AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PREDICTORS OF EXECUTIVE CAREER SUCCESS

TLDR

Career success is defined by both objective measures such as pay and promotion, and subjective measures like job and career satisfaction. The study examined how demographic, human capital, motivational, organizational, and industry‑region variables predict executive career success. Using a sample of 1,388 U.S. executives, the authors assessed the predictive power of these variables on objective and subjective success outcomes.

Abstract

This study examined the degree to which demographic, human capital, motivational, organizational, and industrylregion variables predicted executive career success. Career success was assumed to comprise objective (pay, ascendancy) and subjective (job satisfaction, career satisfaction) elements. Results obtained from a sample of 1,388 U.S. executives suggested that demographic, human capital, motivational, and organizational variables explained significant variance in objective career success and in career satisfaction. Particularly interesting were findings that educational level, quality, prestige, and degree type all predicted financial success. In contrast, only the motivational and organizational variables explained significant amounts of variance in job satisfaction. These findings suggest that the variables that lead to objective career success often are quite different from those that lead to subjectively defined success.