The effects of career plateauing on work and non-work outcomes

This study offers new definitions and empirical evidence for the types of career plateaus individuals experience and the reasons attributed for being plateaued. The definition of career plateau is refined by identifying the phenomenon of plateauing as the low likelihood of future increases in responsibility in either the current job or future job opportunities. Structureal plateauing is defined as the end of promotions, while content plateauing is defined as the end of expected increases in responsibility associated with the current job.; More importantly, the study empirically confirms the existence of reasons why individuals believe they have plateaued. They may be negatively assessed by management, and thereby be plateaued for organizational assessment reasons. Or there may be constraints on the organization that do not allow employees increased responsibilities, which creates plateaued employees for organizational constraint reasons. Or the employee may simply not want any additional responsibilities, and may choose for personal reasons to be plateaued.; The results of data gathered from 330 accountants suggest that the reason one attributes for one's plateau differentially affects his or her level of felt stress and job involvement. External reasons for career plateaus create more felt stress and lower job involvement than when individuals choose to be plateaued.; Felt stress negatively affected both work and non-work variables. Job involvement positively affected work variables. An indirect relationship was found between those who were content plateaued for organizational assessment and constraint reasons and off-job involvement. When content plateaued for these reasons, individuals report low levels of job involvement, and in turn, higher levels of off-job involvement. This suggests an inverse relationship exists between work and non-work variables, and supports the compensatory hypothesis.; This study incorporated new off-job involvement and off-job satisfaction measures. Both new scales were found to be highly reliable and results suggest a strong positive relationship between off-job involvement and off-job satisfaction. This research has added to the work-family literature by developing a scale that incorporates the complex nature of the non-work domain.; Researchers and practitioners must understand the potentially devastating effects the reasons for career plateauing may have in the work and non-work domains.