The Effects of Social Identity on Career Progression: A Study of NCAA Basketball Coaches Daniel Halgin Management Department University of Kentucky
[email protected] NOTE: Not for citation without author’s permission. 1 ABSTRACT In this study I investigated the effects of social identity on career progression. I theorized that job seekers with recognized social identities are hired for positions at more prestigious employers than job seekers without recognized social identities. I also theorized that additional career benefits are accrued by individuals who claim their ascribed identity. I tested the validity of these hypotheses by investigating the subsequent employer prestige of head coaches in NCAA Division I Men’s basketball (a setting with several recognized social identities), who changed jobs (n = 282) between 2001 and 2007. Controlling for prior performance, network connectivity, and status affiliations, coaches with recognized social identities obtained positions with more prestigious employers than coaches without such recognized social identities. Furthermore, coaches who claimed their identity obtained positions with more prestigious employers, than coaches who did not claim their identity. 2 INTRODUCTION When a stranger comes into our presence, then, first appearances are likely to enable us to anticipate his category and attributes, and his social identity (Goffman, 1963, p. 25). Social identities have been the focus of scholarly study for half century, as researchers have studied the many ways in which people are perceived and categorized. In this article I use “social identity” in both a sociological sense (i.e., a social (public) typology which audiences appropriate to understand and label entities (e.g., Glynn 2000, Glynn & Abzug, 1998; Zuckerman, 1999, etc.)) and a psychological sense (i.e., an attribute of membership that is claimed by an individual to define “who I am” (e.g., Ashforth & Mael, 1989; Brewer & Gardener, 1998, etc.)).