Self- and Other-Referent Criteria of Career Success

Abstract

Subjective career success is typically measured relative to self-referent criteria, such as a person's career goals and aspirations. Part-time MBA students were asked to evaluate their “career success to this point in time” and to be specific about how they know the extent to which their career is successful. Drawing on Festinger's social comparison theory, this study examined whether they also use other-referent criteria, such as satisfaction with their income relative to their career peers. Other-referent success criteria were generated by 68% of participants. In addition, other-referent success explained 12% of unique variance in perceptions of overall career success. As predicted, participants with an entity implicit person theory (i.e., belief that ability and personality are largely fixed attributes) exhibited greater reliance on other-referent criteria. These results have implications for the conceptualization and measurement of career success, as well as for fostering the extent to which people experience career success.