Career Anchorage: Managerial Mobility Motivations

Abstract

Sociological theories of occupational mobility have incorporated two sets of assumptions about occupational aspiration. One position is that men are oriented toward career-long advancement; another views men as oriented to stabilizing or modestly improving their occupational rank. A career orientation anchorage model of mobility orientations treats different levels of occupational aspiration as outcomes of a single mechanism, suggesting that different levels need not be treated as determined by separate processes. Middle-level managers holding each type of mobility orientation are located by a Career Orientations Anchorage Scale, and differences between managers with contrasting career orientation anchorages are examined. Several variables, especially age, appear to affect career orientation anchorage.