PREDICTORS OF OBJECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE CAREER SUCCESS: A META‐ANALYSIS

TLDR

This meta‑analysis examined predictors of objective and subjective career success using contest‑ and sponsored‑mobility perspectives. The study assessed objective success via salary and promotion, subjective success via career satisfaction, and evaluated human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable individual differences as predictors. Findings showed that objective and subjective career success were linked to many predictors, with human capital and sociodemographic factors more strongly related to objective success, while organizational sponsorship and stable individual differences were more strongly associated with subjective success, and gender and study year moderated several relationships.

Abstract

Using the contest‐ and sponsored‐mobility perspectives as theoretical guides, this meta‐analysis reviewed 4 categories of predictors of objective and subjective career success: human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable individual differences. Salary level and promotion served as dependent measures of objective career success, and subjective career success was represented by career satisfaction. Results demonstrated that both objective and subjective career success were related to a wide range of predictors. As a group, human capital and sociodemographic predictors generally displayed stronger relationships with objective career success, and organizational sponsorship and stable individual differences were generally more strongly related to subjective career success. Gender and time (date of the study) moderated several of the relationships examined.