Managerial Momentum: A Simultaneous Model of the Career Progress of Male and Female Managers

Abstract

Using a firm-level data base to estimate a simultaneous model of the interaction of performance, ambition, and rewards in the internal promotion process, the authors analyze differences between men and women in “managerial momentum”—sustained career progress within the firm. They find that in the Canadian firm studied, the tendency of women to rely more than men on formal bidding for promotion to secure offers of promotion deprives them of managerial momentum. Underlying the greater success of men in gaining promotion is their greater use of informal networks, a less meritocratic means than bidding of bringing one's desire for promotion to the attention of superiors, and indeed one that appears to enable men to offset performance evaluations that are on the average lower than those of women.

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