Revisited: the Impact of Salary on the Job and Career Attitudes of 1/s Professionals

This longitudinal study examined the impact of Salary Importance/Attainment on selected job and career attitudes. Ratings of the importance of salary collected prior to graduation (Time 1) were linked with postemployment salary levels (Times 2 and 3) to classify 1/S professionals into four groups: Salary Sensitive/Need Met, Salary Sensitive/Need Not Met, Salary Neutral/Need Exceeded, and Salary Neutral/Need Balanced. Salary Importance/Attainment had a significant impact on Present Career Outlook (p < .001) and Career Fit (p c .01) at Time 2 (22 months into employment) but not at Time 3 (46 months into employment). Salary Importance/ Attainment was not related significantly to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and seven of the eight Vocational Development Scales. It was concluded that salary acts mainly as a benchmark to help 1/S professionals gauge early career progress and fit.

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