (r = .448, p < .001), and enacted aspirations (r = .326, p < .001). Career support in the work domain was positively related to career support in the non-work domain (r = .110, p < .05) and enacted aspirations (r = .171, p < .001). Career support in the non-work domain was positively correlated with desired aspirations (r = .188, p < .001) and enacted aspirations (r = .182, p < .001). Desired aspirations was positively related to enacted aspirations (r = .462, p < .001). In conclusion, the above discussion points out that all correlations were in the predicted direction and the data did not indicate the presence of any substantial multicollinearity among the variables in the research model.

124

Tests of Hypotheses As discussed in Chapter 4, this study included two measures of congruence. The first measure was comprised of two components (senior management schema and senior management self-assessment) and was a facet measure of congruence, and the second measured global congruence. All hypotheses were tested using both congruence measures. Following Edwards (1994 a; 1994 b), Edwards and Parry (1993), and Edwards and Rothbard (1999) polynomial regression analysis was employed to test the hypotheses using the schema and self-assessment measures. The results of the polynomial regression analyses indicated that the two component measures of congruence (schema and self-assessment) did not meet the criterion specified by Edwards (1994 a; 1994 b), Edwards and Parry (1993), and Edwards and Rothbard (1999) that both components of a measure of fit account for variation in the dependent variable equally. In this study, the self-assessment measure accounted for most if not all of the variation in desired aspirations. Therefore, the two components of facet fit (schema and self-assessment) were deemed inappropriate to use as indicators of congruence and the global congruence measure was employed. Detailed results of the polynomial regression analyses are presented in Appendix B. The hypotheses presented below are those that employed the global congruence measure. The use of selfassessment as a standalone measure of congruence was explored in some of the post-hoc analyses. Hypothesis 1: Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations. This hypothesis predicted that individuals who perceive themselves as fitting into a position in senior management would desire such a position. Hierarchical multiple

125 regression analysis was used to test this hypothesis and the results are presented in Table 16. Five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered into Step 1 of the regression analysis followed by global congruence in Step 2. The hypothesized positive relationship between global congruence and desired aspirations was significant (β = .68, p < .001). Global congruence accounted for 43% of the variation in desired aspirations (∆R2 = .43, p < .001). These results indicate that Hypothesis 1 was supported. Hypothesis 2: Moderating Effect of Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations. This hypothesis predicted that the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations would be stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement than for individuals with extensive off-job involvement. Objective and subjective off-job involvement were entered into the regression model in Step 3 (see Table 16) and the interaction terms (global congruence and objective off-job involvement; global congruence and subjective off-job involvement) were entered in Step 4. The four-step regression resulted in a model in which 52% of the variance was explained by the included variables (R2 = .52, p < .001). The addition of the interaction terms in Step 4 accounted for a 1% (∆R2 = .01, p < .05) change in the variance in desired aspirations, and each interaction was statistically significant. The significant interactions were plotted to determine whether the hypothesized direction of the interactions were supported. The interaction plots are seen in Figures 3 and 4 below.

126 Figure 3 shows, as predicted, that the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations was slightly stronger for individuals with limited objective off-job involvement than for individuals with extensive objective off-job involvement. Contrary to predictions, Figure 4 indicates that the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations was stronger for individuals with extensive subjective off-job involvement than for individuals with limited subjective off-job involvement. These results indicate that Hypothesis 2 was partially supported. Post Hoc Analysis In light of the fact that the moderator relationships were only partially supported, Hypothesis 2 was reexamined using components of subjective off-job involvement. As revealed in Chapter 4, when the subjective off-job involvement items were factor analyzed, they resulted in a four-factor solution (Table 8). The first factor consisted of four items that dealt with community activities, the second factor consisted of two items regarding child care, the third factor dealt with household chores, and factor four consisted of recreational activities. The data were reexamined using hierarchical multiple regression analysis to determine whether the results changed when the four subjective off-job involvement factors were entered into the analyses as moderators of the relationship between global congruence and desired aspirations. The regression analysis (not shown) revealed that the interaction between global congruence and community activities had a marginally significant effect on desired aspirations (β = , p < .10). The interaction between global congruence and community activities was plotted and is shown in Figure 5. Figure 5 shows that community activities moderated the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. The relationship between congruence and desired

127 aspirations was stronger for individuals with extensive community involvement than for individuals with limited involvement in community activities. This was contrary to the predictions in Hypothesis 2, which expected that the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations would be stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement than for those with extensive off-job involvement. The interactions between congruence and the component factors of subjective off-job involvement that were not statistically significant were congruence and childcare, congruence and house chores, and congruence and recreational activities. A second set of post-hoc regression analyses regarding Hypothesis 2 were executed using self-assessment as a standalone measure of congruence. When selfassessment was substituted for global congruence, the regression analyses produced no significant interactions between self-assessment and objective off-job involvement or between self-assessment and subjective off-job involvement. Furthermore, selfassessment did not interact with any of the four factors of subjective off-job involvement. Hypothesis 3: Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations. This hypothesis predicted a positive relationship between desired and enacted aspirations and was tested using hierarchical regression analysis. Five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered into Step 1 of the regression analysis followed by global congruence, objective, and subjective off-job involvement in Step 2 and desired aspirations in Step 3. The beta coefficient for desired aspirations was positive (β=.24, p < . 001). Furthermore, desired aspirations accounted for a significant change in model variance (∆R2 = .03, p < . 001). These results, shown in Table 17, provided support for Hypothesis 3.

128 Hypothesis 4: Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations. Hypothesis 4 predicted that the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations would be stronger for individuals who perceived extensive advancement prospects than for individuals who perceived limited advancement prospects. Objective advancement prospects and subjective advancement prospects were entered into the regression model in Step 4, and the interactions between desired aspirations and objective advancement prospects and between desired aspirations and subjective advancement prospects were entered in Step 5. As seen in Table 17, the variance accounted for by all variables in the model is 32% (R2 = .32, p < . 001), with the addition of the interaction terms in Step 5 accounting for no change in variance (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). The non-significant beta coefficients for the interaction terms indicate that neither objective nor subjective advancement prospects moderated the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations. Therefore, Hypothesis 4 was not supported. It should be noted however, that there was an effect of global congruence on enacted aspirations (β=.29, p < . 001) and an effect of objective advancement prospects (β=.10, p < . 10) on enacted aspirations. These results suggest that individuals with high congruence also had high enacted aspirations regardless of their desired aspirations. Furthermore, individuals who were not plateaued held higher enacted aspirations than individuals who were career plateaued regardless of their desired aspirations. Post Hoc Analysis Because advancement prospects did not moderate the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations, the hypothesized relationship was reexamined using the two components of subjective advancement prospects revealed by a factor analysis in

129 Chapter 4 and reported in Table 9. The first factor was comprised of three items and described advancement prospects in the present organization and the second factor, also comprised of three items, dealt with advancement prospects in a different organization. The data were reanalyzed using hierarchical regression analysis to determine whether the results would change when the component factors of subjective advancement prospects were entered into the model. The regression analysis (not shown) revealed that the interaction between desired aspirations and advancement prospects in a different organization had a marginally significant effect on enacted aspirations (β = -.10, p < .10). The modest interaction was plotted and the results can be seen in Figure 6. Contrary to the original prediction in Hypothesis 4, these results suggest that the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations was stronger for individuals who perceived limited advancement prospects in a different organization than for individuals who perceived extensive advancement prospects in a different organization. Hypothesis 5: Moderating Effect of Career Support on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations. This hypothesis predicted that career support in the work and non-work domains would moderate the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations.

In a five-Step

hierarchical regression, five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered in Step 1, followed by global congruence and objective and subjective off-job involvement in Step 2. Desired aspirations was entered in Step 3, followed by career support in the work domain and career support in the non-work domain in Step 4. The interaction terms (desired aspirations by career support at work and desired aspirations by career support from nonwork) were entered in Step 5. The results of this regression are shown in Table 18.

130 The variance accounted for by all variables in the model was 33% (R2 = .33, p < .001), with the addition of the interaction terms in Step 5 accounting for no change in variance (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). The non-significant beta coefficients for the interactions between desired aspirations and career support in the work domain (β=-.03) and between desired aspirations and career support in the non-work domain (β=-.03) indicate that career support did not moderate the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations. Therefore, Hypothesis 5 was not supported. There was an effect of career support in the non-work domain (β=.12, p < .05) on enacted aspirations suggesting that individuals who had career support in the non-work domain were also likely to have high enacted aspirations. Hypothesis 6a: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations. This hypothesis predicted that the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations would be stronger for men than for women. Hypothesis 6a was tested by entering five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) into Step 1 of a hierarchical regression. Global congruence was entered in Step 2 and gender was entered in Step 3. The interaction of global congruence by gender was entered in Step 4. The results of the regression analysis are presented in Table 19. The model explained 51% of the variation in desired aspirations (R2 = .52, p < . 001), with the addition of the interaction term accounting for no change in the variance (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). The beta coefficient for the interaction term (β=.06, n.s.) indicates that gender did not moderate the relationship between global congruence and desired aspirations: therefore Hypothesis 6a was not supported. There was however, a

131 significant, negative effect of gender on desired aspirations (β=−.11, p < . 05; R2 = .51, p < . 05; ∆R2 = .10, p < . 05), indicating that women held lower desired aspirations than men. Post Hoc Analysis Hypothesis 6a, which predicted that gender would moderate the relationship between global congruence and desired aspirations, was reanalyzed using self-assessment as the measure of congruence and the results did not change. The findings suggest that congruence did not affect desired aspirations differently for men and women. Hypothesis 6b: Relationship Between Gender and Off-Job Involvement. Hypothesis 6b predicted that women experienced more extensive off-job involvement than men. Two hierarchical regression analyses were employed to test this hypothesis, first using objective off-job involvement as the dependent variable, and then using subjective off-job involvement as the dependent variable. The results of these regressions are shown in Table 20. For both regressions, five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered into Step 1 of the analysis. Gender was entered in Step 2. As the results of the first regression indicate, the beta coefficient for gender was negative (β= -.12, p < .10) and the addition of gender accounted for a 1% change in the variance in objective off-job involvement (∆R2 = .01, p < .10). These results are contrary to the prediction that women experience more extensive objective off-job involvement than men because they suggest that men experience more extensive objective off-job involvement than women.

132 In the second regression, the influence of gender on subjective off-job involvement was not statistically significant (β= -.10, n.s.). Taken together, these regressions support the notion that women spent more hours on off-job activities, but that they were not significantly more psychologically involved in off-job activities than men. Thus, Hypothesis 6b was marginally supported. Hypothesis 6c: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Off-Job Involvement. This hypothesis was predicted on the assumption that gender would moderate the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations (Hypothesis 6a). Because Hypothesis 6a was not supported, it was not meaningful to test Hypothesis 6c. Hypothesis 6d: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations. The results of Hypothesis 6d are shown in Table 21. Hypothesis 6d predicted that the relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations would be stronger for men than for women. Five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered in Step 1 followed by gender in Step 2 and desired aspirations in Step 3. The interaction between desired aspirations and gender was entered in Step 4. The results indicate that 29% of the variance in enacted aspirations was accounted for by the variables in Model 4 (R2 = .29, p < . 001), and that the change in R2 attributed to the interaction term was less than 1% (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). The beta coefficient for the interaction term (β=.01, n.s.) indicates that the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations was not significantly stronger for men than for women. Thus, Hypothesis 6d was not supported.

133 Hypothesis 6e: Relationship Between Gender and Advancement Prospects. Hypothesis 6e predicted that women would perceive less extensive advancement prospects than men. Two hierarchical regression analyses were employed to test this hypothesis, first using objective advancement prospects as the dependent variable, and then using subjective advancement prospects as the dependent variable. The results of these regressions are shown in Table 22. For both regressions, five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered into Step 1 of the analysis. Gender was entered in Step 2. Inconsistent with the prediction, the beta coefficient for gender was not statistically significant (β=-.02, n.s.) in the first regression. The addition of gender accounted for no change in the variance in objective advancement prospects (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). These results do not support the prediction that women were more likely to be plateaued in their careers than men. In the second regression, gender accounted for 1% of the variation in subjective advancement prospects (∆R2 = .01, p < .05.) and the beta coefficient was negative (β=.12, p < .05) suggesting that women perceived less extensive subjective advancement prospects than men. Taken together, these regressions indicate that although there were no significant differences in the career plateaus of women and men, women perceived significantly less extensive advancement prospects than men, providing partial support for Hypothesis 6e.

134 Hypothesis 6f: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Advancement Prospects. This hypothesis was predicted on the assumption that gender would moderate the relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations (Hypothesis 6d). Because Hypothesis 6d was not supported, it was not meaningful to test Hypothesis 6f. Hypothesis 6g: Relationship Between Gender and Career Support. Hypothesis 6g predicted that women would perceive less extensive career support than men. Two hierarchical regression analyses were employed to test this hypothesis, first using career support in the work domain as the dependent variable, and then using career support in the non-work domain as the dependent variable. The results of these regressions are shown in Table 23. For both regressions, five control variables (age, marital status, education, human resources functional area and legal functional area) were entered into Step 1 of the analysis. Gender was entered in Step 2. As the results of the first regression indicate, the beta coefficient for gender was not significant (β=.00, n.s.) and the addition of gender to the model accounted for no change in the variation in career support in the work domain (∆R2 = .00, n.s.). These results indicate that women did not perceive less extensive career support in the work domain than men. In the second regression, the addition of gender to the model did not significantly change the variation in career support in the non-work domain (∆R2 = .01, n.s.). Contrary to the prediction, the beta coefficient was not statistically significant (β=.10, n.s.) suggesting that women did not perceive less extensive career support in the non-work domain than men. These results indicate that there were no differences in the perception

135 of career support between women and men, in either the work or non-work domains. Thus, Hypothesis 6g was not supported. Hypothesis 6h: Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations Disappears when Controlling for Career Support. This hypothesis was predicted on the assumption that gender would moderate the relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations (Hypothesis 6d). Because Hypothesis 6d was not supported, it was not meaningful to test Hypothesis 6h. Post Hoc Analysis: Model of Senior Management Aspirations Prior research suggests that there are gender differences in advancement aspirations (Greenhaus et al., 1997). Contrary to expectations, there was no evidence for gender as a moderator, yet gender was related to enacted aspirations. This finding presented an opportunity to test a mediated model that would help to explain the gender difference in enacted aspirations. Therefore, the role of gender was further explored using structural equation modeling. Specifically, multiple versions of the model of senior management aspirations were explored using AMOS 4.01 (Arbuckle, 1999). Figure 7 shows the results of a model, which examined both congruence and off-job involvement as mediating the relationship between gender and desired aspirations. The relationship between gender and enacted aspirations was examined with congruence, desired aspirations, advancement prospects, and career support as potential mediators. Finally, all direct effects of gender on desired and enacted aspirations were explored. The analysis reveals that gender was negatively related to congruence (β = -.18, p < .001), desired aspirations (β = -.10, p < .05), and subjective advancement prospects (β = -.09, p < .10) indicating that women perceive lower levels of fit with senior management positions, have less of a desire to attain such positions, and perceive fewer advancement prospects than men. Gender was also positively related to enacted

136 aspirations (β = .17, p < .001) revealing that women held higher enacted aspirations than men. The relationship between congruence and desired aspirations was positive (β = .69, p < .001), as was the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations (β = .33, p < .001). Congruence was positively related to career support in the non-work domain (β = .16, p < .01) and to enacted aspirations (β = .21, p < .01). Both objective advancement prospects (β = .10, p < .05) and career support in the work domain (β = .09, p < .10) were positively related to enacted aspirations. Overall, the hypothesized model did not fit the data well (χ2 = 226.56, df = 27, p < .001; GFI = .87; AGFI = .737; RMSEA = .16). The model may offer additional insight into the factors that influence senior management aspirations. The significant relationships indicated by the beta coefficients however, do indicate that gender had an indirect effect on desired aspirations through congruence, and an indirect effect on enacted aspirations through congruence and desired aspirations. Additionally, gender had a direct effect on both desired and enacted aspirations. These findings provide additional insights into the relationships among various model constructs and will be discussed further in the forthcoming chapter.

Summary In summary, Chapter 5 described the results of the correlation and regression analyses conducted in this study. The hierarchical regression analyses employed to test the hypotheses revealed some interesting results. A summary of the results is shown in Table 24. While several of the hypotheses were not supported or only partially supported, the results offer interesting insights into the senior management aspirations of

137 the respondents. Forthcoming in Chapter 6 is a detailed discussion of the results of this study, the study’s contributions and limitations and suggested directions for future research in this area.

138

Chapter 6: DISCUSSION Chapter 6 begins with a brief summary of the gaps in the career development and decision-making literature that this study has addressed. Next, the results of this study are presented in light of the career development and decision-making literature, followed by a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the research. The methodological limitations of this study are reviewed and finally, as the findings and limitations inform them, directions for future research are introduced.

Research Gaps in the Career Development and Decision-Making Literature The study of senior management aspirations has garnered relatively little theoretical and empirical attention. While there are a number of theoretical and conceptual challenges associated with studying senior management aspirations, the lack of research may be associated with the past assumption that everyone, or at least men, wanted to climb the corporate ladder. Whatever the reasons for the research gaps associated with senior management aspirations, the fact that the number of senior management positions available has declined, yet the numbers of individuals with high career expectations has increased (Lashbrook, 1992), makes it evident that this is an important area in the career development and decision-making literature in need of empirical attention. This research presents a descriptive model of career decision-making through which a theory of senior management aspirations has begun to crystallize. The model of senior management aspirations posited in this study included cognitive, lifestyle, and work-related variables that were predicted to influence individuals’ aspirations to

139 positions in senior management. While the specific research question this study hoped to answer was what factors influence an individual’s aspirations to advance to a position in senior management, from a theoretical perspective, this study hoped to contribute to the overall knowledge of senior management aspirations within a career decision-making framework.

Congruence as a Determinant of Senior Management Aspirations A number of hypotheses were generated to address the relationships posited in the model of senior management aspirations. In general, the model predicted that the congruence between one’s occupational self-image and the image one holds of a senior management job, would interact with various lifestyle factors to influence an individual’s desire to attain a position in senior management. Research suggests that individuals in pursuit of their career dreams are mindful of all aspects of their lives (Krau, 1997; Levinson, 1986; Levinson & Levinson, 1996) including non-work commitments. This study provided support for the idea that an individual’s desire to move into a senior management position in an organization represents a critical component of senior management aspirations in the context of career decision-making. The data in this study indicated that one’s congruence with a position in senior management is positively related to the level of desire an individual holds towards a position in senior management. These findings support prior research that individuals who see themselves as capable of fulfilling managerial roles aspire to and even attain those positions (Meier, 1991; Tharenou, 1997 b). The desire to attain an end state, or reach a goal, is reflective of one’s attitude towards attaining that particular goal. Thus, the desire to become a senior

140 manager is reflective of an individual’s wants, regarding his or her career goals. This desire is influenced by occupational-self congruence. In general, individuals assess their overall congruence with a senior management position, as well as congruence regarding specific aspects of a senior management position. Specific facets of a senior management position include the job requirements or intrinsic aspects of the position as well as the rewards.

In this study, overall congruence

with a position in senior management was related positively to individual’s desire to move into senior management positions. These findings are consistent with an expectancy model of career decisionmaking. In terms of career decision-making, the positively valent second-level outcomes like rewards associated with a particular position, in concert with the belief that entering a particular position will be instrumental in the attainment of those outcomes, predicts the overall level of valence or desire to obtain such a position (Pinder, 1998; Vroom, 1964). This study provided support for the notion that one’s desire to move into a senior management position in an organization is related to one’s intention to pursue senior management as a career goal. Intentions represent a critical component of senior management aspirations in the context of career decision-making. Intentions are the component of senior management aspirations, which influence the behaviors associated with attaining senior management positions. Thus, the intention to become a senior manager is reflective of the behaviors individuals’ exhibit regarding their career goals. In terms of senior management aspirations, intentions, or enacted aspirations are influenced by desires and occupational-self congruence.

141 In this study, one’s desire to become a senior manager was positively related to one’s intention to pursue senior management as a career goal. These findings are consistent with an expectancy model of career decision-making, which suggests that the valence of first level outcomes, or the “want” component of a desired outcome, leads to behaviors associated with achieving the outcome (Pinder, 1998; Vroom, 1964). These findings also support prior research that suggests that attitudes inform intentions that are in turn, associated with behaviors (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1974; Pinder, 1998). The direct effect of congruence on enacted aspirations suggests that individuals with high congruence will engage in behaviors that they believe will lead them to senior management positions, regardless of their desire to attain such positions. These results concur with prior research, which suggests that individuals who see themselves as fitting into certain positions will engage in behaviors associated with attaining those positions (Chartrand & Walsk, 1999; Tharenou, 1997 b).

Environmental Factors as Determinants of Senior Management Aspirations Because evidence suggests that environmental factors from both the work and non-work domains influence career aspirations (Holland, 1985) it was expected that occupational self-congruence would interact with factors from the non-work domain to influence one’s desire to become a senior manager. In turn, one’s desire to attain a position in senior management was expected to interact with work-related factors to influence an individual’s intention to pursue positions in senior management. Contrary to expectations, the strength of the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations was not moderated by non-work commitments. It is possible that the

142 lack of interaction effects between congruence and desired aspirations is attributable to social desirability bias. Specifically, in a sample of managers and professionals, it is possible that managers or senior management aspirants will not admit the existence of significant household/family or other off-job activities that they perceive could interfere with their career goals, particularly if they felt that they would fit well within the ranks of senior management. Unexpectedly, neither advancement prospects nor career support enhanced the relationship between desired and enacted aspirations. The lack of interaction effects between desired aspirations and the environmental variables suggests that when individuals believe they can attain a position in senior management, they will pursue it, despite low desires. Specifically, the data seem to suggest that the desire to attain a position in senior management exists irrespective of perceived opportunities and support by significant others. The data in this study supports the idea that desire alone is enough to spur individuals to engage in enacted aspirations. In addition to desired aspirations, work-related factors also influenced enacted aspirations directly. Objective advancement prospects, measured as career plateau, which indicates the end of increases in promotions or responsibility, influenced enacted aspirations. This finding may suggest that individuals who are not plateaued will engage in behaviors that they believe will lead them to senior management positions. Alternatively, it might mean that individuals who engage in career enhancing strategies do not become career plateaued. Finally, it may suggest that the career enhancing strategies encapsulated within the enacted aspirations measure are not specific to senior management aspirants. The findings in this study support prior research that non-plateaued employees tend to

143 use career strategies like networking, seeking-guidance and self-nomination significantly more than plateaued employees (Gould & Penley, 1984). Career-support, both at work and at home, was positively related to enacted aspirations in this study. Prior research suggests that supervisor support has a positive effect on career development (Jiang & Klein, 2000), and that it is a key factor in influencing managers’ motivation to take risks and make change (Spreitzer & Quinn, 1996). Thus supervisors seem to encourage individuals to engage in career enhancing strategies. Additionally, career support at home is positively related to coaching opportunities and developmental assignments (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). The main effects of objective advancement prospects and career support on enacted aspirations indicates that not being plateaued, and having support at work or at home regarding career aspirations, respectively, influences an individual’s intentions to pursue a position in senior management. In general, the model of senior management aspirations in this study encapsulates the attitudes and intentions that individuals hold regarding their careers in the context of senior management positions. The following discussion focuses on the attitudes, intentions and associated behaviors that characterize individuals for whom career decisions regarding senior management are salient.

Attitudes, Intentions and Behaviors in Senior Management Aspirations Research suggests that attitudes are general predispositions that lead to a set of specific intentions that indicate a certain amount of affect toward the object in question (Pinder, 1998). Each of these intentions is related to a specific behavior (Ajzen &

144 Fishbein, 1980; Pinder, 1998). Attitudes affect behavior only to the extent that they influence a person's intentions to act (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). In this research, the influence of desired aspirations on enacted aspirations was evident and supportive of prior research that suggests that attitudes inform intentions that are in turn, associated with behaviors (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Pinder, 1998). The model of senior management aspirations indicates that an individual’s attitudes (desired aspirations) leads to a set of behaviors (enacted aspirations) through which intentions are assumed. There is an element of expectancy in the relationship between attitudes and intentions. Once attitudes have been formed, an individual’s feelings concerning the act being considered (perceived consequences of the act) will influence the intention to act (Pinder, 1998). In other words, a perception of attainability (or “can”) must be present for an individual to engage in a behavior. In this study, advancement prospects and career support were thought to represent that “can” aspect of an individual’s perception that would interact with their desire to become a senior manager such that their intentions (i.e. engaging in enacted aspirations) would become evident. The findings indicated that the influence of those environmental variables were associated with intentions but not with the relationship between attitudes and intentions. It may be that when individuals believe that a goal is attainable, and/or when they are being encouraged to pursue the goal, whether or not they have a strong desire (attitude) to attain the goal, they feel an obligation to pursue it. Consider the following examples. An individual may not be particularly attracted to the responsibilities

145 associated with a senior management job. However, because the prospect of advancing is associated with a high salary, he or she may feel obligated to pursue such a position, given his or her financial responsibilities. Similarly, an individual may have no internal desire to be promoted to a position in senior management. Yet encouragement from a supervisor, to the extent that the supervisor is extending opportunities to the individual, may present the individual with a sense of obligation or duty to pursue the opportunities presented. With respect to the environmental factors in the model, the presence of main effects, but not moderating effects, speaks to the distinction between attitudes and intentions, such that certain factors may influence intentions or attitudes but not the relationship between them. These findings provide support for the conceptualization of senior management aspirations offered in this study, the idea that desired and enacted aspirations are related, although conceptually distinct constructs. The Role of Gender This research confirmed findings of earlier studies that women are less likely than men to aspire to senior management positions (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000; Greenhaus et al., 1997). The indirect relationship between gender and desired aspirations through congruence indicates that women were less likely than men to see themselves in terms that were congruent with senior management positions. The perceived lack of fit might explain why women have traditionally held lower aspirations to advance in the management hierarchy (Greenhaus et al., 1997; Parasuraman & Greenhaus, 1992) than men.

146 The direct effect of gender on enacted aspirations favors women. The indirect of effect of gender on enacted aspirations, through congruence and desired aspirations, favors men. In essence, the differential effects of gender on enacted aspirations negate each other. What the findings suggest however is that beyond the effects of congruence and desired aspirations, women enact aspirations more often than men. Perhaps women feel they have to work twice as hard to gain recognition and therefore are more likely to engage in career enhancing strategies. Women were not more likely to be career plateaued than men, although they did perceive less extensive subjective advancement prospects than men. These findings are interesting in light of prior research which has stipulated that women may perceive fewer opportunities for advancement than men due to the glass ceiling phenomenon (Powell, 1999) or other organizational biases (McKeen, 1992; Powell, 1999). If the women in this sample are not plateaued but still perceive fewer advancement prospects than men, it may still be due to a glass ceiling effect. The career plateau measure employed in this study assessed structural career plateau, which is defined as the end of promotions (Feldman & Weitz, 1988). Individuals can be content plateaued, which is defined as the end of expected increases in responsibility associated with the current job (Bardwick, 1986; Feldman & Weitz, 1988; Ference et al., 1977). Content plateaued individuals may still perceive the existence of a glass ceiling, because a lack of additional responsibilities may send signals that there are no opportunities for growth and advancement. There are other cues that an organization provides that may indicate to women that the chances for advancement are not good. For example, women have reported that

147 traditional male hierarchies may negatively affect opportunities for advancement in management (Tharenou & Conroy, 1994; Tharenou et al., 1994). In this study, women who reported a low percentage of senior women managers in proportion to the total number of senior managers in their organizations, held lower enacted aspirations than men. Women did not perceive less extensive career support than men. These findings are counter to research which suggests that the types and amounts of career support both on and off the job, differ for men and women (Greenhaus et al., 2000; King et al., 1995; Konrad & Cannings, 1997; Powell & Mainiero, 1992). In terms of career support in the non-work domain, the lack of a gender difference may be attributed to diminishing gender role stereotypes (Lobel & St. Clair, 1992). In this study, the gaps between the amounts and types of support both on and off the job for men and women appeared to be negligible.

Dominant Concepts in Career Development and Decision-Making This study informs contemporary concepts in the career development and decision-making making literature. First, the boundaryless career (Arthur, 1994; Arthur & Rousseau, 1996) denotes an independence from traditional principles such as formal hierarchical progression in an organization as a means of defining career success. The idea that careers are “boundaryless” suggests that the knowledge, skills and experiences individuals collect as they progress through various jobs may provide intrinsic rewards and a sense of satisfaction and success. This is contrasted to the traditional notion that hierarchical advancement by its very existence defines career success.

148 The individuals in this study who reported congruence also engaged in career enhancing strategies, even if they had no desire to attain positions in senior management. This may mean that broadening one’s knowledge base and networking are viewed by these individuals as ends in themselves, rather than as the means to attain higher positions. In other words, the processes and experiences gained through the enacted aspirations were still meaningful to those individuals who saw themselves in terms of senior management positions, even though they had no desire to become senior managers. Second, the concept of congruence as it relates to the model of senior management aspirations acknowledges the crucial link between the occupational selfconcept, desires, and the active pursuit of those desires. The idea that individuals who see themselves in terms that are congruent with positions in senior management are desirous of such positions and ultimately intend to pursue them, is reminiscent of Levinson’s (1977) Dream concept. The Dream is conceptualized as “an imagined possibility of self-in-world, a vision of the adult self living the good life. It is a soil in which joyful hopes can flower, but it also nourishes illusive beliefs: that I am capable of accomplishing everything the Dream envisages that certain others will unequivocally support my efforts, that fulfilling the Dream will bring me true happiness” (Levinson, 1977)(p. 108). Finally, individuals can be differentiated on the basis of their life-role priorities (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000). Since involvement in the non-work domain had virtually no influence in the model of senior management aspirations, it may be that the individuals in the sample were career-focused (Friedman & Greenhaus, 2000), or more

149 oriented toward work than to any other aspect of their lives. Exploratory analyses revealed that both the men and women in this study were more highly involved in their jobs than in the off-job activities accounted for in this study. This is especially interesting since women have traditionally been more highly involved in non-work activities than men, although in this study, there were no discernible differences between men and women.

Theoretical Contributions of the Study The present study has contributed to the literature in career development and decision-making in a number of ways. First, this study provides evidence of links between congruence, desired aspirations, and enacted aspirations and acknowledges these components in the career decision-making process. The findings in this study are consistent with the notion of matching, present in many models of career decision making (Holland, 1985; Schein, 1978, 1993, 1996; Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996; Vroom, 1964). The congruence or matching concept, suggests that individuals evaluate their skills, abilities, talents, likes and dislikes in the context of an occupational environment. Individuals seek careers in which they perceive a high degree of fit (Holland, 1985; Schein, 1978, 1993, 1996; Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996; Vroom, 1964). In terms of career decision-making, the better the fit between a job and the individual, the higher the levels of motivation, satisfaction and commitment (Holland, 1985; Schein, 1978, 1993, 1996; Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996; Vroom, 1964), thus the better the decision. The data in this study reveals that individuals who perceive a high

150 degree of fit between themselves and a position in senior management also exhibit the desire to pursue and attain such positions. Second, this study investigates senior management aspirations using a sample of individuals with managerial and professional experience. Therefore, this study garners an understanding of the senior management aspirations of those individuals for whom this career decision may be most salient. Third, this study found that both work and non-work factors were related to enacted aspirations. Prior studies have looked at the impact of work factors on management aspirations (Rynes et al., 1988), and in some cases, have correlated personality variables with aspirations (i.e. ambition or motivation to manage) (Van Vianen, 1999; Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996) but very few have looked at work and nonwork factors and their impacts on senior management aspirations. Fourth, this study refines an earlier conceptualization and measure of senior management aspirations offered by Tharenou and Terry (1998). The desired and enacted aspirations measures displayed strong construct validity and reliability in this sample and promise to be valuable tools for use in future studies of senior management aspirations. Fifth, two new measures, senior management schema and senior management self-assessment, were developed for use in this research. Both measures of facet fit, derived from the senior management literature and deemed reliable in this sample, include competencies and rewards that are characteristic of positions in senior management. The expectation was that analyzed together, these measures would assess congruence, such that each component would contribute equally to the variance in desired aspirations. Senior management schema, which measured individuals’

151 perceptions of the responsibilities and rewards associated with a senior management position, was not related to desired aspirations. Although the items were derived from the literature, it is possible that individuals associated the senior management schema items with the senior managers in their organizations and felt that the items were not descriptive or accurate. Conversely, the senior management self-assessment measure was related to desired aspirations. Because the knowledge, skills, abilities, and rewards that comprised the self-assessment measure were taken from the literature as components of senior management positions, it is possible that agreement with the measure items implies high fit. Thus, the senior management self-assessment measure alone, may have tapped occupational-self congruence. Agreement with the measure suggests that people agree that they possess certain characteristics and are attracted to or motivated by certain types of rewards. Practical Implications of the Study This research on senior management aspirations has several practical implications. The strategic nature of the human resources function requires that organizations identify the individuals who are the most likely candidates for career progression. A rich understanding of the in-house talent pool aids in the effort to gauge the long-term leadership needs of the organization. The taxonomy of senior management job characteristics acknowledged in this study can help to identify the human capital assets contained within the firm, as well as to further hone those skills and competencies which the firm wishes to capitalize upon to help achieve its long-term goals. Development of valid and reliable selection processes

152 and performance management systems can be influenced through the inclusion of the taxonomy of senior management job characteristics. It is important for organizations to understand the perceptions that their employees have about the advancement prospects and career support in the firm. Individuals who have not reached career plateaus are likely to engage in career enhancing strategies, as are those who receive career support at work. An understanding of employee perceptions and aspirations can aid in the design of career development programs. This research suggests that individuals, who aspire to positions in senior management, need to have appropriate signals from the organization regarding their longterm career needs. Given that women in this study perceived fewer prospects for advancement than their male counterparts, organizations should determine the reasons why women employees believe their chances for promotion are limited. It is important for organizations to understand that both women and men have senior management aspirations but that women are less likely to see themselves in terms that are congruent with senior management positions. In an effort to provide equal access to senior positions for women, organizations must evaluate their current systems to determine what barriers may exist that are influencing the perceptions of their female managers.

Limitations of the Research There are several methodological issues in this study. First, the cross-sectional, correlational research design, despite certain benefits, does not permit causal inferences (Judd et al., 1991). The results of the cross-sectional research indicate the presence of

153 concurrent relationships, and although directionality is grounded in theory, the actual temporal nature of the relationships depicted may only be assessed using a longitudinal research design. Second, the use of a sample of graduate students and managers enrolled in continuing education programs at one university could limit the generalizability of the findings. Finally, the data for this study were collected using a survey, which adds to the potential of common method variance, which means that correlations among variables could have been artificially inflated or otherwise affected by some type of systematic bias of the respondents. Following Konrad and Linnehan (1995), a factor analysis was employed to test for the possible effects of common method variance. All model variables and pertinent demographic variables including age, marital status, race, spouse’s employment status, number of hours per week spouse works, presence of children, organization tenure, number of subordinates, salary, and spouses’s salary were entered into the analysis. The factor analysis extracted four components with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. The four factors accounted for 62% of the variance among the 11 study variables, and the first factor accounted for 28.5% of the variance. Since multiple factors emerged and the first factor accounted for less than half of the variance, common method variance does not appear to be present. Since self-report questionnaires have the potential for allowing response bias to affect the results, a combination of data gathering methods may be considered in the future. The next section offers a discussion of how the knowledge gained in this research can enhance future research in the career development and decision-making area.

154 Directions for Future Research in this Area The findings from this research have opened some areas for future investigation by researchers interested in the career decisions and development of senior managers. Occupational-self congruence seems to drive individuals’ senior management aspirations. The strongest support found was that individuals with high congruence had strong desires to attain positions in senior management and that those desires positively influenced intentions to pursue such positions. Outside factors were by and large not as instrumental in influencing desires or intentions to pursue senior management positions as expected. What this means is that occupational-self congruence plays a primary role in career aspirations, and that external factors are of secondary importance, if at all important in the career decisions of prospective senior managers. Since occupational-self congruence emerged as instrumental in aspirations to senior management, for both men and women, the factors that influence congruence are the next logical area of study. What are the correlates of occupational-self congruence? This study uncovered the role that gender plays, indicating that women were less likely to see themselves in terms that were congruent with senior management positions than men. Future research may investigate why women have lower occupational-self congruence in terms of senior management jobs. A predominantly male hierarchy has negatively influenced women’s advancement to senior management positions (Tharenou, 2001). Perhaps the lack of women in senior management positions has also negatively impacted the perceived fit women feel they have with senior management positions. As mentioned previously, the women in this sample who reported a small number of women senior managers in

155 comparison to total senior management hierarchy in their organizations tended to report lower enacted aspirations than men. Aside from gender, prior research suggests that career orientation may be one factor that influences occupational-self congruence. Career orientation is based upon Schein’s (1978) notion of career anchor. The career anchor is a pattern of self-perceived talents, motives, and values, which functions as a way of organizing experience. An individual’s career anchor serves to guide, constrain, stabilize, and integrate his or her career. The career anchor is that one element in a person's self-concept that he or she will not give up, even in the face of difficult choices (Schein, 1993). Igbaria, Greenhaus, and Parasuraman (1991) found that employees whose career orientations were compatible with their job setting reported high job satisfaction, high career satisfaction, strong commitment to their organization, and low intentions to leave their organization. Furthermore, research suggests that a managerial career orientation is related to the pursuit of management education (Steiner & Farr, 1986) and that the identification and understanding of career orientation may positively influence career development and planning on the part of organizations (Bray et al., 1979; Bray & Howard, 1983; Crepeau, Crook, Goslar, & McMurtrey, 1992; Crook et al., 1991). Exploratory analyses revealed that managerial career anchor was positively related to global and facet congruence (both senior management schema and senior management self-assessment), desired aspirations and enacted aspirations. Future research can investigate the role that one’s career orientation, conceptualized as an internal force, plays in the development of one’s occupational-self concept.

156 Finally, the role of self-esteem can be explored with regard to the impact it may have on the differences in occupational-self congruence regarding senior management positions. Self-esteem has been cited as influential in work-related aspirations regarding the types of careers and jobs people enter (Korman, 1976; Pinder, 1998) and for its impact on the relationship between self-perceived abilities and the abilities required in the chosen occupation (Greenhaus, 1971). The role of gender as it relates to desired aspirations may be explored in future research. Evidence suggests that individual difference variables are related to management aspirations (Martin et al., 1987; Van Vianen & Keizer, 1996) Perhaps individual differences also account for the gender discrepancies in desired aspirations. For example, (Martin et al., 1987) found that respondents with feminist sex-role ideologies were more likely than women who held traditional sex-role ideologies to aspire to management positions. Tharenou (2001) suggested that masculinity, an instrumental orientation focused on getting a job done or problem solved (p. 1005) was consistently related to perceptions of leadership. Thus, traits such as sex-role ideology may influence women’s desires to pursue positions in senior management. Future research may seek a deeper understanding of the role external factors play in career decisions regarding positions in senior management. In this study, psychological involvement in community activities positively impacted the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. Without overstating the importance of this finding, it is interesting to note that it is perhaps contacts outside of work that individuals with high congruence seek, which fuel their desires and perhaps intentions to pursue positions in senior management. Regarding the importance of networking, social capital

157 theory (Burt, 1992) may provide a clear rationale for the inclusion of additional factors that may be related to senior management aspirations. Tharenou (1997 b) found that informal social networks were instrumental in the advancement from middle to upper management. In future studies, benefits derived from social capital networks, such as information and influence (DeCarolis, 2002), may be examined as potential moderators of the relationship between congruence and desired aspirations. The findings in this study revealed that desires play a role in aspirations, but even when desires are not considered, individuals who perceive a fit between themselves and positions in senior management are still likely to engage in behaviors associated with attaining positions in senior management. Although not related to desired aspirations in this study, objective advancement prospects and career support at work were both related to enacted aspirations. It is therefore possible that other work-related variables would also influence intentions to pursue senior management and perhaps be related to desires as well. For example, Tharenou (1997 a; 1997 b) found that opportunities for training and development and work experience were key factors in the advancement of men and women to positions in management. Future studies may include an exploration of the nature and types of work experiences, as well as the training and development experiences in which individuals have participated, to understand potential links to senior management aspirations. There are a number of studies that capture the factors that influence managerial advancement (Tharenou, 1997 a, 1997 b; Tharenou & Conroy, 1994; Tharenou et al., 1994) and how they are potentially different for women and men. We know that women

158 perceive lower opportunities for advancement, due to a variety of reasons such as the existence of a glass ceiling (Powell, 1999) differential opportunity structures (Markham et al., 1987), gender bias (Konrad & Cannings, 1997) and male hierarchies (Tharenou et al., 1994). Although in this study, advancement prospects did not affect women’s senior management aspirations, future studies should capture the potential detrimental effects that organizational systems may have on the senior management aspirations of women and men. The findings of this study have contributed to our overall understanding of senior management aspirations. The enormous possibilities of future exploration within the area of senior management aspirations offer a great deal of promise in terms of further advancement of the career development and decision-making literature.

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Authors

Aspirations Type

171

Aspirations Measure

Experimental Design

Research Design

Aspirations Treatment

Single item

Sex-role ideology i.e. respondents with feminist role ideology held management aspirations.

Cross-sec, Survey

Correlates + or (-)

DV

Single item

Career anchors, Career management strategies

DV

DV

3 items

Case Study Semi-structured interviews

Table 1 - Empirical Studies of Managerial Aspirations Sample

Managerial Aspirations

Sales Manager Aspirations

Engineering students and alumni

Female secretaries

Rynes, Tolbert & Strausser, 1988

Sr. Manager or CEO Aspirations

Martin, Price, Bies & Powers, 1987

Sloan, 1993

30 Women managers

(Difference between Perceived leadership styles of top managers and their own leadership styles)

Table 1 (continued)

122 White male salespeople

Sample

Stout, Slocum & Cron, 1988

Authors

Van Vianen, 1996

Van Vianen, 1999

Study 1 = 621 Men & women Study 2 = 461 Men & Women Study 1 = 485 Men & women Study 2 = 312 Men & Women Study 3 = 241 Men & Women

Aspirations Measure

(Organizational plateau)

Correlates + or (-)

Aspirations Treatment 2 items

Aspirations Type DV

172

Research Design

Cross-sec, Survey

Promotional Aspirations

Cross-sec, Survey

6 items

Cross-sec, Survey

DV

5 items

Intention to assume a Managerial Job

DV

Perceived self-efficacy, Outcome expectancies x Valence, Subjective Norms x Valence, Gender
Perceived self efficacy

Ambition for a Managerial Position

Managerial self-efficacy, Outcome expectancies x Valence, Work-role salience; Outcome expectancies
Mgrl. Self-efficacy
Ambition

Table 2 - Expectancy Theory as a Framework for Present Study

Valence of Second-Level Outcomes (V2)

Instrumentality (I)

Schema-Self Congruence

Senior Management Self-Assessment

Senior Management Schema

Variable in Present Study

I x V2

Desired Aspirations

Expectancy Theory Variable

Valence of First-Level Outcome (V1)

Expectancy (E)

Enacted Aspirations

Advancement Prospects Career Support

Off-Job Involvement∗

Behavior (B)

Gender∗∗

________________________________________________________________________

173

∗ Off-job involvement as used in the present study does not have a conceptual equivalent in a model of expectancy. ∗∗ Gender does not have a conceptual equivalent in a model of expectancy. In the present study, the moderating role of gender will be discussed with the model of senior management aspirations introduced in Chapter Three.

174 Table 3 - Summary of Hypotheses

H1:

There is a positive relationship between an individual’s congruence and desired aspirations.

H2:

The positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement than for individuals with extensive off-job involvement.

H3:

There is a positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations.

H4:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive advancement prospects than for individuals who perceive limited advancement prospects.

H5:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive career support than for individuals who perceive limited career support.

H6a:

The positive relationship between congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for men than for women.

H6b: Women experience more extensive off-job involvement than men. H6c:

The moderating effect of gender between congruence and desired aspirations disappears when controlling for off-job involvement.

H6d:

The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for men than for women.

H6e:

Women perceive less extensive advancement prospects than men.

H6f:

The moderating effect of gender between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations disappears when controlling for advancement prospects.

H6g:

Women perceive less extensive career support than men.

H6h: The moderating effect of gender between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations disappears when controlling for career support.

175 Table 4 - Demographic Summary Variable

N

Mean

Age Job Tenure Organization Tenure

354 339 346

38.12 2.85 6.73

Variable Children Highest Level Achieved

No Yes

Standard Deviation 8.326 2.851 6.284

Range 22-63 0-20 0-36

Frequency Percent 149 47 168 53

High School Some College Associates/Technical Bachelor's Degree Master's Degree Professional Degree (Law, MD) Ph.D.

2 20 21 192 101 3 10

0.6 5.7 6 55 28.9 0.9 2.9

Functional Area

Accounting Finance Human Resources Information Systems Legal Marketing Research and Development Sales Other

9 19 21 77 2 35 25 25 123

2.7 5.7 6.3 22.9 0.6 10.4 7.4 7.4 36.6

Gender

Male Female

189 163

53.7 46.3

Industry

Accounting Consulting Financial/Insurance Manufacturing Pharmaceuticals Public Administration Retail/Hospitality Services (health, legal) Telecommunications Transportation/Utilities Other

3 27 40 41 43 8 10 20 13 10 114

0.9 8.2 12.2 12.5 13.1 2.4 3 6.1 4 3 34.7

176 Table 4 (continued) Job Level

Supervisor First-line Manager Middle Manager Senior Manager Top Manager

31 53 132 28 1

8.4 14.4 35.8 7.6 .27

Marital Status

Not married/not living with partner Married/living with partner

85 263

24.4 75.6

Organization Size

Under 100 employees 100-999 employees 1,000-4,999 employees 5,000-9,999 employees 10,000 or more employees

67 77 62 26 81

21.4 24.6 19.8 8.3 25.9

Race

African American Asian Caucasian Hispanic Native American Other

7 17 317 2 2 7

2 4.8 90.1 0.6 0.6 2

Salary

24,999 - or less 25,000 - 49,999 50,000 - 74,999 75,000 - 99,999 100,000 - 124,999 125,000 - 149,999 150,000+

4 51 115 87 41 25 16

1.2 15 33.9 25.7 12.1 7.4 4.7

Item Label

.52 -.20 -.12 -.26 .19

.69 .67 .67 .67 .67 .65 .64 .61 .57 .55

.79 .75 .72 .72

Factor 1

2.82 15%

.26 .84 .80 .75 .67

-.01 -.12 -.01 -.31 -.15 -.12 -.17 .27 .01 -.23

-.18 -.13 -.17 -.01

Extrinsic Rewards Factor2

Competencies

6.74 35%

Table 5 – Rotated Factor Structure of Senior Management Schema Scale

Pull people together around a common goal Inspire commitment in people Clearly demonstrate commitment in ensuring an organization’s success Persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism, when they believe in what they are doing Articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization Have knowledge of the various parts of organization and how they fit together Problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty Communicate openly and candidly with others Identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue Try new things, even when there is some risk involved Integrate and manage the efforts of others Make decisions that have far reaching implications for their organizations Are accountable for actions implemented by others Work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures Exercise power without feeling uncomfortable Measure career success by the amount of income they earn Equate status and prestige with rank and job title Measure their status by the number of subordinates they have Are rewarded with bonuses such as incentive compensation, for meeting organizational targets Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 356

177

.49 -.13 -.01 .01 .11

.57 .52 .49

Factor 1 .75 .69 .69 .68 .66 .65 .65 .64 .63 .63 .62

2.35 12%

.31 .80 .78 .70 .61

-.19 -.01 .78

Extrinsic Rewards Factor2 .01 .13 .01 .11 .13 .15 -.01 -.01 -.01 -.01 .00

Competencies

5.94 31%

Table 6 - Rotated Factor Structure of Senior Management Self-Assessment Scale

Item Label Inspire commitment in people Integrate and manage the efforts of others Make decisions that have far reaching implications for an organization Articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization Exercise power without feeling uncomfortable Clearly demonstrate commitment in ensuring an organization success Problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty Pull people together around a common goal Try new things, even when there is some risk involved Identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue Persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism, when I believe in what I am doing Learn about the various of parts of organization and how they fit together Communicate openly and candidly with others Work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures Feel comfortable being held accountable for actions implemented by others Measure career success by the amount of income I earn Equate status and prestige with rank and job title Measure status by the number of subordinates I have Value being rewarded with bonuses, such as stock options, for meeting organizational targets Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 348

178

The requirements of a position in senior management match my talents and skills. A position in senior management would be a good fit for me. My personality fits in well with the requirements of a senior management position I have what it takes to be an effective senior manager I would enjoy doing the things senior managers do I would fit in well with other senior managers in an organization

Item Label

4.60 76%

.91 .90 .88 .86 .86 .83

Factor 1

Table 7 - Factor Structure of the Global Congruence Scale

Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 360

179

.14 .93 .92

-.01 .11 -.01

Factor 2

.85 .77 .63 .11 .16 -.11

.01 .01 .01

.00 .16 .18

1.60 13%

.01 -.01 .23 .79 .69 .48

-.01 .01 .14

.01 .33 .26

House Recreational Chores Activities Factor 3 Factor 4

Table 8 – Rotated Factor Structure of Subjective Off Job Involvement Scale

-.01 -.01 .20 -.01 -.01 .26

1.80 15%

Child Care

1.90 16%

Community Activities Factor 1

Religious activities .81 Community activities .78 Civic and/or political .70 activities Enhancing your education .43 Taking care of your children .17 Your children’s sports .15 activities Household chores .11 Household maintenance .20 Shopping for family -.01 Leisure and hobby pursuits -.01 Organized social activities .38 Your sports activities .30

Item Label

2.30 19%

Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 320

180

Item Label

2.50 41%

.01

.21

.17

.81

.93

.94

Present Organization Factor 1

2.40 41%

.82

.91

.93

.01

.19

.18

Different Organization Factor 2

Table 9 – Rotated Factor Structure of Subjective Advancement Prospects Scale

In a different organization: I am likely to obtain a senior management position I expect to obtain a senior management position My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited In my present organization: I am likely to obtain a senior management position I expect to obtain a senior management position My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 362

181

Takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations Would like to see me achieve my career goals Gives me helpful advice on improving my performance, when I need it Makes sure I get the credit when I accomplish something substantial on the job Gives helpful feedback about my job performance Keeps me informed about different career opportunities for me in the organization Provides assignments that give me the opportunity to develop and strengthen new skills Supports my attempts to acquire additional training or education to further my career Assigns me special projects that increase my visibility in the organization

Item Label

5.60 62%

.85 .84 .80 .80 .79 .78 .76 .75 .74

Factor 1

Table 10 - Factor Structure of the Career Support Work Domain Scale

Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 360

182

Enjoys hearing about my achievements at work Takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations Is happy for me when I am successful at work Would like to see me achieve my career goals Doesn’t really care what job I have as long as I am making money Does not seem very interested in hearing about my work day Often provides a different way of looking at my work-related problems Can be counted on to take care of everything at home if I have to work late or have to go out-of-town for my job

Item Label

4.40 55%

.86 .83 .81 .80 .73 .68 .62 .56

Factor 1

Table 11 - Factor Structure of the Career Support Non-Work Domain Scale

Eigenvalue Variance Explained

Note: N = 337

183

Item Label

Table 12 - Factor Structure of the Desired Aspirations Scale

I do not wish to advance to a position of more responsibility (reversed) I have no desire to advance to a position in senior management (reversed) A promotion to a senior management position means more worries and should be avoided for that reason (reversed) I would like to be in a position in which I could develop, manage and coordinate the policies and activities of a substantially large part of the organization I would like to advance to a position where I can have a greater influence on policy decisions It would not bother me if my responsibilities and job duties remained the same in the future (reversed) Eigenvalue Variance Explained Note: N = 352

Factor 1

.81 .81 .76

.76

.71

.69

3.40 57%

184

Item Label

.43

.75 .73 .71 .70 .69 .67 .66

Factor 1

Table 13 - Factor Structure of the Enacted Aspirations Scale

I have asked to work on challenging assignments I have participated in networking opportunities within my organization I have sought out assignments that enable me to strengthen leadership skills I have improved critical thinking skills by asking to work on complex problems I have demonstrated to a senior person in my organization my willingness to take risks I have updated my skills in order to be more competitive for a promotion I have sought opportunities to gain knowledge of a variety of functional areas in my organization I have engaged in career planning activities I have participated in networking opportunities outside my organization I have worked long hours I have expressed my opinions when I know they are aligned with an individual in a key senior position I have sought opportunities to work with individuals from other cultures

5.00 41%

.65 .64 .54 .47

Eigenvalue Variance Explained

Note: N = 342

185

35% 15%

0.84 0.91 0.79

186

6.74 2.82

0.86 0.89 0.72

Table 14 - Summary of Factor Analyses and Reliability Analyses

15 4

31% 12%

0.95

Global Congruence Subjective Off Job Involvement

360

6

12

6

4

1

9

6

12

6

9

1

320

362

360

% No. Variance Factor Items/Factor Eigenvalues Explained Alpha Alpha

Final Number Original # of Variable N # items items Factors Factor Names Model Variables Senior Management Schema 356 23 19 2 Competencies Extrinsic Rewards

5.94 2.35

76%

0.77 0.70 0.90 0.64 0.50

Subjective Advancement Prospects

2

15 4

4.60

19% 16% 15% 13%

0.82 0.88 0.89

19

6

2.30 1.90 1.80 1.60

41% 41%

0.92

23

Competencies Extrinsic Rewards

4 2 3 3

2.50 2.40

62%

348

Community Activities Child Care House Chores Recreational Activities

3 3

5.60

Senior Management SelfAssessment

2

Present Organization Different Organization

9

Career Support Work Domain

Desired Aspirations

Career Support Non-Work Domain

342

352

337

12

6

8

12

6

8

1

1

1

12

6

8

5.00

3.40

4.40

41%

57%

55%

0.87

0.85

0.88

Table 14 continued

Enacted Aspirations

187

Age Gender (Female) Marital Status (Married) Race (White) Spouse Work (Yes) Children (Yes) Highest Level of Education Org. Tenure Organization Size Number of Subordinates Salary Spouse Salary Schema Self-Assessment Global Congruence Objective OJI Subjective OJI Plateau (Not Plateaued) Subjective AP Career Support Work Career Support Non-Work Desired Aspirations Enacted Aspirations

38.1 8.3

.018 .084 .055 -.12 .491*** .042 .374*** -.023 .124* .260*** -.06 .023 -.042 -.076 .098 .130* -.167** -.213*** -.069 -.102 -.225*** -.151**

1

-------

-.223*** .041 .321*** -.234*** -.129** .017 -.145** -.137* -.203*** .334*** .042 -.119* -.170*** -.031 -.084 -.067 -.152** .027 -.007 -.226*** .027

2

-------

.083 -.081 .292*** .014 -.004 .085 .092 .155** .035 -.053 .141** .127* .146** .123* .029 .134* -.025 .222*** .092 .092

3

-------

-.026 .031 -.223*** .048 -.191*** .059 .016 -.012 -.019 .019 .011 -.01 -.06 -.077 .015 .056 -.068 -.04 -.037

4

-------

-.307*** -.145* -.059 -.064 -.03 -.169** .278*** -.019 -.041 -.130* -.074 -.117 .064 -.049 .029 .004 -.112 .021

5

-------

-.003 .171** .155** .103 .314*** -.252*** .002 .098 .05 .374*** .449*** -.049 -.014 -.034 -.082 .00 -.016

6

4.2 .94

-.108* .133* -.049 .316*** .104 .044 .044 .163** -.087 .033 .091 .127* -.022 .064 .119* .119*

7

6.7 6.3

.136* .210*** .142** -.052 -.002 -.009 -.064 .037 .09 -.288*** -.114* -.021 -.042 -.132* -.174***

8

Table 15 - Descriptive Statistics1, Reliabilities2 and Intercorrelations3 among Demographic and Study Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Mean Standard Deviation

________________________________________________________________________ 1 Means and standard deviations below the correlation matrix. 2 Coefficient alpha above the diagonal in parentheses. ***p < .001, ** p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10 3

188

Table 15 (continued) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Age Gender (Female) Marital Status (Married) Race (White) Spouse Work (Yes) Children (Yes) Highest Level of Education Org. Tenure Organization Size Number of Subordinates Salary Spouse Salary Schema Self-Assessment Global Congruence Objective OJI Subjective OJI Plateau (Not Plateaued) Subjective AP Career Support Work Career Support Non-Work Desired Aspirations Enacted Aspirations Mean Standard Deviation

14

15

11

13

10

.098 .115* .175*** .127* -.026 .073 -.022 .186*** .073 .086 .091 .128*

12

9

.188*** -.108 -.055 .204*** .255*** -.051 -.01 .066 .183*** -.023 -.042 .184*** .108*

.151* .00 -.029 -.061 -.187** -.093 -.044 .019 .162* -.045 .044

.181*** .207*** -.04 .052 .144* .082 .10 .112* .11 .004 .089 -.01 .066 .197***

2.9 1.4

(.95) .074 .066 .077 .561*** .046 .145** .659*** .439*** 3.7 .80 3.7 1.4

(.86) .502*** .045 .084 .084 .348*** .059 .101 .432*** .493*** 3.6 .46 2.6 1.4

(.84) .210*** .148** -.09 .063 -.043 .104* .323*** .1 .106* .164** 3.7 .47 2.9 1.5

16

.390*** -.035 .075 -.026 -.087 .01 .09 47 29

189

Table 15 (continued) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Age Gender (Female) Marital Status (Married) Race (White) Spouse Work (Yes) Children (Yes) Highest Level of Education Org. Tenure Organization Size Number of Subordinates Salary Spouse Salary Schema Self-Assessment Global Congruence Objective OJI Subjective OJI Plateau (Not Plateaued) Subjective AP Career Support Work Career Support Non-Work Desired Aspirations Enacted Aspirations Mean Standard Deviation

17

.116* -.043 .095 .099 .151** -------

18

(.82) .169*** (.92) .144** .110* .448*** .072 .326*** .171*** 3.1 3.4 .83 .88

19

(.88) .188*** .182*** 3.9 .68

21

(.85) .462*** 3.8 .77

22

(.87) 3.5 .67

23

20

(.77) -.041 .043 -.001 -.009 -.007 .008 2.6 .61

190

191

Table 16 - Moderating Effect of Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations (Hypotheses 1 and 2) Model Variable t Sig. β 1 (Constant) .185 .853 Age -.204*** -3.593 .000 Marital Status .113* 2.007 .046 Education .153** 2.706 .007 1 HR Function .051 .909 .364 Legal Function -.007 -.120 .905 R2=.073*** ∆R2=.073*** 2 (Constant) -.183 .855 Age -.177*** -4.264 .000 Marital Status .021 .496 .620 Education .045 1.081 .281 HR Function .000 .006 .995 Legal Function -.057 -1.375 .170 Global Congruence .676*** 16.010 .000 2= 2= R .505*** ∆R .433*** 3 (Constant) -.157 .875 Age -.169*** -4.032 .000 Marital Status .028 .656 .513 Education .041 .973 .331 HR Function .004 .099 .922 Legal Function -.059 -1.424 .155 Global Congruence .682*** 16.057 .000 Objective OJI2 -.037 -.813 .417 Subjective OJI -.033 -.728 .467 R2=.508*** ∆R2=.003 n.s. 4 (Constant) -.179 .858 Age -.165*** -3.981 .000 Marital Status .017 .398 .691 Education .035 .838 .403 HR Function .003 .072 .943 Legal Function -.061 -1.475 .141 Global Congruence .675*** 15.995 .000 Objective OJI -.033 -.731 .465 Subjective OJI -.032 -.714 .476 Global Congruence * Objective OJI -.091* -2.071 .039 Global Congruence * Subjective OJI .114** 2.550 .011 R2=.522*** ∆R2=.013* ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10 ________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources Off-Job Involvement, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited

192 Table 17 - Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypotheses 3 and 4) Model Variables t Sig. β 1 (Constant) -.043 .966 Age -.154** -2.696 .007 Education .155** 2.719 .007 + Marital Status .102 1.788 .075 HR1 Function .049 .863 .389 Legal Function -.164** -2.873 .004 R2= .086*** ∆R2=.086*** 2 (Constant) -.279 .780 Age -.143** -2.770 .006 Education .088+ 1.698 .091 Marital Status .042 .809 .419 HR Function .014 .267 .790 Legal Function -.196*** -3.830 .000 Global Congruence .445*** 8.512 .000 Objective OJI2 .018 .319 .750 Subjective OJI .005 .094 .925 2 R2=.277*** ∆R =.191*** 3 (Constant) -.213 .832 Age -.103* -1.970 .050 Education .077 1.504 .134 Marital Status .032 .628 .531 HR Function .013 .250 .803 Legal Function -.182*** -3.607 .000 Global Congruence .283*** 3.973 .000 Objective OJI .026 .484 .629 Subjective OJI .013 .231 .817 Desired Aspirations .237*** 3.304 .001 2 2 R =.304*** ∆R =.027*** ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources Off-Job Involvement, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited

193 Table 17 (continued) 4 (Constant) Age -.079 Education .064 Marital Status .034 HR Function .020 Legal Function -.178*** Global Congruence .290*** Objective OJI .029 Subjective OJI .020 Desired Aspirations .244*** Plateau1 .104* Subjective AP2 -.010 2 R =.314*** ∆R2=.010 n.s 5 (Constant) Age -.084 Education .071 Marital Status .036 HR Function .026 Legal Function -.174*** Global Congruence .292*** Objective OJI .028 Subjective OJI .016 Desired Aspirations .252*** Plateau .097+ Subjective AP -.009 Desired * Plateau -.065 Desired * Subjective AP .003 2 R =.318*** ∆R2=.004 n. s. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

-.231 -1.444 1.241 .669 .402 -3.506 3.665 .516 .368 3.413 1.978 -.163

.818 .150 .216 .504 .688 .001 .000 .606 .713 .001 .049 .871

-.272 -1.537 1.373 .710 .502 -3.427 3.654 .494 .283 3.471 1.845 -.133 -1.257 .050

.786 .125 .171 .478 .616 .001 .000 .621 .777 .001 .066 .894 .210 .960

________________________________________________________________________

1 2

Objective Advancement Prospects, (1) = not plateaued, (0) = plateaued Advancement Prospects, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited

194 Table 18 - Moderating Effect of Career Support on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypothesis 5) Model Variable t Sig. β 1 (Constant) .446 .656 Age -.150*** -2.612 .009 Education .146** 2.562 .011 Marital Status .069 1.196 .233 HR1 Function .070 1.219 .224 Legal Function -.171** -2.982 .003 2 2 R =.084*** ∆R =.084*** 2 (Constant) .264 .792 Age -.135** -2.572 .011 Education .085 1.643 .102 Marital Status .010 .182 .856 HR Function .035 .678 .498 Legal Function -.204*** -3.941 .000 Global .442*** 8.389 .000 Congruence Objective OJI2 .012 .208 .836 Subjective OJI .012 .221 .825 R2=.272*** ∆R2=.187*** 3 (Constant) .355 .723 Age -.088+ -1.677 .095 Education .077 1.506 .133 Marital Status -.002 -.033 .974 HR Function .031 .619 .537 Legal Function -.188*** -3.715 .000 Global .258*** 3.622 .000 Congruence Objective OJI .022 .411 .681 Subjective OJI .022 .401 .689 Desired .268*** 3.743 .000 Aspirations ∆R2=.035*** R2=.307*** ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources Off-Job Involvement, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited

195 Table 18 (continued) 4 (Constant) .368 Age -.079 -1.500 Education .075 1.479 Marital Status -.033 -.631 HR Function .021 .419 Legal Function -.188*** -3.744 Global .254*** 3.595 Congruence Objective OJI .030 .546 Subjective OJI .010 .188 Desired .250*** 3.501 Aspirations CSWD1 .071 1.426 2 CSNWD .117* 2.210 2 2 R =.324*** ∆R =.017* 5 (Constant) .504 Age -.082 -1.564 Education .075 1.479 Marital Status -.037 -.692 HR Function .020 .396 Legal Function -.191*** -3.781 Global .258*** 3.637 Congruence Objective OJI .028 .515 Subjective OJI .009 .162 Desired .248*** 3.449 Aspirations Career Support .073 1.467 Work Career Support .122* 2.270 Non-Work Desired * CSWD -.029 -.558 Desired * -.028 -.539 CSNWD 2 R =.326*** ∆R2=.002 n.s. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

.713 .135 .140 .528 .676 .000 .000 .585 .851 .001 .155 .028 .615 .119 .140 .490 .693 .000 .000 .607 .871 .001 .144 .024 .577 .590

________________________________________________________________________

1 2

Career Support Work Domain, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited Career Support Non-Work Domain, Coded (2) = Extensive, (1) = Moderate, (0) = Limited

196

Table 19 - Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations (Hypotheses 6a) Model Variable t Sig. β 1 (Constant) .271 .786 Age -.204*** -3.594 .000 Education .157** 2.781 .006 Marital Status .116* 2.060 .040 HR1 Function .050 .887 .376 Legal Function -.007 -.127 .899 R2=.074*** ∆R2=.074*** 2 (Constant) -.120 .905 Age -.177*** -4.263 .000 Education .048 1.140 .255 Marital Status .023 .540 .590 HR Function .000 -.006 .995 Legal Function -.057 -1.376 .170 Global Congruence .675*** 15.919 .000 2 2 R =.504*** ∆R =.430*** 3 (Constant) -.176 .861 Age -.178*** -4.303 .000 Education .038 .911 .363 Marital Status -.001 -.031 .975 HR Function .025 .579 .563 Legal Function -.056 -1.349 .178 Global Congruence .659*** 15.468 .000 Gender2 -.105* -2.372 .018 2 2 R =.514*** ∆R =.009* 4 (Constant) .093 .926 Age -.177*** -4.300 .000 Education .031 .749 .454 Marital Status .002 .054 .957 HR Function .019 .435 .664 Legal Function -.060 -1.457 .146 Global Congruence .664*** 15.563 .000 Gender -.103* -2.328 .021 Global Congruence * Gender .060 1.443 .150 2 2 R =.517*** ∆R =.003 n.s. + ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, p < .10

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources 0 = Male, 1 = Female

197 Table 20a - Relationship Between Gender and Objective Off-Job Involvement (Hypothesis 6b) Model Variables t Sig. β 1 (Constant) .226 .821 Age .120 2.088 .038 Education -.092 -1.609 .109 + Marital Status .108 1.884 .061 HR1 Function .022 .382 .703 Legal Function -.052 -.900 .369 R2=.038* ∆R2=.038* 2 (Constant) .167 .867 Age .121 2.107 .036 Education -.106 -1.846 .066 Marital Status .078 1.324 .186 HR Function .049 .831 .406 Legal Function -.051 -.897 .370 Gender2 -.119+ -1.962 .051 R2=.051+ ∆R2=.012+ Table 20b - Relationship Between Gender and Subjective Off-Job Involvement (Hypothesis 6b) 1 (Constant) .480 .632 Age .109 1.963 .050 Education .007 .122 .903 Marital Status .091 1.649 .100 HR Function .099+ 1.800 .073 Legal Function .002 .042 .967 R2=.033+ ∆R2=.033+ 2 (Constant) .483 .630 Age .109* 1.974 .049 Education -.005 -.085 .932 Marital Status .068 1.197 .232 HR Function .120* 2.128 .034 Legal Function .002 .045 .964 Gender -.095 -1.632 .104 2 2 R =.041* ∆R =.008 n.s. + ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, p < .10

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources 0 = Male, 1 = Female

198 Table 21 - Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Desired and Enacted Aspirations (Hypotheses 6d) Model Variables t β 1 (Constant) -.177 Age -.167** -3.054 Education .155** 2.841 Marital Status .109* 1.990 HR1 Function .050 .923 Legal Function -.157** -2.878 2 R2=.090*** ∆R =.090*** 2 (Constant) -.167 Age -.167** -3.049 Education .161** 2.938 Marital Status .122* 2.164 HR Function .038 .673 Legal Function -.157** -2.880 Gender2 .055 .959 2 2 R =.093*** ∆R =.003 n.s. 3 (Constant) -.176 Age -.061 -1.224 Education .102* 2.079 Marital Status .085+ 1.696 HR Function -.006 -.125 Legal Function -.156*** -3.216 Gender .159** 3.019 Desired Aspirations .471*** 9.130 2 R2=.287*** ∆R =.194*** 4 (Constant) -.136 Age -.061 -1.220 Education .102* 2.060 + Marital Status .085 1.696 HR Function -.007 -.134 Legal Function -.156*** -3.214 Gender .159** 3.017 Desired Aspirations .471*** 9.107 Desired Aspirations * Gender .007 .153 2 2 R =.287*** ∆R =.000 n.s. + ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, p < .1

Sig. .859 .002 .005 .048 .357 .004 .868 .002 .004 .031 .502 .004 .338 .860 .222 .038 .091 .900 .001 .003 .000 .892 .224 .040 .091 .893 .001 .003 .000 .879

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources 0 = Male, 1 = Female

199

Model 1

2

Table 22a - Relationship Between Gender and Objective Advancement Prospects (Hypothesis 6e) Variables t β (Constant) .146 Age -.213*** -3.831 Education .101+ 1.840 Marital Status -.039 -.695 HR1 Function -.066 -1.201 Legal Function -.055 -.986 2 R2=.066*** ∆R =.066*** (Constant) .142 Age -.213*** -3.827 Education .099+ 1.779 Marital Status -.043 -.759 HR Function -.062 -1.084 Legal Function -.055 -.984 Gender2 -.020 -.349 2 2 R =.066*** ∆R =.000 n.s.

Sig. .884 .000 .067 .488 .231 .325 .887 .000 .076 .449 .279 .326 .727

Table 22b - Relationship Between Gender and Subjective Advancement Prospects (Hypothesis 6e) 1 (Constant) .604 .546 Age -.185*** -3.427 .001 Education .149** 2.768 .006 Marital Status .170** 3.157 .002 HR Function .049 .917 .360 Legal Function -.026 -.475 .635 2 2 R =.082*** ∆R =.082*** 2 (Constant) .610 .543 Age -.185*** -3.439 .001 Education .134* 2.490 .013 Marital Status .141* 2.544 .011 HR Function .076 1.385 .167 Legal Function -.025 -.474 .636 Gender -.122* -2.145 .033 2 2 R =.095*** ∆R =.013* + ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, p < .1

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources 0 = Male, 1 = Female

200

Model 1

2

Table 23a - Relationship Between Gender and Career Support in the Work Domain (Hypothesis 6g) Variables t β (Constant) -.085 Age -.001 -.025 Education .040 .724 Marital Status .037 .663 HR1 Function .069 1.234 Legal Function -.039 -.694 2 R2=.010 n.s. ∆R =.010 n.s. (Constant) -.085 Age -.001 -.025 Education .041 .726 Marital Status .038 .660 HR Function .068 1.183 Legal Function -.039 -.693 Gender2 .004 .075 2 2 R =.010 n.s. ∆R =.000 n.s.

Table 23b - Relationship Between Gender and Career Support in the Non-work Domain (Hypothesis 6g) 1 (Constant) -.066 Age -.121* -2.188 Education .057 1.035 Marital Status .250*** 4.512 HR Function .092+ 1.670 Legal Function .029 .526 2 2 R =.086*** ∆R =.086*** 2 (Constant) -.065 Age -.119* -2.162 Education .068 1.234 Marital Status .271*** 4.760 HR Function .072 1.286 Legal Function .028 .520 Gender .090 1.557 R2=.093*** ∆R2=.007 n.s. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

Sig. .932 .980 .470 .508 .218 .488 .932 .980 .468 .510 .238 .489 .940

.947 .029 .301 .000 .096 .599 .948 .031 .218 .000 .199 .603 .121

________________________________________________________________________ 1 2

Human Resources 0 = Male, 1 = Female

201

Table 24 – Summarized Hypothesis Results Hypothesis

Regression Results

Table #

Support

H1: There is a positive relationship between an individual’s schema-self congruence and desired aspirations. H2: The positive relationship between schema-self congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for individuals with limited off-job involvement than for individuals with extensive off-job involvement. OJI was coded 0=limited Off-Job Involvement 1=moderate Off-Job Involvement 2=extensive Off-Job Involvement H3: There is a positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations.

Global b=.68*** R2=.51*** ∆R2=.43***

5

Yes

Global * OOJI b=-.09* Global * SOJI b=.11* R2=.52*** ∆R2=.01*

5

Partial Support, Objective OJI only

Desired b=.24*** R2=.30*** ∆R2=.03***

6

Yes

H4: The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive advancement prospects than for individuals who perceive limited advancement prospects.

Desired * Plateau b=-.07 n.s. Desired * Subjective b=.01 n.s. R2=.32*** ∆R2=.01 n.s.

6

No

Objective AP (Plateau) Subjective AP coded 0=limited Advancement Prospects 1=moderate Advancement Prospects 2=extensive Advancement Prospects

202

Table 24 (continued) Hypothesis H5: The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for individuals who perceive extensive career support than for individuals who perceive limited career support.

Regression Results

Table #

Support

Desired * CSWD b=-.03 n.s. Desired * CSNWD b=-.03 n.s. R2=.33*** ∆R2=.01 n.s.

7

No

Global Congruence * Gender b=.06 n.s. R2=.52*** ∆R2=.01 n.s. Objective OJI Gender b=-.12+ R2=.05+ ∆R2=.01+

8

No

9

Marginal Support, Objective OJI Only

Subjective OJI Gender b=-.10 n.s. R2=.04*** ∆R2=.01 n.s. Desired * Gender b=-.01 n.s. R2=.29*** ∆R2=.00 n.s. Plateau Gender b=-.02 n.s. R2=.07*** ∆R2=.00 n.s. Subjective AP Gender b=-.12* R2=.10*** ∆R2=.01*

9

No

10

No

11

No

11

Partial Support, Subjective AP Only

CSWD and CSNWD coded 0=limited Career Support 1=moderate Career Support 2=extensive Career Support H6a: The positive relationship between schema-self congruence and desired aspirations is stronger for men than for women. H6b: Women experience more extensive off-job involvement than men.

H6d: The positive relationship between desired aspirations and enacted aspirations is stronger for men than for women. H6e: Women perceive less extensive advancement prospects than men.

203

Table 24 (continued) Hypothesis H6g: Women perceive less extensive career support than men.

Regression Results CSWD Gender b=.01 n.s. R2=.01 n.s. ∆R2=.00 n.s. CSNWD Gender b=.09 n.s. R2=.09*** ∆R2=.01 n.s.

Table #

Support

12

No

12

No

Instrumentality (I)

Valence of Second Level Outcomes (V2)

Valence of First Level Outcomes (V1)

Expectancy (E)

Figure 1 - General Model of Career Decision-Making

Behavior

204

Senior Management Schema Congruence Senior Management Self Assessment 6a (–) 6c (0)

1 (+)

2 (–)

Off Job Involvement 6b (+) Gender (M=0, W=1)

Desired Aspirations

6d (–)

4 (+)

Advancement Prospects

3 (+)

5 (+)

Career Support 6f (0) Work/Non-Work 6h (0) 6g (–)

Figure 2 - Senior Management Aspirations of Managers and Professionals

6e (–)

Enacted Aspirations

205

Desired Aspirations

100

90 80

70

60

50 40

30

20 10

0 Low

Mean

Extensive Objective Off Job Involvement

Global Congruence Limited Objective Off Job Involvement

High

Figure 3 - Moderating Effect of Objective Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations

206

Desired Aspirations

5

4

3

2

1 Low

Mean

Extensive Subjective Off Job Involvement

Global Congruence Limited Subjective Off Job Involvement

High

Figure 4 - Moderating Effect of Subjective Off-Job Involvement on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations

207

Desired Aspirations

5

4

3

2

1 Low

Mean

Ext ensive Subject ive Involvement in Communit y Act ivit ies

Global Congruence Limit ed Subject ive Involvement in Communit y Act ivit ies

High

Figure 5 - Moderating Effect of Subjective Involvement Community Activities on the Relationship Between Congruence and Desired Aspirations

208

Enacted Aspirations

5

4

3

2

1 Low

Mean Desired Aspirations Limited Advancement Prospects Different Organization Extensive Advancement Prospects Different Organization

High

Figure 6 - Moderating Effect of Advancement Prospects in a Different Organization On the Relationship between Desired Aspirations and Enacted Aspirations

209

Gender

-.10+

-.18**

Subjective Advancement Prospects Objective Advancement Prospects .10*

.21** Desired .33*** Enacted Congruence .69*** Aspirations Aspirations -.10* .17*** .09+ Career Support Work Domain .16**

Career Support Non-Work Domain

Figure 7 - Mediated Model of the Relationships between Gender and Senior Management Aspirations ________________________________________________________________________

1

210

1 Fit: __ = 226.56, df = 27, p < .001; GFI = .87; AGFI = .74; RMSEA = .16. Parameter estimates are from the standardized solution and are significant at ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10. Hypothesized paths that were not significant were eliminated from the model.

211 Appendix A – Study Measures Senior Management Schema Adapted from Kotter (1986) Spreitzer, McCall, and Mahoney (1997) Schein (1975) Rating Scale: 1=Not at all 2=To a slight extent 3=To a moderate extent 4=To a great extent 5=To a very great extent A senior manager is an individual who is responsible for setting the long run priorities for an organization, for deciding how to allocate resources effectively to achieve long-run goals, and for the efficient use of the human, financial, and material resources employed in that business, including some profit responsibility A senior manager is generally accountable to either a CEO or board of directors, and has authority over a very diverse set of subordinates. Senior managers may have titles such as vice president, president, general manager, managing director, chief operating officer, chief executive officer or chairman of the board. Please indicate how well each statement describes a position in senior management by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Senior managers… 1. have knowledge of the various parts of an organization and how they fit together. 2. work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures. 3. persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism when they believe in what they are doing. 4. equate status and prestige with rank and job title. 5. measure their achievements through the attainment of results critical to an organization’s success. 6. identify the most important part

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212 of a complex problem or issue. 7. pull people together around a common goal. 8. try new things, even when there is some risk involved. 9. measure career success by the amount of income they earn. 10. work on highly visible and challenging projects. 11. make decisions that have far reaching implications for their organizations. 12. communicate openly and candidly with others. 13. exercise power without feeling uncomfortable. 14. are rewarded with bonuses such as incentive compensation plans, for meeting organizational targets. 15. have high levels of responsibility. 16. problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty. 17. clearly demonstrate commitment to seeing an organization succeed. 18. are accountable for actions implemented by others. 19. measure their status by the number of subordinates they have. 20. integrate and manage the efforts of others. 21. make unpopular decisions such as laying people off or cutting programs. 22. articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization. 23. inspire commitment in people.

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213 Senior Management Self Assessment Rating Scale: 1=Not at all 2=To a slight extent 3=To a moderate extent 4=To a great extent 5=To a very great extent Please indicate how well each statement describes you personally by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. I… 1. have knowledge of the various parts of an organization and how they fit together. 2. am able to work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures. 3. am able to persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism when I believe in what I am doing. 4. equate status and prestige with rank and job title. 5. measure my achievements through the attainment of results critical to an organization’s success. 6. am able to identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue. 7. am able to pull people together around a common goal. 8. will try new things, even when there is some risk involved. 9. measure career success by the amount of income I earn. 10. value working on highly visible and challenging projects. 11. am able to make decisions that have far reaching implications for an organization. 12. am able to communicate openly and candidly with others.

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214 13. am able to exercise power without feeling uncomfortable. 14. value being rewarded with bonuses such as incentive compensation plans, for meeting organizational targets. 15. value high levels of responsibility.

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16. am able to problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty. 17. can clearly demonstrate commitment to seeing an organization succeed. 18. am not bothered by being held accountable for actions implemented by others. 19. measure status by the number of subordinates I have. 20. am able to integrate and manage the efforts of others. 21. can make unpopular decisions such as laying people off or cutting programs. 22. am able to articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization. 23. can inspire commitment in people.

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215 Global Measure of Congruence Adapted from Singh (2001) Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. 1. A position in senior management would be a good fit for me.

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2. The requirements of a position in senior management match my talents and skills.

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3. I would enjoy doing the things that senior managers do.

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4. I would fit in well with other senior managers in an organization.

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5. My personality fits in well with the requirements of a senior management position. 6. I have what it takes to be an effective senior manager.

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216 Objective Off-Job Involvement Adapted from Godshalk (1997) Please list the number of hours per week on average you spend in each of the following activities: Hours Per Week Activity Household chores (e.g., cooking, cleaning) Household maintenance (e.g., yard work, repairs) Shopping for family Taking care of your children Your sports activities Your child(ren)’s sports activities (e.g. driving, watching, coaching) Organized social activities Community activities Religious activities Civic and/or political activities Leisure and hobby pursuits Enhancing your education Working at your job1 Other, please specify:

________________________________________________________________________

1

While number of hours worked per week is traditionally collected in the demographic/personal information section of a survey, it was collected here for continuity and space saving purposes.

217 Subjective Off-Job Involvement Adapted from Godshalk (1997) Please indicate how IMPORTANT each of these activities is in your life by circling one number to the right of each statement that corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Unimportant 2 = Of little importance 3 = Moderately important 4 = Important 5 = Very important N/A = Not applicable Household chores (e.g., cooking,

1

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5

N/A

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5

N/A

Shopping for family

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N/A

Taking care of your children

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5

N/A

Your sports activities

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5

N/A

Your child(ren)’s sports activities (e.g.

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5

N/A

Organized social activities

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5

N/A

Community activities

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5

N/A

Religious activities

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5

N/A

Civic and/or political activities

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5

N/A

Leisure and hobby pursuits

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N/A

Enhancing your education

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N/A

Working at your job

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N/A

Other, please specify:

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N/A

cleaning) Household maintenance (e.g., yard work, repairs)

driving, watching, coaching)

218 Objective Advancement Prospects Adapted from Igbaria and Greenhaus (1992) Please indicate the number of years you have been in your current position. _______ (Determined by 2s the average length of job tenure.) Subjective Advancement Prospects Adapted from Godshalk (1997) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree In my present organization… 1. My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited (reversed).

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2. I expect to obtain a senior management position.

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3. I am likely to obtain a senior management job.

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5. I expect to obtain a senior management position.

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6. I am likely to obtain a senior management job.

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In a different organization… 4. My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited (reversed).

219 Career Support in the Work Domain Adapted from Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements about your manager by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree My manager… 1. takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations.

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2. would like to see me achieve my career goals.

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3. keeps me informed about different career opportunities for me in the organization.

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4. makes sure I get the credit when I accomplish something substantial on the job.

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5. gives me helpful feedback about my job performance.

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6. gives me helpful advice on improving my performance when I need it.

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7. supports my attempts to acquire additional training or education to further my career.

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8. provides assignments that give me the opportunity to develop and strengthen new skills.

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9. assigns me special projects that increase my visibility in the organization.

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220

Career Support in the Non-Work Domain Adapted from King, Mattimore, King, and Adams (1995) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements about your significant other by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. A significant other is anyone who is particularly important in your life such as a spouse or partner, a parent, sibling, child or other family member, or a friend. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree My significant other… 1. takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations.

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2. would like to see me achieve my career goals.

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3. does not seem very interested in hearing about my work-day. (reversed)

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4. does not really care what job I have as long as I am making money. (reversed)

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5. often provides a different way of looking at my work-related problems.

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6. is happy for me when I am successful at work.

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7. enjoys hearing about my achievements at work.

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8. can be counted on to take care of everything at home if I have to work late or go out of town for my job.

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221

Desired Aspirations Adapted from Tharenou and Terry (1998) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree 1. I have no desire to advance to a position in senior management. (reversed)

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2. It would not bother me if my responsibilities and job duties remained the same in the future. (reversed) 3. I do not wish to advance to a position of more responsibility. (reversed)

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4. I would like to advance to a position where I can have a greater influence on policy decisions.

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5. A promotion to a senior management position means more worries and should be avoided for that reason. (reversed)

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6. I would like to be in a position in which I could develop, manage, and coordinate the policies and activities of a substantially large part of the organization.

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222 Enacted Aspirations Adapted from Tharenou and Terry (1998), Gould and Penley (1984) Konrad, Waryszak, and Hartmann (1997) Wentling (1996) Please indicate how often you have engaged in the behaviors listed below in the past 12 months by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Never 2 = Occasionally 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = Frequently 1. I have sought opportunities to work with individuals from other cultures.

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2. I have sought opportunities to gain knowledge of a variety of functional areas in my organization.

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3. I have expressed my opinions when I know that they are aligned with an individual in a key senior position.

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4. I have sought out assignments that enable me to strengthen my leadership skills.

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5. I have improved my critical thinking skills by asking to work on complex problems.

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6. I have worked long hours.

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7. I have demonstrated to a senior person in my organization my willingness to take risks.

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8. I have engaged in career planning activities.

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9. I have participated in networking opportunities within my organization.

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223 10. I have participated in networking opportunities outside my organization.

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11. I have updated my skills in order to be more competitive for a promotion.

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12. I have asked to work on challenging assignments.

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224 Attitudinal variables for future exploratory analysis Job Attribute Preferences Adapted from Crosby (1982) Gattiker and Larwood (1988) Konrad, Corrigal, Lieb, and Ritchie (2000) Wheeler (1981) Rating Scales: Importance 1=Unimportant 2=Of little importance 3=Moderately important 4=Important 5=Very important Please indicate how IMPORTANT each of the following aspects of a job is to you by circling one number to the right of each statement that corresponds most closely to your desired response. 1. Helping others at work

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5

2. Working with friendly and congenial associates

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3. Working as part of a team

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4. Working for a company that puts people first

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5. Having work that allows me to engage in satisfying leisure activities

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6. Earning a high salary

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7. Having high prestige and social status

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8. Having supportive co-workers

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9. Being in a leadership or supervisory role

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10. Ability to balance work and personal/family life

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11. Being highly regarded in my field

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12. Getting promoted faster than my peers

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13. Rapidly advancing to higher organizational levels

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225

Career Satisfaction Adapted from Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE OR DISAGREE with each of the following statements by circling one number to the right of each statement which corresponds most closely to your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree I am satisfied… 1. with the success I have achieved in my career.

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2. with the progress I have made toward meeting my overall career goals.

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3. with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for income.

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4. with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for advancement.

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5. with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for the development of new skills.

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226 Willingness to Relocate Adapted from Tharenou and Terry (1998) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with the following statements by circling one number to the right that most closely represents your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree I am willing…. 1. to relocate my residence to advance to a higher level position. 2. to change organizations to advance to a higher level position.

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227 Job Involvement Adapted from Lodahl and Kejner (1965) Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with the following statements by circling one number to the right that most closely represents your desired response. Rating Scale: 1 = Strongly disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neither agree nor disagree 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly agree A major source of satisfaction in my life is my job.

1

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Most of the important things that happen to me involve my job.

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I am very much involved personally in my job.

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228 Demographic and Background Variables 1. What is your age? _____ 2. What is your gender? 1. Male 2. Female 3. Which of the following best describes you? 1. African-American 2. Asian 3. Caucasian 4. Hispanic 5. Native American 6. Other, please specify _______________________ 4. What is your present marital status: 1. Not Married/Not living with partner 2. Married/Living with a partner 5. If married or living with a partner, is your spouse/partner currently employed? 1. Yes 2. No 6. If your spouse/partner is currently employed, please indicate the number of hours worked per week _____ 7. Do you have children? 1. Yes 2. No 8. If you have children, what are their ages? ______ ______ ______

______

______

9. What is the highest level of education you have completed? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

High School Some college Associates/Technical Bachelors degree Masters degree Professional degree (Law, M.D.) Ph.D.

10. How long have you been with your current employer? ______ (Years)

229 11. How long have you been in your current position? _____ (Years) 12. How long before you expect to retire? _____ (Years). 13. What functional area do you work in? (Accounting, Finance, human Resources, Information Systems, Legal, Marketing, Research and Development, Sales, Other) 14. What type of industry do you work in? (Accounting, Consulting, Financial/Insurance, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Public Administration, Retailing/Hospitality, Services (health, legal), Telecommunications, Transportation/Utilities 15. What is your job level?1 1. Executive 2. Upper management 3. Middle management 4. First line manager 5. Non-manager 16. How many subordinates report directly or indirectly to you? 1. No subordinates 2. 1-4 subordinates 3. 5-9 subordinates 4. 10-14 subordinates 5. 15-19 subordinates 6. 20 subordinates or more 17. What is your manager’s gender? 1. Male 2. Female 18. Which of the following best describes your manager? 1. African-American 2. Asian 3. Caucasian 4. Hispanic 5. Native American 6. Other, please specify ___________________ 19. To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the middle managers of your company are women? _____ % ________________________________________________________________________ 1

Inadvertently left this item out of the survey.

230 20. To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the middle managers of your company are ethnic minorities? _____ % 21. To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the senior managers of your company are women? _____ % 22. To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the senior managers of your company are ethnic minorities? _____ % 23. Present yearly salary including bonus: 1. $24,999 – or less 2. $25,000 - $49,999 3. $50,000 - $74,999 4. $75,000 - $99,999 5. $100,000 - $124,999 6. $125,000 - $149,999 7. 150,000 + 24. Spouse/Partner’s present yearly salary including bonus: 8. $24,999 – or less 9. $25,000 - $49,999 10. $50,000 - $74,999 11. $75,000 - $99,999 12. $100,000 - $124,999 13. $125,000 - $149,999 14. 150,000 +

231 Appendix B – Polynomial Regression Results Table B1– Simultaneous Effect of Senior Management Schema And Senior Management Self Assessment on Desired Aspirations Model 1

Variable β (Constant) Age -.232*** Marital Status .115* Education .158** 1 Functional Area HR .059 Functional Area Legal -.006 R2=.084*** ∆R2=.084*** 2 (Constant) Age -.202*** Marital Status .038 Education .123* Functional Area HR .057 Functional Area Legal .008 Schema -.003 Self-Assessment .436*** X2•• -.075 .035 XY .027 Y2 2= R .261*** ∆R2=.177*** 3 (Constant) Age -.197*** Marital Status .042 Education .124* Functional Area HR .059 Functional Area Legal .008 Schema .001 Self-Assessment .438*** X2 -.075 XY .028 Y2 .032 2 Objective OJI .011 Subjective OJI -.041 R2=.262*** ∆R2=.001 n.s. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

t .585 -3.875 1.924 2.669 .993 -.103

Sig. .559 .000 .055 .008 .322 .918

-456 -3.657 .684 2.274 1.048 .143 -.054 7.426 -1.290 .548 .444

.649 .000 .495 .024 .296 .887 .957 .000 .198 .584 .658

.461 -3.526 .736 2.268 1.092 .148 .019 7.431 -1.273 .428 .512 .188 -.679

.645 .000 .462 .024 .276 .883 .985 .000 .204 .669 .609 .851 .498

________________________________________________________________________ 1

Human Resources Dummy Variables: X2=Schema * Schema, XY=Schema * Self-Assessment, Y2=Self-Assessment * Self Assessment 2 Off-Job Involvement ••

232

Table B1 (continued) 4

(Constant) .389 .698 Age -.198 -3.519 .001 Marital Status .044 .775 .439 Education .120 2.186 .030 Functional Area HR .051 .927 .355 Functional Area Legal .011 .192 .848 Schema .010 .152 .879 Self-Assessment .438 7.233 .000 X2 -.079 -1.320 .188 XY .016 .233 .816 Y2 .036 .549 .584 Objective OJI .005 .081 .935 Subjective OJI -.041 -.672 .502 Schema * Objective OJI -.039 -.640 .523 Self-Assessment * Objective OJI -.015 -.239 .811 Schema * Subjective OJI .022 .354 .724 Self-Assessment * Subjective OJI .067 1.137 .256 R2=.268*** ∆R2=.005 n.s. ***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, +p < .10

233 Table B2– Test of Constraints1 To Determine Reliability of Squared Difference Model

Schema, Self-Assessment and Dummy Variables Analyzed As a Separate Model with Desired Aspirations As the Dependent Variable Model Variable β t Sig. 1 (Constant) .225 .822 Schema -.015 -.286 .775 Self-Assessment .461 8.793*** .000 X2 -.090 -1.782 .076 XY .012 .230 .818 Y2 .068 1.235 .218 2= R .183***

1 2 3 4

1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Source Hypothesis Error

Test of Constraints - A Matrix 2 3 4 5 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 2.000 1.000

Test of Hypotheses SS df MS 66.668 283.843

4 348

16.667 .816

6 0.000 0.000 -1.000 0.000

F

P2

20.434 0.000

0.000 0.000

________________________________________________________________________ 1

Quadratic regression equation tested: Z=b0 + b1X + b2Y + b3X2 + b4XY + b5Y2 + e; Four constraints tested as a set: B3 = B5, B4 + -2B3, B1 = 0, B2 = 0. For a detailed explanation of the use of quadratic regression equations as a substitute for difference scores, the reader is referred to Edwards, J.R. and Rothbard, N.P. (1999). Work and family stress and well-being: An examination of person-environment fit in the work and family domains, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 77 (2), 85-129. 2 Significant p-value indicates that there are differences between the means of the standardized beta coefficients, thus the null hypothesis is not rejected. Therefore the constraints have not been met and the variation in the desired aspirations is accounted for primarily by the self-assessment variable.

234

Table B2 (continued)

1 2 3 4

Test of Higher Order Terms - A Matrix 1 2 3 4 5 6 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.000 0.000 -1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 3.000 1.000 0.000

Source Hypothesis Error

Test of Hypotheses SS df MS 67.129 284.861

4 348

16.782 .819

F

P

20.502 0.000

0.000 0.000

235 Table B3 - Moderating Effect of Gender on the Relationship Between Schema and Desired Aspirations and Self-Assessment and Desired Aspirations (Hypotheses 6a) Model Variable t Sig. β 1 (Constant) .445 .657 Age -.209 -3.696 .000 Education .155 2.763 .006 Marital Status .121 2.153 .032 Functional Area HR1 .068 1.212 .226 Functional Area Legal -.007 -.122 .903 2 2 R =.079*** ∆R =.079*** 2 (Constant) -.439 .661 Age -.195 -3.792 .000 Education .124 2.434 .016 Marital Status .056 1.085 .279 Functional Area HR .056 1.099 .273 Functional Area Legal .007 .134 .893 Schema .028 .506 .613 Self-Assessment .432 8.093 .000 2•• -.032 -.603 .547 X .013 .237 .812 XY .055 1.020 .309 Y2 R2=.265*** ∆R2=.186*** 8.093 3 (Constant) -.749 .455 Age -.195 -3.881 .000 Education .102 2.028 .043 Marital Status .010 .192 .848 Functional Area HR .099 1.934 .054 Functional Area Legal .007 .146 .884 Schema .046 .843 .400 Self-Assessment .419 8.021 .000 X2 -.008 -.145 .885 XY .004 .080 .936 2 Y .056 1.066 .287 Gender -.200 -3.758 .000 R2=.300*** ∆R2=.034***

________________________________________________________________________ 1

Human Resources Dummy Variables: X2=Schema * Schema, XY=Schema * Self-Assessment, Y2=Self-Assessment * Self Assessment

••

236

Table B3 (continued) 4

(Constant) Age Education Marital Status Functional Area HR Functional Area Legal Schema Self-Assessment X2 XY Y2 Gender Schema * Gender Self-Assessment * Gender R2=.300*** 5 (Constant) Age Education Marital Status Functional Area HR Functional Area Legal Schema Self-Assessment X2 XY Y2 Gender Schema * Gender Self-Assessment * Gender Objective Off-Job Involvement Subjective Off-Job Involvement R2=.304*** ***p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05, +p<.10

-.195 .100 .011 .097 .003 .051 .417 -.004 -.002 .063 -.202 -.018 .026 ∆R2=.001 n.s.

-.788 -3.873 1.985 .208 1.894 .064 .921 7.901 -.076 -.033 1.151 -3.775 -.335 .483

.431 .000 .048 .835 .059 .949 .358 .000 .939 .973 .251 .000 .738 .630

-.820 .413 -.186 -3.660 .000 .097 1.909 .057 .017 .323 .747 .104 2.007 .046 .002 .042 .967 .057 1.021 .308 .421 7.950 .000 .000 -.001 .999 -.010 -.180 .857 .066 1.194 .234 -.210 -3.885 .000 -.026 -.481 .631 .024 .450 .653 -.016 -.293 .770 -.056 -1.016 .311 2 ∆R =.004 n.s.

237 Appendix C – Web Survey

Career Attitude Survey Thank you for coming to this website! We appreciate your interest in participating in this study. The study seeks to explore and understand a number of career-related issues that are relevant to individuals in middle management positions. A middle manager is defined in this research as an individual who reports directly to a senior level manager and who oversees the people and/or processes within a specific functional area. If you are a middle manager, you are eligible to participate in this research. You will be asked a variety of questions designed to assess your attitudes towards yourself and your career. The survey consists of six sections and will take about 30 minutes of your time. Please complete the survey in one sitting, as it is not possible to save partial responses for completion at a later time. We have made it as easy as possible for you to answer ALL of the questions by clicking on the appropriate option. If you have any questions about this research, please feel free to contact us at the email addresses or telephone numbers shown below.

Your participation is VITAL to the success of the study! As a small token of our appreciation for your participation in the survey, you will be eligible to win one of four $50 gift certificates to Barnes & Noble Book Store. Your responses to this survey will be completely ANONYMOUS and CONFIDENTIAL. Your confidentiality will be maintained to the degree permitted by the technology used. Specifically, no guarantees can be made regarding the interception of data sent via the Internet by any third parties. Only the researchers will have access to individual responses. Any forthcoming publications will include summarized findings only. To ensure complete anonymity, we do not gather any information that might personally identify your responses and we therefore encourage you to answer honestly. You may, however, decline to answer specific questions. Your participation in this research is completely voluntary. A completed Career Attitude Survey (IRB #0 1B10 17-00) implies your consent to particiate. We suggest you print and retain a copy of this page for your records. Thank you in advance for your participation. Please click on the “START THE SURVEY” button to continue.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Greenhaus William A. Mackie Professor of Management Drexel University Phone: (215) 895-2139 Email: [email protected]

Barrie E. Litzky Instructor, Management and Organization Penn State Great Valley Phone: (610) 725-5286 Email: [email protected]

238

Career Attitude Survey A. Perceptions of Senior Management Positions In this section, we are interested in understanding your perceptions of the requirements and rewards associated with a position in senior management. Please use the following definition of senior manager when answering the questions below. A senior manager is generally responsible for setting the long-run priorities for an organization, for deciding how to allocate resources effectively to achieve long-run goals, and for the efficient use of the human, financial, and material resources employed in that business, including some profit responsibility. A senior manager is generally accountable to either a President/CEO or board of directors, and has authority over a very diverse set of subordinates. Senior managers may have titles such as vice president, executive vice president, assistant vice president, president, general manager, managing director, chief operating officer, chief executive officer or chairman of the board. Please indicate how well each statement describes senior managers by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. If you are unsure about a particular question, please give us your best estimate.

Senior managers... Have knowledge of the various parts of an organization and how they fit together. Work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures. Persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism, when they believe in what they are doing. Identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue. Pull people together around a common goal. Try new things, even when there is some risk involved. Make decisions that have far reaching implications for their organizations. Communicate openly and candidly with others. Exercise power without feeling uncomfortable.

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

239

Senior managers...

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

Problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty. Clearly demonstrate commitment in ensuring an organization's success. Integrate and manage the efforts of others. Make unpopular decisions such as laying people off or cutting programs. Articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization. Inspire commitment in people. Equate status and prestige with rank and job title. Measure their achievements through the attainment of results critical to an organization's success. Measure career success by the amount of income they earn.

Senior managers... Work on highly visible and challenging projects. Are rewarded with bonuses, such as incentive compensation plans, for meeting organizational targets. Have high levels of responsibility. Are accountable for actions implemented by others. Measure their status by the number of subordinates they have.

240

B. Beliefs About Your Career In this section, we are interested in learning about various career-related experiences including your perceived advancement opportunities, the type of career support you receive from your manager, and some general feelings about your career and your job. Part 1. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response.

In my present organization...

Strongly Disa disagree gree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly Disa disagree gree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly Disa disagree gree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited. I expect to obtain a senior management position. I am likely to obtain a senior management position.

In a different organization... My opportunities to move into a senior management position are limited. I expect to obtain a senior management position. I am likely to obtain a senior management position.

My manager... Takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations. Would like to see me achieve my career goals. Keeps me informed about different career opportunities for me in the organization. Makes sure I get the credit when I accomplish something substantial on the job. Gives me helpful feedback about my job performance. Gives me helpful advice on improving my performance when I need it. Supports my attempts to acquire additional training or education to further my career.

241 Provides assignments that give me the opportunity to develop and strengthen new skills. Assigns me special projects that increase my visibility in the organization.

I am satisfied...

Strongly Disa disagree gree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

With the success I have achieved in my career. With the progress I have made toward meeting my overall career goals. With the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for income. With the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for advancement. With the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for the development of new skills. Part 2. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. Neither Strongly Disa agree nor disagree gree disagree I am willing to relocate my residence to advance to a higher-level position. I am willing to change organizations to advance to a higher-level position. A major source of satisfaction in my life is my job. Most of the important things that happen to me involve my job. I am very much involved personally in my job. I talk up my organization to my friends as a great organization to work for. I am proud to tell others I am part of the organization. I feel very loyal to my organization.

Agree

Strongly agree

242

Part 3. Please indicate how IMPORTANT each of the following aspects of a career is to you by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. Unimport ant

Of little importance

Very Moderately Important import important ant

Helping others at work Working with friendly and congenial associates Working as part of a team Working for a company that puts people first Having work that allows me to engage in satisfying leisure activities Earning a high salary Having high prestige and social status Having supportive co-workers Being in a leadership or supervisory role Being able to balance work and personal/family life Being highly regarded in my field Getting promoted faster than my peers Rapidly advancing to higher organizational levels

You have completed 25% of the survey!

243

C. Beliefs About Yourself In this section, we are interested in learning about your perceptions of your talents, skills and abilities, as well as what motivates you and the types of rewards you value. Part 1. Please indicate how well each statement describes you personally by selecting ONE category that most closely corresponds to your desired response.

I have the ability to...

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

Learn about the various parts of an organization and how they fit together. Work with and understand the perspectives of individuals from other ethnic and/or corporate cultures. Persevere in the face of obstacles or criticism when I believe in what I am doing. Identify the most important part of a complex problem or issue. Pull people together around a common goal. Try new things, even when there is some risk involved. Make decisions that have far reaching implications for an organization. Communicate openly and candidly with others. Exercise power without feeling uncomfortable.

I have the ability to... Problem-solve under conditions of uncertainty. Clearly demonstrate commitment in ensuring an organization's success. Integrate and manage the efforts of others. Make unpopular decisions such as laying people off or cutting programs. Articulate a broad vision for the future of an organization. Inspire commitment in people.

244

I ...

Not at all

To a slight extent

To a moderate extent

To a great extent

To a very great extent

Equate status and prestige with rank and job title. Measure my achievements through the attainment of results critical to an organization's success. Measure career success by the amount of income I earn. Value working on highly visible and challenging projects. Value being rewarded with bonuses, such as stock options, for meeting organizational targets. Value high levels of responsibility. Feel comfortable being held accountable for actions implemented by others. Measure status by the number of subordinates I have. Part 2. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. Strongly Dis disagree agree A position in senior management would be a good fit for me. The requirements of a position in senior management match my talents and skills. I would enjoy doing the things that senior managers do. I would fit in well with other senior managers in an organization. My personality fits in well with the requirements of a senior management position. I have what it takes to be an effective senior manager.

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strong ly agree

245 Part 3. Please indicate how well the following item DESCRIBES YOU PERSONALLY by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. If you have a managerial career orientation, your primary concern is to integrate the efforts of others, to be fully accountable for total results, and to tie together different functions in an organization. Managerial jobs require not only analytic skills, but also interpersonal and group skills and the emotional resilience to handle power and responsibility. You feel you have this combination of characteristics and skills and you enjoy exercising them. If you are in a technical or functional area, you are anxious to move into a generalist position. You will not be satisfied that you have achieved your career goals until you have achieved a position in which you are managing multiple business functions, such as finance, marketing, production, engineering, and sales. Not at all

Almost not at all

Only a little

To some extent

A great deal

You have completed 50% of the survey!

D. Questions About Your Life Outside of Work Next we would like to ask you about how you spend your time outside of work, the type of support you may receive from a significant other, and questions which address the impact that your career has on your home life as well as the impact that your home life has on your career. Part 1. Please list the NUMBER OF HOURS you spend in each of the following activities in an average week.

Part 2. Please indicate the IMPORTANCE of each of these activities in your life, by selecting one category which most closely corresponds to your desired response. Of little Unimportan importanc t e

Household chores (e.g., cooking, cleaning) Household maintenance (e.g., yard work, repairs) Shopping for family

Taking care of your children

Your sports activities

Moderatel Very Not Importan y importan applicabl t important t e

246 Your child(ren)'s sports activities (e.g., driving, watching, coaching) Organized social activities

Community activities

Religious activities

Unimportant

Of little importance

Moderately important

Important

Very important

Not applicable

Civic and/or political activities

Leisure and hobby pursuits

Enhancing your education

Working at your job

Other, please specify:

Answer the following questions with regard to your significant other. A significant other is anyone who is particularly important in your life such as a spouse or partner, a parent, sibling, child or other family member, or a friend. Part 3. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response.

My significant other... Takes the time to learn about my career goals and aspirations. Would like to see me achieve my career goals. Does not seem very interested in hearing about my work day. Doesn't really care what job I have as long as I am making money.

Strongly Disagre disagree e

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongl y agree

247 Often provides a different way of looking at my work-related problems. Is happy for me when I am successful at work. Enjoys hearing about my achievements at work. Can be counted on to take care of everything at home if I have to work late or have to go out of town for my job. Part 4. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response. Strongly Dis disagree agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Strongly Dis disagree agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

The demands of my work interfere with my home or family life. The amount of time my job takes up makes it difficult to fulfill home or family responsibilities. Things I want to do at home do not get done because of the demands my job puts on me. My job produces strain that makes it difficult to fulfill home or family duties. Due to work-related duties, I have to make changes to my plans for home or family activities. The demands of my home or family interfere with work-related activities. I have to put off doing things at work because of demands on my time at home.

Things I want to do at work don't get done because of the demands of my home or family. My home life interferes with my responsibilities at work such as getting to work on time, accomplishing daily tasks, and working overtime. Home or family-related strain interferes with my ability to perform job-related duties.

248

E. Questions About Your Career Aspirations In this section we are interested in understanding your career aspirations and career planning activities. Part 1. Please indicate the extent to which you AGREE or DISAGREE with each of the following statements by selecting one category which most closely corresponds to your desired response. Strongly disagree

Dis agree

Neither agree Strongly Agree nor agree disagree

I have no desire to advance to a position in senior management. It would not bother me if my responsibilities and job duties remained the same in the future. I do not wish to advance to a position of more responsibility. I would like to advance to a position where I can have a greater influence on policy decisions. A promotion to a senior management position means more worries and should be avoided for that reason. I would like to be in a position in which I could develop, manage, and coordinate the policies and activities of a substantially large part of the organization. Part 2. Please indicate how OFTEN you have engaged in the behaviors listed below in the past 12 months by selecting one category that most closely corresponds to your desired response.

In the past twelve months... I have sought opportunities to work with individuals from other cultures. I have sought opportunities to gain knowledge of a variety of functional areas in my organization. I have expressed my opinions when I know that they are aligned with an individual in a key senior position. I have sought out assignments that enable me to strengthen my leadership skills.

Never Occasionally Sometimes Often

Frequentl y

249 I have improved my critical thinking skills by asking to work on complex problems. I have worked long hours. I have demonstrated to a senior person in my organization my willingness to take risks. I have engaged in career planning activities. I have participated in networking opportunities within my organization. I have participated in networking opportunities outside my organization. I have updated my skills in order to be more competitive for a promotion. I have asked to work on challenging assignments.

You have completed 75% of the survey!

F. Background Information

Please help us understand you better by telling us a few things about your background and work experiences. This information will be used for research purposes only. Please remember that your responses are completely anonymous. What is your age?

Years

What is your gender?

Male

Female

Which of the following best describes you? African-American

Asian

Caucasian

Hispanic

Native American

Other, please specify

What is your present marital status? Not Married/Not living with a partner

Married/Living with a partner

If you are not married or living with a partner, Click here.

250 Is your spouse/partner currently employed?

Yes

If your spouse/partner is currently employed, please indicate the number of hours worked per week.

Hours

Do you have children?

Yes

No

No

If you do not have children, Click here. What are your children's ages? Age

Age

Age

Age

Age

What is the highest level of education you have completed? High School Masters Degree

Some College

Associates/Technical Degree

Professional Degree (Law, M.D.)

If you are currently a student (pursuing a degree, professional certificate, or enrolled in a continuing education program), please indicate the university you are attending. Please indicate your field of study. How long have you been with your current organization? How long have you been in your current position? How long before you expect to retire? What functional area do you work in? What type of industry do you work in?

Years

Years

Years

Bachelors Degree

Ph.D.

251

What is the size of the organization you work for?

Under 100 employees

100-999 employees

5,000 -9,999 employees

10,000 or more employees

1,000-4,999 employees

How many subordinates report directly to you?

No subordinates

1-4 subordinates

5-9 subordinates

10-14 subordinates

15-19 subordinates

20 subordinates or more

What is your manager's gender?

Male

Female

Which of the following best describes your manager? African-American

Asian

Caucasian

Hispanic

Native American

Other, please specify

To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the middle managers in your organization are women?

%

To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the middle managers in your organization are ethnic minorities?

%

To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the senior managers in your organization are women?

%

To the best of your knowledge, what percentage of the senior managers in your organization are ethnic minorities?

%

Present yearly salary including bonus: $24,999 - or less $100,000 $124,999

$25,000 - $49,999 $125,000 $149,999

$50,000 - $74,999

$75,000 $99,999

150,000 +

Spouse/Partner's present yearly salary including bonus: $24,999 - or less

$25,000 - $49,999

$50,000 - $74,999

$75,000 $99,999

252

$100,000 $124,999

$125,000 $149,999

150,000 +

NA

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253 Vita Barrie E. Litzky, Ph.D. Education Ph.D. Business Administration, June 2002 Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Organizational Science and Psychology Senior Management Aspirations of Managers and Professionals MBA, May 1991 University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201 B.S. Business Administration, May 1985 Towson State University, Towson, MD 21204 Marketing Academic Experience 1999-Present, Assistant Professor, Penn State Great Valley, Malvern, PA 19355 1995-1999, Teaching Assistant, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104 1991-1995, Senior Lecturer, Towson State University, Towson, MD 21204 1992-1994, Instructor, University of Maryland, University College, College Park, MD 20783 1995, Instructor, Certificate Program in Human Resource Management, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250

Conference Proceedings • Litzky, B.E. and DeCarolis, D.M. (2000). “Corporate Social Performance (CSP), Person-Organization Fit, Organizational Commitment and Firm Performance: Exploring Relationships”, Proceedings of International Association for Business and Society, 11th Annual Conference, Essex Junction, Vermont, March, 2000. • Smith, W.P. and Litzky, B.E. (1993). “One Hour Short and More Than a Dollar Behind: The Special Case of Involuntary Part-Time Employees”, Proceedings of Southeast TIMS Annual Conference, Myrtle Beach, SC, April 1993, 358-360. Conference Presentations • Litzky, B.E., Becker, R. S. and Parasuraman, S. (1998). “Beliefs about Dual-Career Relationships: Towards the Development of a Construct.” Paper presented at The Academy of Management Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, August, 1998. *Presenter • Eddleston, K.A., Litzky, B.E. and Kidder, D.L. “When Bartenders Serve up More Than Just Drinks: A Qualitative Look at the Conflict between Customer and Management Expectations.” Paper presented at The Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Washington, D.C., August 2001. *Copresenter. Manuscripts submitted for publication When satisfying the customer dissatisfies management: How service workers choose between customer and management expectations. Submitted to Special Issue on Service Workers, Academy of Management Executive, April 1, 2002. Revised and Resubmitted September 30, 2002.

254