The authors developed a model of interest in promotion and seeking promotion by integrating insights from the literature on internal labor markets, discrimination in organizations, cognitivebalance theory, labeling theory, and expectancy theory. After making predictions based on this model, a sample of employees and supervisors in six offices of a federal government agency was examined. Data were drawn from questionnaire responses and personnel records. Interest in promotion proved to be more widespread than willingness to sacrifice to obtain promotion, and the former was related as predicted to the attractiveness of outcomes expected to accompany promotion and to severalvariables affecting promotion opportunity. Willingness to sacrifice for promotion was related to attractiveness of promotion, and some evidence indicated that this willingness declined when promotion opportunity was low-even when controlling for promotion interest. The implications of the findings for future research and practice are presented.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abraham, K. G.
, & Medoff, J. L. (1985). Length of service and promotion in union and nonunion work groups. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 38, 408-420.
2.
Becker, H. W.
(1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press.
3.
Campbell, J. P.
, & Pritchard, R. D. (1976). Motivation in industrial and organizational psychology. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally.
4.
Cassell, F. H.
, Director, S. M., & Doctors, S. I. (1975). Discrimination within internal labor markets. Industrial Relations, 14, 337-344.
5.
Conference Board. (1972). Staffing systems: Managerial and professional jobs (Conference Board Report No. 558). New York: Conference Board.
6.
Conner, R. D.
, & Fjerstad, R. L. (1979). Internal personnel maintenance. In D. Yoder & H. G. Heneman (Eds.), Handbook of personnel and industrial relations. Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs.
7.
Connolly, T.
(1976). Some conceptual and methodological issues in expectancy models of work performance. Academy of Management Journal, 4, 37-47.
8.
Doeringer, P. R.
, & Piore, M. J. (1971). Internal labor markets and manpower analysis. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
9.
Downs, A.
(1967). Inside bureaucracy. Boston: Little-Brown.
10.
Fernandez, J.
(1981). Sexism and racism in corporate life. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
11.
Festinger, L.
(1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
12.
Gibson, C. F.
(1980). Managing organizational behavior. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin.
13.
Gillespie, M. W.
(1977). Log-linear techniques and the regression analysis of dummy variables. Sociological Methods and Research, 6, 103-122.
14.
Gould, S.
& Penley, L. E. (1984). Career strategies and salary progression: A study of their relationships in a municipal bureaucracy. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 34, 244-265.
15.
Grandjean, B. D.
(1981). History and career in a bureaucratic labor market. American Journal of Sociology, 86, 1057-1092.
16.
Greenlaw, P. S.
, & Biggs, W. D. (1979). Modern personnel management. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
17.
Hahn, D. L.
(1977). Why don't workers want to be promoted? An investigation of promotional attitudes among members of the labor force. In R. P. Quinn, J. T. Walsh, & D. L. Hahn (Eds.), The 1972-73 quality of employment survey: Chronicles of an unfinished enterprise. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
18.
Halaby, C. N.
(1979). Sexual inequality in the marketplace: An employer-specific analysis of pay differences. Social Science Research, 8, 79-104.
19.
Heider, F.
(1958). The psychology of interpersonal behavior. New York: Wiley.
20.
Kanter, R. M.
(1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
21.
Katz, D.
, & Kahn R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.
22.
Kennedy, C. W.
, Fossum, J. A., & White, B. A. (1983). An empirical comparison of within subjects and between subjects expectancy theory models. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 32, 124-143.
23.
Lawler, E. E., III.
(1973). Motivation in work organizations. Monterrey, CA: Brooks-Cole.
24.
Lawler, E. E., III.
(1976). Control systems in organizations. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally.
25.
Lawler, E. E., III.
& Porter, L. W. (1967). The effect of performance on job satisfaction. Industrial Relations, 7, 20-28.
26.
Lemert, E. M.
(1967). Human deviance, social problems, and social control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
27.
Leonard, J. S.
(1984). The impact of affirmative action on employment. Journal of Labor Economics, 2, 439-463.
28.
March, J. G.
, & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York: Wiley.
29.
Markham, W. T.
, Bonjean, C. M., & Corder-Bolz, J. (1980). Self-expression in organizational participation: A theory-based questionnaire instrument. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 16, 67-91.
30.
Markham, W. T.
, Harlan, S. L., & Hackett, E. J. (1987). Promotion opportunity in organizations: Causes and consequences. In K. M. Rowland & G. R. Ferris (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 5). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
31.
Markham, W. T.
, & Pleck, J. H. (1986). Sex and willingness to move for occupational advancement. The Sociological Quarterly, 27, 121-143.
32.
Markham, W. T.
, South, S. J., Bonjean, C. M., and Corder, J. (1985). Gender and opportunity in the federal bureaucracy. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 129-150.
33.
Matsui, T.
, & Ohtsuka, Y. (1978). Within-person expectancy theory predictions of supervisory consideration and structure behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63, 128-131.
34.
Miner, J.
(1980). Theories of organizational behavior. Hinsdale, IL: Dryden.
35.
Mitchell, T. R.
(1979). Organizational behavior. In M. R. Rosensweig & L. W. Porter (Eds.), Annual review of psychology. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
36.
Pecotich, A.
, & Churchill, G. A. (1981). An examination of the anticipated-satisfaction/importance valence controversy. Organizational Behavior and Human Peformance, 27, 213-226.
37.
Presthus, R.
(1978). The organizational society. New York: St Martin's Press.
38.
Quinn, R. P.
& Shepard, L. (1974). The 1972-73 quality of employment survey. Ann Arbor, MI: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.
39.
Rosen, B.
, & Jerdee, T. H. (1977). Too old or not too old. Harvard Business Review, 55, 97-106.
40.
Rosenbaum, J. E.
(1984). Career mobility in a corporate hierarchy. New York: Academic Press.
41.
Sandefur, G. D.
(1981). Organizational boundaries and upward job shifts. Social Science Research, 10, 67-82.
42.
Smith, J. P.
, & Welch, F. (1984). Affirmative action and labor markets. Journal of Labor Economics, 2, 269-301.
43.
Sorenson, A. B.
, & Kalleberg, A. L. (1981). An outline of a theory of the matching of persons to jobs. In I. Berg (Ed.), Sociological perspectives on labor markets. New York: Academic Press.
44.
Staw, B. M.
(1984). Organizational behavior: A review and reformulation of the field's outcome variables. In M. R. Rosensweig & L. W. Porter (Eds.). Annual review of psychology. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
45.
Wannous, J. P.
, & Keon, T. L. (1983). Expectancy theory and occupational/organizational choices. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 32, 66-86.
46.
Wolf, G.
, & Connolly, T. (1981). Between-subjects designs in testing expectancy models: A methodological note. Decision Sciences, 12, 39-45.
47.
U. S. Department of Labor
. (1974). Manpower report of the President, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
