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Preferences for Job Attributes Associated with Work and Family: A Longitudinal Study of Career Outcomes

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Abstract

We examined the relationship between family responsibilities, job attribute preferences, and career-related outcomes (salary, management level, job satisfaction) in a longitudinal study of 171 women and men students in the same MBA program. Findings indicated that preferences for high salary and good advancement opportunities assessed when students entered the MBA program predicted satisfaction with their salary and advancement outcomes 3 years later. Preferences did not predict actual salary or management level outcomes, however. Together, these findings suggested that individuals may adjust their feelings of satisfaction to reduce dissonance created by their inability to attain higher salaries or a higher management rank. Perhaps because these individuals were in the early stage of their management careers, we found no significant associations between family responsibilities and career-related outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street North, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada

    Alison M. Konrad & Yang Yang

  2. Department of Management Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC

    Caren Goldberg

  3. Department of Management, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH

    Sherry E. Sullivan

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  1. Alison M. Konrad
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  2. Yang Yang
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  3. Caren Goldberg
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  4. Sherry E. Sullivan
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Correspondence to Alison M. Konrad.

Additional information

An earlier version of this paper was presented as part of the symposium, “You can't have all of it all of the time: Moderators of the relationship between family and career,” at the Academy of Management in New Orleans, LA, August 2004.

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Konrad, A.M., Yang, Y., Goldberg, C. et al. Preferences for Job Attributes Associated with Work and Family: A Longitudinal Study of Career Outcomes. Sex Roles 53, 303–315 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-6754-3

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