Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Format of Original
23 p.
Publication Date
10-2013
Publisher
Wiley
Source Publication
Journal of Organizational Behavior
Source ISSN
0894-3796
Abstract
Employees' beliefs about how promotions are awarded within their organizations can have important consequences. We conducted two studies that focus on perceptions of the criteria used to make promotion decisions. In Study 1, we identified two types of perceived promotion criteria, performance-based and nonperformance-based. Then we use justice and social exchange theories to develop a model linking employee perceptions of promotion criteria to performance via their relationships with promotional justice and organizational commitment. In a sample of 305 employee–supervisor pairs, we found that both promotional justice and organizational commitment mediated between perceptions of promotion criteria and supervisor rated in-role and extra-role performance, and that having received a promotion in the past predicted attributions that promotions were based relatively more on performance or nonperformance criteria. Study 2 further examined the role of promotions themselves in the formation of perceptions of promotion criteria. Drawing from image and attribution theories, we hypothesized that the relationship between having received a promotion or not and perceptions of promotion criteria depends on ego defensiveness. In a sample of 145 employees, we found that those who scored high on ego defensiveness and who had not been promoted were especially likely to attribute promotion decisions to nonperformance criteria.
Recommended Citation
Webster, Jennica R. and Beehr, Terry A., "Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee Perceptions of Intra-Organizational Mobility Channels" (2013). Management Faculty Research and Publications. 196.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/mgmt_fac/196
Comments
Accepted version. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 34, No. 7 (October 2013): 919-941. DOI. © 2013 Wiley. Used with permission.