Relational demography and career outcomes among male and female academic accountants

Abstract

According to the theory of relational demography, being similar to others at work improves one's work experiences. In this comparison of 340 male and female academic accountants, indices of dissimilarity to departmental colleagues in terms of gender, education, and tenure were calculated, and tested for their ability to predict career outcomes up to 12 years later. Gender dissimilarity was not a determinant of publication performance or progression. Graduation from a highly ranked program, employment in a doctoral-granting department, and being similarly educated, but dissimilar in date of entry, to colleagues were associated with high performance. The determinants of progression were different for men and women, and in neither case, included gender variation. Colleagues with dissimilar dates of entry meant slow rates of progression for men, whereas a doctoral-granting department and colleagues without doctorates meant slow rates of progression for women.

Citation

Kirchmeyer, C., Reinstein, A. and Hasselback, J.R. (2000), "Relational demography and career outcomes among male and female academic accountants", Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research (Advances in Accounting Behavioural Research, Vol. 3), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 177-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7979(00)03031-3