On the Value of Aiming High: The Causes and Consequences of Ambition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Judge, Timothy A.; Kammeyer-Mueller, John D.
• 署名单位: University of Notre Dame; State University System of Florida; University of Florida
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0028084
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 758-775
• 关键词: ambition; personality; CAREER SUCCESS; income; longevity

摘要

Ambition is a commonly mentioned but poorly understood concept in social science research. We sought to contribute to understanding of the concept by developing and testing a model in which ambition is a middle-level trait (Cantor, 1990) predicted by more distal characteristics but, due to its teleological nature, more proximally situated to predict career success. A 7-decade longitudinal sample of 717 high-ability individuals from the Terman life-cycle study (Terman, Sears, Cronbach, & Sears, 1989) was used in the current study. Results indicated that ambition was predicted by individual differences conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and general mental ability and a socioeconomic background variable: parents' occupational prestige. Ambition, in turn, was positively related to educational attainment, occupation prestige, and income. Ambition had significant total effects with all of the endogenous variables except mortality. Overall, the results support the thesis that ambition is a middle-level trait related to but distinct from more distal individual difference variables that has meaningful effects on career success.