What Should You Do to Get Ahead? An Examination of Career Development Choices, Career Aspirations, and Gender

Abstract

Previous research suggests that women continuously face greater barriers in their efforts to reach career advancement as compared to men (Chatterjee et al., 2023; Eagly, 2007; Matsa & Miller, 2011; Watts et al., 2015). However, the career advice available to women lacks utility and scientific merit. The present study seeks to help bridge the gap within the career advice literature by exploring the relationships between occupational aspirations, career decision making self-efficacy, the actions an individual would take to advance their career, the career advice individuals would give to others, and gender. Although the proposed hypotheses were not supported, this study sheds light on the current state of gender differences in career aspirations and decision-making. We found that individuals with higher realistic occupational aspirations (ROA) were not significantly more likely to pursue relocation or developmental assignments. Additionally, we did not find significant gender differences in career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE). Lastly, no gender differences were found when examining an individual’s likelihood to engage in documenting a good track record, building relationships with coworkers and managers, and relocation. Overall, this study indicates that traditional gender dynamics in the workplace may be changing, but further exploration is still needed to fully understand the complexities of career development across different demographic groups.