The Impact of Similar-Gender 1 THE IMPACT OF SIMILAR-GENDER AND STANDARD-SETTING CAREER REFERENTS ON EXPECTED CAREER ACHIEVEMENT

This study examines two questions concerning the impact of women’s and men’s career referents, the people they see as having similar careers, on expected career achievement. First, what is the relative effect of similar-gender and standard-setting career referents on individuals’ expected career achievement? Second, what happens to expected career achievement when women and men select standard-setters at the same hierarchical level? Current research suggests that women have lower expected career achievement than men because they compare themselves with women who hold lowerlevel positions than the standard-setters selected by men. Thus, if women and men compared themselves with similar level standard-setters, their expected career achievement would be equal. However, this chain of reasoning has not been tested. Using data collected from a large organization, we employ a social network measure of career referents that identifies the specific individuals women and men perceive as having similar careers. The organization’s personnel data are then used to assess these referents’ hierarchical level. The results show that the hierarchical level of standard-setters is more important than the gender composition of career referents in explaining expected career achievement. In contrast to extant explanations, the results show that even when women select career referents at the same levels as men, they still exhibit significantly lower expected career achievement. Drawing on social comparison theory, we speculate this occurs because men’s expectations are bolstered by extreme upward comparisons, whereas women’s expectations are dampened, perhaps because they see high achieving others as representing a less probable goal. The Impact of Similar-Gender 3