Climbing the corporate ladder: Do female and male executives follow the same route?

Lyness, Karen S.; Thompson, Donna E.

doi:10.1037/0021-9010.85.1.86

Cited by 391 publications

(406 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…First, we expect that competition for scarce advancement opportunities in organizations makes achievement levels more salient than gender (see Buunk et al 2005b). Second, the skewed gender distribution at the top of many organizations means that women have fewer same-gender referents than men (Kanter 1977;Lyness & Thompson 2000). Thus, while men are able and likely to compare themselves with other men at higher levels of the organization, this same strategy may not work for women.…”

Section: Gender Composition and Level Of Career Referentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations

Gibson

Lawrence

2010

Organization Science

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This study examines how women's and men's career referents—the people they see as having similar careers—affect career expectations. We raise two questions. First, what is the relative effect of the gender composition and comparison level of career referents on such expectations? Second, what happens to career expectations when women and men identify career referents at the same comparison level? Current research suggests that women have lower career expectations than men because they compare themselves with women who hold lower-level positions than the career referents identified by men. Thus, if women and men identify with career referents at a similar level, their career expectations should be equal. However, this chain of reasoning has not been tested. Using data collected from a large organization, we identify both the specific individuals that women and men perceive as having similar careers and these referents' career levels, defined as their hierarchical level in the firm. The results show that the level of career referents is more important than their gender composition in explaining individuals' career expectations. In contrast to extant explanations, the results show that even when women identify career referents at the same levels as men do, they still exhibit significantly lower career expectations. Drawing on social comparison theory, we speculate that this occurs because men's expectations are bolstered by extreme upward comparisons, whereas women's expectations are dampened, perhaps because they see high-achieving others as representing a less probable goal.

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Section: Gender Composition and Level Of Career Referentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations

Gibson

Lawrence

2010

Organization Science

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“…Such sharing of information and advice should allow inpatriates to be more successful in their jobs. Individuals who are successful in their assignments should perceive greater career prospects within the MNC because many organizations reward successful job performance with promotional opportunities (Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995;Lyness & Thompson, 2000). This is particularly true for foreign subsidiary employees for whom a HQ assignment is considered vital to gain access to higher management levels within the MNC (Reiche, 2006).…”

Section: Inpatriates' Links With Hq Staff and Benefits Sacrificed Upomentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do international assignees stay? An organizational embeddedness perspective

2011

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We apply an organizational embeddedness perspective to examine international assignees' retention with the organization. Specifically, we hypothesize that assignees' social ties within and their perceived fit with the host unit positively relate to two sacrifices with leaving the organization: their firmspecific learning during the assignment and their perceived career prospects in the organization. Perceived career prospects is expected to predict subsequent retention, moderated by firm-specific learning. These hypotheses are tested using a sample of 143 inpatriates in ten German multinationals with retention measured two and four years later. We show that inpatriates' trusting ties with HQ staff and their fit with the HQ positively relates to their firm-specific learning and their perceived career prospects, and that the latter predicts their retention two and four years later. Perceived career prospects mediates the direct relationship between inpatriates' fit with the HQ and inpatriate retention, and the indirect relationship between inpatriates' trusting ties with HQ staff and their retention. Furthermore, inpatriates' firm-specific learning mitigates the effect of perceived career prospects on retention decisions two years later. We contribute to the organizational embeddedness, careers, and international business literatures by explaining when and how facets of organizational embeddedness relate to assignee retention.

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“…Dreher and Cox (2000) and Brett and Stroh (1997) found that interorganizational mobility was positively related to income, but this effect held only for men. Lyness and Thompson (2000) found that interorganizational mobility was negatively related to a composite measure of career success including income and organizational level. Valcour and Tolbert (2003) found that women were more likely to move between organizations than men, and that interorganizational mobility was negatively related to earnings for both women and men.…”

Section: Career Path Variables As Predictors Of Women's Career Successmentioning

confidence: 99%

Journal of Vocational Behavior

2008

Encyclopedia of Counseling

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a b s t r a c tThis study examined the effects of family and career path characteristics on objective and subjective career success among 916 employed mothers. Among family variables, age at first childbirth was positively related and career priority favoring the husband was negatively related to both income and subjective career success; number of children was negatively related and years elapsed since first childbirth was positively related to income only. Among career path variables, career gaps, interorganizational mobility and proportion of one's career spent in part-time work were negatively related to income; career gaps were negatively related to subjective career success. Income was positively related to subjective career success. Results suggest that integration of traditional and protean career perspectives helps to explain women's career success.

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Climbing the corporate ladder: Do female and male executives follow the same route?

Cited by 391 publications

References 67 publications

Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations

Women's and Men's Career Referents: How Gender Composition and Comparison Level Shape Career Expectations

Why do international assignees stay? An organizational embeddedness perspective

Journal of Vocational Behavior

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