Thomas W. Dougherty

RELATIONSHIP OF CAREER MENTORING AND SOCIOECONOMIC ORIGIN TO MANAGERS' AND PROFESSIONALS' EARLY CAREER PROGRESS

This study examined the relationship of career mentoring to the promotions and compensation received by 404 early career managers and professionals working in a variety of organizations. The result...

Correlates of Networking Behavior for Managerial and Professional Employees

Networking is an important strategy for managing one’s career, but little is known about those who engage in networking behaviors. A study of 418 managers and professionals was conducted to examine the relationship of personal and job characteristics to involvement in networking. Multiple regression results showed that gender, socioeconomic background, self-esteem, extraversion, favorable attitudes toward workplace politics, organizational level, and type of position are significant predictors of involvement in networking behaviors. Implications of these results and directions for future research on networking are discussed.

Patterns of burnout among managers and professionals: A comparison of models.

Using structural equation modeling, this paper compares the intertemporal sequences of the burnout components proposed by Maslach (1982) and Golembiewski (1989) using responses from 354 human resource professionals. The relationship between the burnout components and several critical variables that are theoretically linked to the phenomenon are also investigated. Studying human resource professionals allows us to examine the generalizability of burnout. This group of employees provides a range of services to a largely internal client group, and thus experience strain from interpersonal interactions. Results support Maslachs three-factor sequential model of burnout, although its superiority over the Golembiewski sequential model is not definitive. A post hoc analysis reveals a significant path between emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, and an insignificant path between depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Investigation of the relationship between the burnout components and several critical, theoretically linked variables indicates significant paths between (a) role overload and emotional exhaustion, (b) noncontingent punishment and depersonalization, and (c) contingent rewards and personal accomplishment. The work documents the generalizability of burnout to managers and professionals in corporate settings.

Who Is a Mentor? A Review of Evolving Definitions and Implications for Research

The authors’ review of the mentoring literature describes how the construct has changed since Kram’s influential work in the early 1980s, the implications of such changes for the field, and suggestions for the future. In addition to highlighting changes over time in the topics mentoring researchers have studied, the authors provide an in-depth review of the way researchers have defined mentoring and the implications of those definitions. They identified approximately 40 different definitions used in the empirical literature since 1980. The discussion of definitions is followed by a delineation of the core attributes of all mentoring relationships and recommendations for specific information that researchers should collect about the relationship. The authors conclude by describing research trends and directions for future mentoring research.

The measurement of role variables: Exploratory examination of a new approach

Abstract New measures of role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload were developed for a group of attorneys located in the headquarters of a large energy company. These measures were based upon a recently developed theory of behavior in organizations, which focuses on specific job products as an essential component of organizational roles. The measures have an attractive potential for applied efforts (e.g., training) to rectify or diminish role stress problems. Forty respondents completed the product-based measures in addition to commonly used measures of the role variables and a number of outcome measures. Results indicated that (1) the product-based role measures displayed patterns of relationships with outcomes which were quite similar to the patterns for commonly used role measures, and (2) the product-based measures of role variables compared favorably to commonly used measures in terms of frequency of relationships to outcome variables and appeared to be somewhat superior in terms of method variance problems.

Influence tactics and salary attainment: a gender-specific analysis

In this article the linkages between upward influence tactics and salary attainment were studied within the context of observed salary differences between men and women. The data for this field study were gathered from 212 male and 82 female business school graduates. Annual salary was regressed on a set of control variables and six dimensions of upward influence. Separate salary equations were estimated for men and women, and used to study sex-based salary differentials. The results indicated that even though there were few mean differences between men and women in terms of person-centered attributes, the characteristics of employing organizations, or the use of upward influence styles, women earned less than men. The set of upward influence tactics uniquely accounted for variation in salaries for both men and women, and there was evidence of gender specificity in the salarly allocation process. The usefulness of considering upward influence tactics when studying the salary allocation process is emphasized, particularly when the goal is to understand observed salary differences between men and women.

Factors affecting the performance and satisfaction of adult men and women attending college

Questionnaire data collected from male and female university students 25 years of age or older were used to investigate correlates of their performance, satisfaction, and adjustment in college. Men reported lower levels of performance and satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses of predictors of college grade-point average, satisfaction with college, and affective changes occurring while in college indicated that these three measures were predicted by demographic variables, by aspects of the college experience, by the external out-of-college responsibilities of these students, and by their goals. Each of the three dependent measures was predicted by a different subset of these variables.

Turnover and Competition for Expected Job Openings: An Exploratory Analysis

The article details a study that examines the relationship between external employment opportunities and employee turnover. The author discusses methods of estimating employment opportunity for var...

Factors affecting perceptions of workplace sexual harassment

This study investigated several variables that determine how one interprets anothers behavior as sexually harassing in ambiguous situations. Data were collected from 1234 male and female graduate and undergraduate student subjects who responded to 24 versions of a vignette describing an interaction between a male and female who worked for the same firm (2×3×2×2 design). Variables manipulated included (1) amount of prior socializing of the man and woman; (2) job status (peer coworker, direct supervisor, executive) of harasser; (3) verbal versus touching behavior; and (4) physical setting (at computer terminal or happy hour). Results revealed several main effects such that a males potentially harassing behavior toward a female was evaluated more negatively (1) when the pair had not previously socialized, (2) when the harasser was a supervisor or executive, (3) when it involved verbal comments, and (4) when the behavior occurred in a work (versus social) setting. Additional analysis revealed that, contrary to previous studies, there were no male–female differences among respondents in evaluations of behavior as harassing.

The MBA as Careerist: An Analysis of Early-Career Job Change

This study examined the job changes of 680 early-career business school graduates. Although a number of anecdotal articles characterize MBAs as overly “careerist” and oriented toward job-hopping, little empirical research has focused on this issue. The research included a direct comparison of job-hopping behavior of MBAs with bachelor S degree graduates, taking into account a number of control variables, including demographic and economic variables. Results indicated that MBAs changed jobs less frequently than bachelor 5 degree graduates, even when a variety of other factors were controlled.