Wherever He May Go: How Wives Affect Their Husband's Career Decisions

Abstract

We study the impact that a wife has on her husband's choice of career. Specifically, we investigate the decision to remain in the military and pursue the career of a military officer for those couples consisting of a civilian wife and a military husband. This decision is of special interest because the employment opportunities of wives are almost always negatively affected by a husband's military career. We find that variables measuring the financial consequences of a career change are important as are attitudinal variables. Moreover, our results show that the economic consequences of a career choice are valued differently by a husband depending on whether the consequences apply to himself or to his spouse. We find that a husband's level of satisfaction with the family's present work–life situation matters more than the wife's level of satisfaction and that a husband gives less weight to the potential earnings of his wife if the wife has a low level of attachment to the labor force. Finally, there is a significant difference among men in that a traditional husband only partially accounts for the potential economic impact on his wife of the prospective career change.