| Research has been conducted on the effects of a "glass ceiling" that still existing in US organizations for racial, ethnic, and female executives. A new barrier, defined as a "concrete ceiling" that is more difficult to penetrate, denser and less easily shattered that the "glass ceiling" has recently been identified as a barrier to progress namely for women of color (Catalyst, 1999:2000:2001; Moore & Jones, 2001).;The primary purpose of this non-experimental, correlational, (explanatory), causal comparative (exploratory) study is not only to investigate the relationship among ethnicity, race, and gender on career success outcomes of healthcare executives and to examine those factors that influence their career success. Study findings showed that white females and white males had significantly more professional work experience than black or African American female and black or African American male healthcare industry executives. African American females had the least amount of professional work experience (M = 18.11 years, SD = 9.80) and white females had the greatest number of years of professional work experience (M = 28.02 years, SD = 9.02). Additionally, white females and white males had significantly more years of work experience (5--6.5 more years) in their current organizations than did African American females or males.;Career success outcomes among minority and non-minority healthcare industry executives were investigated with a MANOVA. Significant disparities were observed relative to career promotions, compensation, psychological commitment, and career satisfaction. No significant differences were observed in perceived career success. Multiple stepwise regression analyses examined the influence of networking behaviors on career outcomes for minorities. For white female healthcare industry executives, maintaining contact and increasing internal visibility were significantly associated with promotions, perceived career success, psychological commitment, and career satisfaction. For African American female healthcare executives, participating in church and community activities as well as socializing were significantly related to compensation and psychological commitment. For African American male healthcare industry executives, socializing was significantly associated with promotions, compensation, and career satisfaction. For white males, engaging in professional activities, socializing and maintaining contact were significantly related to career outcomes.;Regression analyses were not possible with data gathering from the Hispanic/Latino population due to the small numbers of Hispanic/Latino participants. However, a MANOVA examined differences between Hispanics/Latinos and non-Hispanic/Latinos relative to their career promotions, compensation, perceived career success, psychological commitment, and career satisfaction. There were no significant differences between Hispanics or Latinos and non-Hispanics or Latinos relative to their number of promotions, perceived career success, psychological commitment, and career satisfaction. However, there was a significant difference between Hispanics/Latinos and non-Hispanics/Latinos relative to their compensation. Hispanic/Latino healthcare executives earned significantly more than non-Hispanics/Latinos. |
