Upward mobility in organizations: the effects of hierarchy and opportunity structure

This article investigates hierarchical promotion processes. Following the ‘structural approach’ in social mobility research and aiming at the organizational level, we attempt to make this approach more ‘concrete’ than other studies in this tradition. That is, we analyse the effects of both organizational opportunity structure and hierarchical levels on upward mobility. By neglecting these structural factors, studies of mobility processes not only distort the effects of individual factors influencing mobility, but also preclude the analysis of the various ways in which structural factors affect the mobility chances of different social groups. Our empirical study of promotion processes in a large West German company, based on longitudinal data, clearly demonstrates this. We conclude that mobility research should give more attention to structural factors at the organizational level.