Career Hurdle or Booster: Consequences of Ambition on Promotability Evaluations

Abstract

Existing research has shown that ambition acts as a personality variable for better understanding employees’ behaviors and work outcomes. However, research on how it is displayed and its impact is in its infancy. In this study, we propose that an ambitious employee may show more self-improvement behaviors, so a supervisor may consider them more promotable. An ambitious employee may also display unethical pro-organizational behaviors to obtain more money or power, thereby becoming less promotable. We adopt construal level theory to explain this dual mediating process in which employees consider either immediate or global rewards more, thereby determining their ambition realization pathway. The empirical results help us understand how career ambition helps or hinders career promotion. Our study provides significant theoretical and practical contributions to both ambition literature and construal-level theory.