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The clean slate

An examination of the effects effect?
of early and late entry on
career attainment 133
The clean slate effect? Received March 2002
Amy E. Hurley Revised November 2002
Chapman University, Orange, California, USA
Stefan Wally
School of Business and Economics,Chapman University, Orange,
California, USA
Sharon L. Segrest
Department of Management, College of Business and Economics,
California State University, Fullerton, California, USA
Terri Scandura
Department of Management, School of Business Administration,
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA, and
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld
Yale School of Management, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Keywords Model, Career development, Minorities, Gender

Abstract Literature on tournament mobility in internal labor markets (ILMs) is reviewed
revealing a paucity of studies examining the promotion patterns of late entrants into internal
promotion systems. An investigation of 502 managers in a large corporation indicated that late
entry into the ILM organization was significantly and positively related to career attainment,
supporting the “clean slate effect”. In addition, experience in the corporate office was positively
related to managerial career attainment, while being female was negatively related to career
attainment. In contrast to the tournament model theory, the number of years to reach middle
management was positively related to career success. While no effect for race was found, this may
be due to the relatively low representation of minorities in the firm studied. Moderating effects of
late entry on gender, race or corporate experience were also not found.

To select and retain the best employees, managers must be aware of the
determinants of career attainment in their firm (Rosenbaum, 1989). In order to
understand better the determinants of career success, many different models
and variables have been used (Judge et al., 1995; Kirchmeyer, 1998; Rosenbaum, Personnel Review
1989; Seibert et al., 1999, 2001). Career attainment has been defined in various Vol. 32 No. 2, 2003
pp. 133-150
ways in previous research. Both external and internal variables have been used q MCB UP Limited
0048-3486
to represent career attainment. Extrinsic variables have included salary DOI 10.1108/00483480310460180
PR (Siebert et al., 2001), promotions (Wayne et al., 1999), and hierarchical level
32,2 (Hurley and Sonnenfeld, 1998), while intrinsic variables have included feelings
of accomplishment, job satisfaction and career satisfaction (London and
Stumpf, 1982; Judge and Bretz, 1994). In this paper we define career attainment
as hierarchical level attained in organization.
The tournament model of career mobility is frequently used to describe
134 managerial career attainment determinants in internal labor market (ILM)
firms. Within ILM firms potential employees encounter barriers to entry into
the firms’ workforce and are restricted to a number of low-level positions from
which they must work their way up (Scott, 1987). The tournament model of
careers contends that organizations operate similarly to sports tournaments
with a set number of rounds and only the winners of each round are allowed to
compete at the next level. In organizations employees must win each round and
earn the promotion in order to move into higher levels of management
(Rosenbaum, 1989). Rosenbaum (1989) used signaling theory to describe the
process surrounding decisions about who wins the tournament round.
Signaling theory posits that because of the difficulty of getting information
about a person’s ability, employers will use indicators of employee ability to
make promotion decisions. Studies have suggested that managers have often
used organizational experience factors as signals of an employee’s abilities
(Hurley and Sonnenfeld, 1998; Rosenbaum, 1989). Within an ILM firm, these
signals are derived from an employee’s work history within the firm.
Research indicates that in order to remain competitive, ILMs should hire
some high-level managers from the external labor market. Some researchers
suggest that hiring external labor market managers is important in order for
the organizations to avoid becoming “dinosaurs” (Lawler and Galbraith, 1994).
Dinosaur organizations are unable to respond quickly to their changing
environments. Managers are advised to hire specialists from outside their
organizations to remain competitive.
When external hires are made into managerial levels in an ILM organization,
the tournament model may have to be modified. External hires do not provide
the work history signals that managers may use when making promotion
decisions. This may be beneficial for the external management hires. These
external hires enter the firm with a “clean slate.” Information may only be
available on their past career successes while internal candidates have
information on both their past career successes and mistakes available to those
making promotion decisions.
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to tournament mobility research
on careers by examining the promotion patterns of employees within an ILM
organization, in comparison to “late entrants”, those entering managerial levels
from the external labor market. An ILM organization provides the ideal
research site within which to study management selection. However, few
organizations are willing to open up their records regarding management
promotions, limiting research on ILM organizations (Powell and Butterfield, The clean slate
1994). Also, because of firms’ reluctance to share internal organizational effect?
records, those studies that have focused on or included top managers often find
it necessary to use self-reported surveys (Tharenou et al., 1994). This study
examines the career attainment of both late entrants into an organization and
those who entered the organization at entry-level positions. Data collected from
the human resource information system of a large US-based corporation 135
enabled us to research the effects of various factors on external and internal
managerial career attainment in an ILM.

Internal versus external labor markets

Organizations have always been faced with the dilemma of using an external or
internal labor market (Brett and Stroh, 1997; Sonnenfeld, 1989). Hiring and
promotion practices vary depending on whether firms use internal or external
labor markets. External labor market organizations will concentrate on
recruiting from the outside, while ILM firms will concentrate on promotions
from within (Brett and Stroh, 1997; Sonnenfeld, 1989).
Organizations that depend on an ILM may make hiring with the assumption
that the new hires will stay with the company for a long time. ILM
organizations will focus on recruiting internally in order to reduce turnover and
keep the transaction costs associated with turnover to a minimum while at the
same time helping the firm to obtain greater employee loyalty (Cappelli and
Cascio, 1991; Sonnenfeld, 1989). Firms limited to an ILM may not be getting the
best talent available (Osterman, 1984). ILM organizations primarily rely on
existing employees and when possible do not look to the external market to
replace employees with the most talented individuals available in the market.
Firms primarily relying on external labor markets are often perceived as
making hiring decisions with a short-term outlook and hiring individuals with
the idea that they can be easily replaced. Economists and social theorists have
argued for the use of external labor markets, because when external labor
markets are used, labor can be used until its marginal contribution no longer
exceeds its marginal cost (Sonnenfeld, 1989). Organizations may use different
labor markets depending on the degree of professionalism or specialization a
firm requires. If a worker’s skills are highly portable, that employee is generally
more easily replaced. If a firm requires a high degree of specialization,
employees with these skills are not easily replaced and the organization must
attempt to retain such employees. However, in a tight labor market no one is
easily replaced.

Literature review and hypotheses

Late entrants as clean slates
Even in an ILM organization, some managers will be hired externally. When
this happens, the basic premise of the ILM organization does not hold. In effect,
PR these individuals enter the organizations later in their careers and have no
32,2 history with the company. They may be seen by their superiors as “clean
slates” in that only recruiting information is available on their career histories.
In contrast, those who have been with the company throughout their careers
are well known to those making promotion decisions. Hence, their earlier career
mistakes may be known to upper level management. Also, those who enter late
136 into an ILM organization at managerial ranks are often hired as the result of
informal recommendations or through headhunters, and upper level managers
may have a higher set of performance expectations for the late entry managers.
The clean slate effect suggests that those entering late into an ILM organization
will have accelerated promotions, due to their hire from outside being viewed
as a signal of their potential for upper level management:
H1. Being a late (external) entrant will be positively related to career
attainment (measured by managerial rank) in the organization.
Rosenbaum (1984) found that early career success was related to promotions of
managers within ILM organizations, which he referred to as the “tournament
mobility” model of career attainment. Early career losses in terms of promotion
preclude managers from playing in the next round; they are not eligible for
higher promotions. Early career attainment has been found to be a key
predictor of management success in the careers literature (Forbes, 1987;
Kirchmeyer, 1998; Rosenbaum, 1989). Based upon the tournament mobility
model, it is expected that less time to reach middle management in the ILM
organization studied is associated with higher levels of career attainment:
H2. The number of years before reaching middle management will be
negatively related to career attainment in the organization.

Gender and race effects on career attainment

Many studies of tournament mobility in ILM organizations have been limited
to white male employees due to characteristics of the study samples available
(Forbes, 1987; Rosenbaum, 1984). However, the managerial sample for the
present study of tournament mobility in an ILM organization included males,
females, whites and non-whites, allowing effects of gender and race to be
investigated. Gender and race may be used by managers as signals when
making promotion decisions (Martin et al., 1983). Research has found that
gender and race are criteria commonly used either directly or indirectly to make
managerial promotion decisions (Powell and Butterfield, 1997; Stumpf and
London, 1981; Tharenou, 2001).
One study utilizing actual promotion decision records did not find the
expected discrimination against women (Powell and Butterfield, 1994). The
authors attributed this surprising finding to the fact that the study took
place in a federal government department that may have had a special
commitment to equal employment opportunity. A recent study did find that
women indicated that gender discrimination was the most frequent barrier The clean slate
to promotion at all managerial levels (Metz and Tharenou, 2001). effect?
It has also been found that male executives often prefer to promote other
men to leadership positions, because they prefer peers who are similar to
themselves (Ibarra, 1992). Further, selective advancement patterns based on
gender have been demonstrated in the literature, suggesting that
organizational promotion policies favor men over women (Brett and Stroh, 137
1999; Baron et al., 1986). Female managers still are often at a disadvantage with
regards to income, relocation opportunities, and work and family balance (Brett
and Stroh, 1999):
H3. Males will have higher career attainment than females in the
organization.
Race is also often highly correlated with organizational positions (Ibarra,
1992). Despite the recent emphasis on valuing diversity, minorities in top
management are still underrepresented. The proportion of minorities in
top management positions in US organizations is less than 1 percent
(Korn/Ferry International, 1990). This may be due to the “glass ceiling”
effect that prevents minorities from being promoted into the upper
echelons (Corsun and Costen, 2001). It has been suggested that race may
indirectly affect career success through important variables such as
education level, work experience, performance evaluation results, highest
level attained in the organization and years at the highest level (Powell
and Butterfield, 1997).
There is evidence that racial minorities are not given the same opportunities
in organizations as other employees (Ilgen and Youtz, 1986). It may be that
minority employees are not steered toward positions or functional departments
that lead to career attainment in the firm nor given early promotions needed for
advancement (Braddock and McPartland, 1987; Kanter, 1977). Deficits in
developmental opportunities also may be related to minorities receiving lower
promotability assessments from their supervisors than whites. And, minority
members may have fewer intimate network relationships (Ibarra, 1995; Powell
and Butterfield, 1997):
H4. Whites will have higher career attainment than non-whites in the
organization.

Corporate experience and career attainment

People who work close to corporate headquarters may have higher career
attainment. Being in corporate headquarters makes them highly visible to
those making promotion decisions. Network theories suggest that those with
restricted network access will have lower promotion chances than those with
more network access. Network access gives people increased knowledge of
what is going on in the organization and enables them to be in positions with
PR high promotion probabilities (Ibarra, 1993, 1995). Network access may be
32,2 related to centrality in the firm. A factor associated with centrality is working
in or near corporate headquarters. Those with greater centrality will have
greater promotion opportunities. Limited network access produces multiple
disadvantages including restricted knowledge of what is going on in the
organization (Ibarra, 1993, 1995). Those with restricted network access will
138 have less awareness of the determinants of career success in the firm.
Therefore, we would expect manager’s experience in corporate headquarters to
lead to higher career attainment.
In addition to the total number of years at the corporate headquarters, it is
also expected that previously being in the corporate region just prior to the
manager’s last promotion will be significantly and positively associated with
the level of attainment. Based on theories of networking reviewed above, this
should be the result of the “recency effect” of top decision makers at the
corporate headquarters personally knowing and remembering the candidate
when he or she is up for promotion:
H5. Time in corporate headquarters will be positively related to career
attainment in the organization.
H6. The manager’s most recent job being in the corporate region will be
positively related to career attainment in the organization.

The moderating effects of late entry

Late entry may moderate the relationship between corporate experience and
career attainment. The access to the central networks of the organization
obtained by corporate experience (Ibarra, 1993) coupled with the blank slate of
the late entrants may help late entrants to achieve higher career attainment
than the early entrants. We would expect the positive relationship between
number of years in corporate headquarters and career level attained to be
strongest for external entrants. Also, we would expect the positive relationship
between most recent job in corporate and career level attained to be strongest
for external entrants.
Late entry may also moderate the relationship between career attainment
and race and gender. We would expect that entering at a managerial level will
have a stronger positive effect on the career attainment of women and
minorities as compared with the career attainment of women and minorities
who entered at lower levels.

Method
Sample
The research site was a large US-based international company in the service
industry with over 200,000 personnel widely dispersed across the USA. Most
employees enter the firm at a low level and are promoted from within. The firm
has a very low turnover rate (less than 4 percent). Information on managers’ The clean slate
careers was obtained from the firm’s computerized record system. effect?
There are 251 pairs of mid-level managers (n = 502 managers of the 27,141
total managers in the firm) in our sample with one member of the pair having
entered the firm at a managerial level and one having entered at an entry-level
position. In other words, half the sample consisted of 251 mid-level managers
who entered the firm in a managerial position and had obtained one promotion
139
(late organization entrants). The other half of the sample consisted of 251 mid-
level managers who had entered the firm through entry-level positions (early
organization entrants) and had attained the same current managerial level as
the late organization entrants.
Pairing managers who had obtained similar career attainment (except only
half had entered in entry level positions) allowed us to compare early and late
entrants. The entire sample did not have the same managerial level, but each
individual pair had attained the same managerial level. Because of the small
number of women and minority top managers we could not also match on race
and gender. The sample was 6 percent female and 87 percent white. Table I
lists demographic data for both the early and late entrants.

Measures
Career attainment. The company’s organizational structure has the shape of a
pyramid with a reasonably wide base, and there are ten career levels in the firm
with levels four to ten representing managerial levels. These seven levels were
used to indicate a manager’s current level of career attainment. Levels 5
through 8 are considered mid-level management. Salary information was not

Entered
Entered entry- Entered management
level management (early and late-
(early entrants) (late entrants) total entrants)
Variables Means Std dev. Means Std dev. Means Std dev.

Number of years to mid management 2.65*** 5.48 1.13 3.39 1.89 4.62
Gender (female) 0.09** 0.29 0.02 0.15 0.06 0.23
Non-white 0.16 0.36 0.10 0.30 0.13 0.33
Number years in corporate 0.33 1.39 0.55 2.61 0.44 2.09
Most recent job in corporate 0.07 0.25 0.07 0.26 0.07 0.25
Performance ratings 4.20 0.76 4.23 0.80 4.21 0.78
Number of years of line experience 11.42* 7.46 13.28 10.59 12.35 9.19
Number of different jobs 9.01* 4.03 8.15 5.6 8.58 4.89 Table I.
Number of different departments 2.57** 1.12 2.22 1.33 2.40 1.24 Means, standard
Education 2.06 1.82** 1.16 1.68 1.62 1.81 deviations and
Tenure 17.01 6.27*** 21.08 7.42 19.05 7.16 t-tests for
Notes: T-tests preformed comparing early entrants to late entrants demographic
* p , 0.05; ** p , 0.01; *** p , 0.001 variables
PR available for these managers. However, the salary system is a grade system,
32,2 and salary is highly correlated with level.
Entering managerial level. A dichotomous variable was used to represent
whether the manager had entered in a managerial position. A value of one
indicated the manager entered the firm in a managerial position (level 4-8) and
a value of zero indicated the employee entered through an entry-level position
140 (level 1-3). This allowed us to test our hypotheses regarding those who entered
the organization through entry-level positions versus those who entered
through managerial positions.
Number of years to middle management. The number of years it took the
manager to reach middle management (level 5) was used to measure the
tournament mobility effect which indicates that the longer it takes for a
manager to reach middle management, the lower the career attainment
(Rosenbaum, 1984).
Gender and race. A dichotomous variable with a value of one assigned to
female was created for this study. For race, a dichotomous variable was created
having a value of zero assigned to white which represented the majority of the
managers in the organization, and a value of one was assigned if the manager
was AfricanAmerican, American Indian, AsianAmerican or Hispanic
(nonwhite).
Number of years in corporate headquarters. This variable indicates how
many total years the employee had worked in corporate headquarters in their
career with this firm. This information was obtained from company records.
Most recent job in corporate headquarters. This variable indicates whether
the employee’s most recent job prior to their current position was in corporate
headquarters. This dichotomous variable was included in the model with a
value of one indicating that the manager’s most recent job prior to their current
position was in the corporate headquarters.
Entering managerial level interaction effects. To examine potential
moderating effects of entering at a managerial level on corporate experience,
race, and gender, interaction terms were created. A total of four interaction
variables were computed. The interaction of entering managerial level with
number of years in corporate headquarters, most recent job in corporate
headquarters, gender and race were computed.

Control variables
Career success research predicts that experience and performance evaluations
will affect employees’ career attainment (Kirchmeyer, 1998; Rosenbaum, 1989).
Therefore these variables were controlled for in the analyses.
Performance ratings. This is an overall effectiveness rating for the
employee that is a combination of a performance and skill appraisal. This
rating is taken from the most recent performance evaluation done by the
employee’s direct manager. The scale used in the evaluations is 1 to 6 with
6 being the highest possible rating. The performance evaluations are done The clean slate
once a year. effect?
Line experience. Functional area may play an important role in a manager’s
career attainment. Some functional areas are associated with greater centrality
in a firm’s networks, therefore leading to greater availability of information
about the firm. Functional area has often been investigated in terms of line
versus staff departments. In many firms the functional areas leading to
141
greatest centrality are the line departments. Research has found that gaining
line experience early in one’s career enhances career success and is necessary to
move into upper management levels (Cox and Harquail, 1991; Larwood and
Gattiker, 1987; McCauley et al., 1994). Rosenbaum (1984) found that those with
line experience had higher rates of promotions than those without line
experience. The number of years an employee had spent in line departments is
included in the model.
Job and department experience. There is considerable debate as to whether
top managers need a corporate-wide operating knowledge base or a core
function expertise (Michel and Hambrick, 1992). Research suggests that in
firms where departments must cooperate for maximum performance, top
managers must have knowledge of all corporate-wide operating activities (Hill
and Hoskisson, 1987). The implication for managerial careers in such
organizations is that managers must gain this knowledge and experience
through transfers between different departments (i.e. lateral career movement).
This breadth of experience in the firm helps them develop firm-specific human
capital (Williamson, 1975). Breadth of experience as human capital allows top
managers to have an organization-wide perspective.
Managers’ breadth of experience in the firm was represented by two
variables in the present study. First, the number of different jobs they have
held in the firm, including both lateral and upward moves, was included.
Second, the number of jobs held in a firm does not take into account their
departmental affiliation. Two people may have held the same number of
different jobs, but one had a career in only one department while the other
person moved from department to department. Managers also need experience
in many departments before moving into top management. The second
variable to illustrate breadth of experience is the number of different
departments in which a manager had held positions.

Data analysis
Correlation coefficients between all variables were computed. To examine
multivariate effects, multiple hierarchical (moderated) regression analysis was
conducted, entering the control variables into the equation, followed by the
predictor variables indicated in H1 through H6 (Cohen and Cohen, 1983). The
interaction variables to explore the moderating effects of late entry were
entered in step 3. Career attainment was regressed on the control variables, the
PR hypothesized predictor variables (late entry, number of years before reaching
32,2 middle management, gender, race, years in corporate headquarters and
previous job in corporate), and the interaction or moderating variables. As a
follow up analysis, post hoc t-tests were performed, comparing late entrants
into the organization to those who had been with the firm their entire careers to
examine the direction of the effects on the control and predictor variables.
142

Results
Means and standard deviations for early entrants, late entrants and the total
sample are presented in Table I. Bivariate correlations, means and standard
deviations for all variables are presented in Table II. There were two high
correlations which required examination: number of years spent in the
corporate region and whether the employee was in the corporate region prior to
their current position (0.67); and number of different departments and number
of different jobs (0.65). Each of the above high correlations is due to two items
being used to represent the variables of breadth of experience and time in
corporate headquarters. Although they are both under 0.8 (Lewis-Beck, 1980),
we looked at the variance inflation factors (VIF) for these four variables, and
their low values indicate that these four variables did not pose a problem in the
statistical analysis. Therefore the four variables were included in the regression
equation. Variables should be excluded from an equation if their VIF is over 10
(Yu, 2002), however the highest VIF was 1.9 for job count. Since, it was
important to examine the relative contributions of these variables, hierarchical
regression analysis was performed.
The results of the regression analyses testing the direct and interaction
influences on career attainment are presented in Table III. The overall
regression equation was significant and accounted for 33 percent of the
variance in managers’ career attainment. As indicated, late entry into the ILM
was significantly and positively related to career attainment supporting H1 or
the clean slate effect. However, the tournament mobility results, although
significant, were in the opposite direction as expected (H2); the number of years
to middle management was significantly and positively related to career
attainment. Gender was found to be a significant predictor of career attainment
(H3). Specifically being female was negatively related to career attainment.
However, in this study race was not a (H4) significant predictor of career
attainment. This was perhaps due to the small number of minorities in the
sample. The number of years spent in the corporate headquarters was
positively related to career attainment supporting H5. Finally, a positive
relationship was found for the relationship between the manager’s previous job
being in the corporate region and his or her career attainment supporting H6.
None of the individual interaction terms involving late entry was a significant
unique predictor of career attainment.
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Years to mid management

2. No. of different jobs 0.27**
3. No. of line years 0.01 0.26**
4. Femalea 20.05 20.04 2 0.18**
5. No. of corporate years 0.06 0.06 2 0.17** 0.02
6. Entered as managera 20.16** 20.09* 0.10* 2 0.14** 0.05
7. Prev. in corporatea 0.16** 0.10* 2 0.19** 0.03 0.67** 0.01
8. Non-whitea 20.01 0.02 2 0.03 0.08 2 0.01 2 0.08 2 0.01
9. No. of different departments 0.22** 0.65** 0.12** 0.02 0.01 2 0.14** 0.04 0.05
10. Previous performance appraisal 0.16** 0.18** 2 0.11* 2 0.05 0.18** 0.02 0.15** 2 0.02 0.12**
11. Level 0..45** 0.26** 2 0.11* 2 0.08 0.17** 0.01 0.40** 2 0.01 0.19** 0.23***
Notes: n ¼ 502
a
Means for these dummy variables indicate the proportion of observations that are coded 1; * p , 0.05; ** p , 0.01

Descriptive
effect?

correlations
statistics and
The clean slate

Table II.
143
PR
Variables b b T Adj R 2
32,2
Control variables
Line years 2 0.007 20.111 2 2.809*
No. of different departments 0.009 0.018 0.370
No. of different jobs 0.018 0.142 2.831*
144 Previous performance appraisal 0.072 0.093 2.469*
0.119
Predictor variables
Non-white 2 0.003 20.002 2 0.043
Previously corporate 0.965 0.408 8.233**
No. of corporate years 0.048 0.166 3.401**
Female 2 0.202 20.078 2 2.109*
Years to mid management 0.046 0.348 9.072**
Table III. Entered as manager 0.092 0.077 2.046*
Results of Adj R 2 0.357
regression analysis F 36.247**
model 1 Notes: * p , 0.05; ** p , 0.001

The results of the t-tests (Table I) indicated that there were some significant
differences between those who entered management and those who entered the
company at the entry level. Those who had spent their entire career in the
organization had held more jobs and had been in more departments (i.e. more
breadth of managerial experience). However, these early entrant managers had
fewer line years and had taken longer to reach middle management. More men
had entered the firm at the managerial levels (late entrants) than women.

Discussion and implications

The results of this study extend the tournament mobility model of managerial
careers in several ways. First, ILM theory and research was extended by the
research finding that late entry into an ILM organization was significantly and
positively related to career attainment. This supports the clean slate effect in
which late entrants to the ILM organization are promoted more quickly than
early entrants. This is perhaps due to the fact that there is no history of
mistakes for the late entrants or that they were perceived as having special
expertise due to their hire into the organization at the managerial level, thus
giving them a better image within the organization than the early entrants. Of
course, in some cases the late entrants might in fact be more talented than the
early entrants therefore facilitating earlier promotions.
Second, H2 was not supported; managers who took longer to reach middle
management also attained higher levels. This was not expected based upon the
tournament mobility model (Rosenbaum, 1984, 1989). The non-support of H2
may be exciting for all employees. The tournament model states that if you lose
out in the early rounds of the tournament by not getting promoted immediately,
you will not be given a second chance. The results of this study indicate that
apparently some of the managers within this organization were given a second The clean slate
chance or a “wild card” berth in the tournament, even if they missed early effect?
promotion.
Consistent with prior theory and research on women in management and
H3, being female was negatively related to career attainment (Cannings, 1988;
Ibarra, 1992). Despite the advances in equal employment opportunities for
women (Fu and Shaffer, 2001), it seems that women still are not making strides
145
into upper management. This could be partially due to women being less well
connected in networks or due to the fact that women are still more likely than
men to be primary caregivers for children or senior family members resulting
in outcomes such as greater absenteeism and/or tardiness. In addition, women
are more likely to take have career gaps due to taking time off from their
careers for child rearing. However, another possibility is that women self
selected out of the organization due to the perception that there were better
opportunities elsewhere.
No effect for race was found in the current study (H4). This may be due to
the relatively low representation of minorities in the firm studied and does not
necessarily indicate that race is unimportant in career attainment. It is likely
that there is still racial discrimination in many organizations and this issue still
deserves additional research. In particular, in organizations where minorities
are underrepresented in management positions, potential remedies to unequal
opportunity such as providing mentoring and training opportunities merit
additional research.
Corporate experience appears to be an important predictor of managerial
career attainment. The total number of years at corporate headquarters was
significantly related to career attainment (H5). Also, the most recent job being
in the corporate region was a strong predictor of career attainment, supporting
network theory (Ibarra, 1992, 1993) and the “recency effect” expected (H6).
Being seen and known in corporate headquarters in the recent past did appear
to help managers in their career attainment.
No support was found for the moderating effects of late entry on career
attainment. This was surprising, because we expected to find that entering at a
managerial level would moderate the relationship between corporate
experience, gender, race and career attainment. To examine this more closely
we compared the early and late entrants on these variables. Comparison of
those who were early entrants to those who were late entrants (entering at the
management level (see Table I)) indicated that the early entrants had paid their
dues in terms of holding more jobs, being in different departments, and having
fewer line years. The late entrants in the organization were promoted faster,
despite not having this breadth of experience within the firm.
Late entrants were more likely to be male, which may indicate that the firm
was not attempting to correct the deficiency of women at higher managerial
levels that has been found in previous research on women in management
PR (Corsun and Costen, 2001). The glass ceiling for women may actually be
32,2 reinforced by ILM organizations hiring more men than women into upper
levels of management from external labor markets. However, another reason
that late entrants were more likely to be male could be that there was a dearth
of supply of females with the necessary experience.
146
Limitations and future directions
This study does have limitations. Utilizing data from one organization did
allow us to control for possible organizational or even industry effects.
However, it does limit the generalizability of our findings in that this
organization may not be representative of the average company. We
recommend that future researchers conduct longitudinal studies that collect
data from multiple organizations. This would facilitate research of different
career systems. It may be that other factors, such as industry differences, affect
career attainment.
In addition, there are disadvantages to the use of archival data. First, as
stated before, the generalizability may be questioned. Second, accessing
archival data related to promotions is often extremely difficult. Convincing an
organization to allow full access to potentially sensitive personnel files is often
difficult as organizations may be concerned that unfair promotion practices
may be revealed. Finally, relying on archival data is relatively objective,
however, it does not provide the type of information that could be attained
through in-depth interviews with managers regarding their perceptions of their
careers.
Nonetheless, the use of archival data is very important to advancing our
knowledge of career systems. The detailed data obtained for this study from
the organization’s occupational records allows a more detailed, objective
analysis of actual ILMs. Although some may argue against using a single
organization, we need to explore individual career systems in order to
understand fully how they work. Combining employees from different career
systems into one study may not allow us to separate the findings of the career
system being studied from the findings due to contextual factors in the various
organizations.
It is true that there may be some range restriction due to high performing
late entrants leaving the organization therefore making room for promotions
for more early entrants. However, some high performing and/or low
performing early entrants may also leave the organization. The results for
non-whites indicated that there was the same percentage of non-white early
entrants as late entrants. The role of race and gender needs to be examined
more closely in this firm and in other organizations as well.
Future research on ILM organizations should continue in order to examine
the effects of late entrants into the promotion hierarchy. This study indicates
that those entering the organization at management levels appeared to have
accelerated career success. Employees in ILM organizations who tried to work The clean slate
their way up from a low entry position may be demotivated by watching effect?
outsiders being hired into upper levels and then promoted at a faster rate.
Implications for those who entered the organization at entry level need to be
examined to determine if there are any detrimental effects due to perceptions of
unfairness due to the promotion of late entrants.
Research on exceptions to the tournament model appears to be warranted by
147
the results of this study to see if managers who are not promoted early in their
careers are being given second chances within their organizations and what
factors influence the obtainment of these second chances. Do some people
persevere for to obtain the opportunities? Are some people eventually given
assignments that allow them to show they deserve a second chance at moving
up in the organization? We also encourage future researchers to consider other
determinants affecting the careers of early and late entrants into ILM firms.
Further investigation is needed on the effect of the corporate region. Perhaps
following the careers of those who entered in the corporate region and those
who move into it later in their careers would allow us to examine the effect.
Future studies could also look at people in the corporate region now and find
out how their career paths progressed. In addition, based on our unexpected
results involving the moderating effects of late entry into an organization, we
encourage future researchers to explore this issue more directly.

Managerial implications
For individuals who are stuck in seemingly dead-end positions or for those who
have tarnished reputations due to their organizational mistakes, the clean slate
effect demonstrated in this research indicates that in some cases managers are
able to create a better impression and have greater career attainment through a
fresh start with a new organization. In addition, when these managers change
organizations, it may help to keep the firm from becoming “stale” due to new
ideas being infused into the organization by the new external labor market
hires.
Interestingly, the tournament model, which indicates that early career
success is critical for future career success, was not supported. Length of time
to reach middle management in years was not related to career attainment.
This gives hope to individuals who do not attain early career success indicating
that persistence over time also plays a role in achieving higher-level
management positions.
Being male was positively related to career attainment and late entrants into
the organization were more likely to be male. This is reflective of the fact that
worldwide organizations are still dominated at the upper levels by males.
Firms could take the extra step to develop talented females and other minorities
by providing them more opportunities for advancement, additional career
training and mentoring opportunities. In addition targeted recruiting could
PR locate talented minorities who may typically be overlooked. Having more
32,2 women and minorities in top management could ultimately be beneficial to
organization by providing diverse perspectives and solutions to problems.
The results of this study indicate that it is important for lower-level
managers to gain experience working in the corporate region of organizations
before they are considered for top-level managerial positions, and that the
148 number of years in the corporate headquarters and the recency of corporate
experience are both important to career attainment. It appears that it is helpful
to be personally known by corporate decision makers prior to being promoted
to top management positions from middle management. Being aware of this
research finding can be helpful to managers in planning their careers. A
manager who is located far from corporate headquarters and wants to advance
to the top ranks of the organization should probably try to be relocated in order
to obtain more exposure to upper management.

Conclusion
This study attempts to elucidate some of the factors related to career
attainment as indicated by number of promotions. It draws to the forefront the
possibility of the clean slate effect occurring in which late entrants into an
internal labor market achieve greater career attainment. It also provides
evidence that the tournament model of promotions is not always applicable and
with perseverance managers who do not attain early career success can still
ultimately make it to the top levels of management. Career attainment was not
equal for males and females in this study indicating a need to delve into this
issue to understand the causes of these inequities and potential solutions.
Finally, this research indicated that exposure in corporate headquarters can be
an important factor in career attainment.

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