Using the contest-and sponsored-mobility perspectives as theoretical guides, this meta-analysis reviewed 4 categories of predictors of objective and subjective career success: human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable individual differences. Salary level and promotion served as dependent measures of objective career success, and subjective career success was represented by career satisfaction. Results demonstrated that both objective and subjective career success were related to a wide range of predictors. As a group, human capital and sociodemographic predictors generally displayed stronger relationships with objective career success, and organizational sponsorship and stable individual differences were generally more strongly related to subjective career success. Gender and time (date of the study) moderated several of the relationships examined.

Previous reviews of the literature on the relationship between age and job performance have largely focused on core task performance but have paid much less attention to other job behaviors that also contribute to productivity. The current study provides an expanded meta-analysis on the relationship between age and job performance that includes 10 dimensions of job performance: core task performance, creativity, performance in training programs, organizational citizenship behaviors, safety performance, general counterproductive work behaviors, workplace aggression, on-the-job substance use, tardiness, and absenteeism. Results show that although age was largely unrelated to core task performance, creativity, and performance in training programs, it demonstrated stronger relationships with the other 7 performance dimensions. Results also highlight that the relationships of age with core task performance and with counterproductive work behaviors are curvilinear in nature and that several sample characteristics and data collection characteristics moderate age-performance relationships. The article concludes with a discussion of key research design issues that may further knowledge about the age-performance relationship in the future.

SummaryWhile the concept of workaholism has received a good deal of attention in the popular press, theoretical and empirical research have lagged behind. In part, the lack of a formal, agreed upon definition of the construct and its dimensions has hampered research on this topic. The purpose of this review is to offer a cohesive definition of workaholism, discuss its underlying dimensions, and identify its key antecedents and consequences. Measurement issues, directions for future research, and implications for management practice are discussed as well.

SummaryAlthough voice (i.e. expressing change-oriented ideas and suggestions) has frequently been investigated as a way for workers to reciprocate to their employers for the positive treatment they receive, much less is known about how workers use voice to deal with stress. This study takes a conservation of resources perspective to examine the relationships among workplace stress, voice behavior, and job performance. We first examined the strength of relationships of three major groups of workplace stressors and strains (job based, social based, and organization based) with voice behavior. We then examined the relationships of voice behavior with performance variables (e.g. in-role performance and creativity) to investigate how voice may help workers preserve or accumulate resources to enhance their performance. The meta-analytic findings presented here provide support for a negative relationship between workplace stress and voice and a positive relationship between voice behavior and performance outcomes.

This study (a) compared the effect of perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived coworker support (PCS) on work attitudes; (b) examined the moderating role of gender, tenure, and job type in the support—attitude relationship; and (c) tested a theoretical model hypothesizing relationships among PCS, PSS, perceived organizational support, and work attitudes. In a meta-analysis, PSS was found to be more strongly related to job satisfaction (.52 vs. .37), affective commitment (.48 vs. .28), and turnover intention (—.36 vs. —.19) than was PCS. Further, job type (customer-contact vs. non-customer-contact jobs) was found to be a significant moderator. Finally, the proposed model received empirical support. Different forms of support were closely related to work attitudes and to each other. Implications for research on social support are discussed.

SummaryThis study meta-analyzed the relationships between locus of control (LOC) and a wide range of work outcomes. We categorized these outcomes according to three theoretical perspectives: LOC and well-being, LOC and motivation, and LOC and behavioral orientation. Hypotheses reflecting these three perspectives were proposed and tested. It was found that internal locus was positively associated with favorable work outcomes, such as positive task and social experiences, and greater job motivation. Our findings are discussed in relation to research on core self-evaluation and the Big Five personality traits.

Although organizational research on age has largely focused on the age-performance relationship, the relationships between age and job attitudes have received less attention. Guided by socioemotional selectivity theory, this paper provides a comprehensive meta-analysis of the relationships of chronological age with the 35 job attitudes most frequently studied as its correlates. Results of meta-analyses from more than 800 articles indicate that the relationships between chronological age and favorable attitudes (and/or to less unfavorable attitudes) toward work tasks, colleagues and supervisors, and organizations are generally significant and weak to moderate in strength. Moderator analyses also revealed that organizational tenure, race, gender, education level, and publication year of study moderate the relationships between age and job attitudes. Based on these findings, we make recommendations for future theory development and empirical research on age in organizational settings. We also discuss the implications of our findings for practice.

This article proposes refinements of the constructs of career mobility and career embeddedness and reviews the array of factors that have been found to energize (discourage) employees to change jobs, organizations, and/or occupations. The article also reviews the literature on career success and identifies which types of mobility (and embeddedness) are most likely to lead to objective career success (e.g., promotions) and subjective career success (e.g., career satisfaction). In the final section, the article revisits the utility of viewing careers as “boundaryless” and suggests alternative frameworks for future research on these topics.