The Career Attitudes and Intentions of Managers in the Finance Sector

A questionnaire survey of career attitudes and intentions was administered to 1646 middle managers from eight organizations in the UK finance sector. Lengths of time in the organization, in previous and in present job were shown to predict career attitudes and intentions. Longer‐serving managers were less ambitious and were unwilling to accept various career options. Those who had spent longer in their present job neither expected any change nor were willing to accept it. While decreased inter‐and intraorganizational mobility are consequences of cost‐cutting and recession, it is argued that efforts to increase mobility are likely to pay dividends. Other measures may also succeed, given the finding that organizations differed in terms of their managers' career attitudes and intentions over and above the effects of mobility.