A study of the tournament model with female managers

Reports the findings of the first study to test the tournament model of careers with female managers. Follows the careers of 3,800 women in a large internal labour market firm. Investigates the signals of early promotions, career velocity, education, tenure and entering position. Examines the relationships between these signals and career attainment. The results do not show the strong support of the tournament model that research with men has found. Using the variables previously found in the literature to be related to career attainment for men does not explain a major proportion of the variance for women. Suggests that the tournament model may not apply to women in organizations or women may be placed in different tournaments from men. Purports that women may have certain career paths on entering an organization regardless of the tournament rounds they win or that other signals affect women’s career attainment.