본 연구는 국가 간 비교연구를 통해 한국과 미국의 여성 관리자의 경력성공에 영향을 미치는 요인들을 고찰하고자 하였다. 본 연구에서 주관적 경력성공의 개념은 경력만족과 고용가능성 인지를 포함시켰으며, 경력성공에 영향을 미치는 조직 요인으로 조직 내 네트워크, 상사의 지원을 고려하였으며, 개인요인으로 사회적 상호작용 기술인 직무중심성, 자기중심성, 상사중심성을 고려하였다. 본 연구의 실증분석을 위해 한국과 미국의 500인 이상 금융기관의 여성 관리자들을 대상으로 설문조사와 인터뷰를 실시하였으며, 한국의 24개 금융기관의 대리급 이상의 여성 관리자 159명과 뉴욕 및 워싱턴 주 20개 금융기관의 미국 여성 관리자 91명의 설문을 최종적으로 분석하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 첫째, 조직요인으로 조직 내 네트워크는 한미 여성 관리자 모두 고용가능성에 정(+)적인 영향을 미쳤으며, 상사의 지원은 한미 여성 관리자 모두 경력만족에 정(+)적인 영향요인으로 밝혀졌다. 둘째, 개인적 요인으로 직무중심성이 경력성공에 미치는 영향은 한미 여성 관리자 모두 고용가능성에 긍정적 영향을 미쳤으나, 자기중심성은 미국 여성 관리자의 경우에만 부(-)적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 마지막으로 상사중심성은 한국 여성 관리자에게 유의하지 않으나, 미국 여성 관리자의 경우 경력만족에 긍정적 영향을 미치는 요인으로 밝혀졌다.

Korean companies have recently tried to increase the ratio of women in new recruit and to foster women managers. In Korea and overseas, moreover, many studies have examined the career development and success of women. This recent trend shows that social attention is very high on women workforce not only in academic terms but also in the real corporate world. In addition, Korean companies are following the example of their US counterparts in general business practices and system as well as human resource management. Given the current situation, comparing career success of American women managers and their Korean peers will be helpful in seeking the way of developing Korean woman workforce. Thus, this paper aims to identify what are the factors that affect Korean and American woman managers’ career success and how the factors do. Career success has been evaluated with the number of promotions or salary level. However, women earn less and get fewer promotions than men with the same qualifications. Thus, objective elements of career success are not enough to assess women’s career success. Recently, moreover, subjective and psychological satisfaction has emerged as an important criterion of career success(Nabi, 2001). This is because objective criteria such as promotion or salary cannot fully evaluate career success after changes in organization structure have made not only fast promotion but lifelong employment almost impossible. In addition, as the opening of the labor market freed move between organizations, employability as of external factors has provided employees with stability that matches lifelong employment. Human capital variables have been considered as very important determinants of career success. This paper is to focus on individual factors and organizational support variables. As external environment rapidly change today, organizations regard ones’ personality attributes, rather than their education or job experience, as important factors that show their job performance. In addition, as organizations now have open network structure, organizational support has significant impact on individuals’ career success (Collins, 1983). Thus, individuals can be more successful in their careers when they form relationships with diverse people in and out of their organizations and win information and resources through the relationships. This study investigated factors affecting career success of Korean and American female managers and compared the relations of variables. As criteria of career success, career satisfaction and employability was included, and as organizational support on career success (organization network, support of supervisors)and individual factors affecting career success (work-centered, individual-centered, supervisor-centered)were considered. For data collection, questionnaires were administered to Korean American female managers. All of the selected companies had high rate of female employees in their workforce. In Korea, 250 questionnaires were administered to deputy managers and those at higher levels of three corporations and 23 financial institutions in 2006 and a total of 170 were returned. Among them, except for questionnaires from those with less than five years of tenure, a total of 160 were used. In the United States, a random sample was selected because researchers were limited in accessing companies. Three companies in the states of New York and Washington and 20 financial institutions were visited, questionnaires were administered to managers with subordinates and interviews were also conducted. Questionnaires were sent to a total of 183 managers, and 102 completed the questionnaire. Except for questionnaires completed by those with less than five years of tenure, a total of 91 were used for research. The five year criterion was used because employees need at least five years to evaluate their career success (Wayne et al., 1999). Analysis results showed that organization network had positive effect on employability in both samples, and supervisor support was also found to have positive effect on career satisfaction of both samples. Second, the effect of work-centered characteristics was found to be positive both for Korean and American female managers, however, individual-centered characteristics had negative for American women. Finally supervisor-centered characteristics had no significant effect on Korean women’s career success, but had significantly positive effect for American women on a marginal level. The results and implications are as follows: For both Korean and American female managers, organizational support variables had positive effect on career success. This is consistent with prior research conducted in the United States. Women managers with good supervisor support were satisfied with their overall career. In other words, women with organizational support are found to judge their value as high not only within an organization, but in the general labor market. Second, women’s social disposition or skill has not been the subject of research, positive effect of work-centered dispositions is found to be an important element of their career success through which they enhance their employability to both samples. However, the difference in the effect demonstrates that American female managers capitalize on supervisor-centered skill to be positively, meaning that American women are better aware of the importance of those characteristics. In the United States, a letter of recommendation of the supervisor in the previous workplace plays a huge role in landing a job. In other words, supervisor-centered not only helps an individual’s career success in the organization. Under the circumstances, American female managers are more active in using social influence behaviors to get their supervisor’s support than their Korean counterparts. Despite the above mentioned implications, this study has some limitations. First, the biggest limitation of this study is errors that can occur in cross-cultural research. To resolve the problem, a pre-test or/and consultation on experts is recommended for other researchers. Second, it is hard to acquire enough questionnaires filled by American female managers because of time and other constraints and data collection depended solely on a cross-sectional survey. Hence, one should be cautious about the generalization of the research result.

Korean companies have recently tried to increase the ratio of women in new recruit and to foster women managers. In Korea and overseas, moreover, many studies have examined the career development and success of women. This recent trend shows that social attention is very high on women workforce not only in academic terms but also in the real corporate world. In addition, Korean companies are following the example of their US counterparts in general business practices and system as well as human resource management. Given the current situation, comparing career success of American women managers and their Korean peers will be helpful in seeking the way of developing Korean woman workforce. Thus, this paper aims to identify what are the factors that affect Korean and American woman managers’ career success and how the factors do. Career success has been evaluated with the number of promotions or salary level. However, women earn less and get fewer promotions than men with the same qualifications. Thus, objective elements of career success are not enough to assess women’s career success. Recently, moreover, subjective and psychological satisfaction has emerged as an important criterion of career success(Nabi, 2001). This is because objective criteria such as promotion or salary cannot fully evaluate career success after changes in organization structure have made not only fast promotion but lifelong employment almost impossible. In addition, as the opening of the labor market freed move between organizations, employability as of external factors has provided employees with stability that matches lifelong employment. Human capital variables have been considered as very important determinants of career success. This paper is to focus on individual factors and organizational support variables. As external environment rapidly change today, organizations regard ones’ personality attributes, rather than their education or job experience, as important factors that show their job performance. In addition, as organizations now have open network structure, organizational support has significant impact on individuals’ career success (Collins, 1983). Thus, individuals can be more successful in their careers when they form relationships with diverse people in and out of their organizations and win information and resources through the relationships. This study investigated factors affecting career success of Korean and American female managers and compared the relations of variables. As criteria of career success, career satisfaction and employability was included, and as organizational support on career success (organization network, support of supervisors)and individual factors affecting career success (work-centered, individual-centered, supervisor-centered)were considered. For data collection, questionnaires were administered to Korean American female managers. All of the selected companies had high rate of female employees in their workforce. In Korea, 250 questionnaires were administered to deputy managers and those at higher levels of three corporations and 23 financial institutions in 2006 and a total of 170 were returned. Among them, except for questionnaires from those with less than five years of tenure, a total of 160 were used. In the United States, a random sample was selected because researchers were limited in accessing companies. Three companies in the states of New York and Washington and 20 financial institutions were visited, questionnaires were administered to managers with subordinates and interviews were also conducted. Questionnaires were sent to a total of 183 managers, and 102 completed the questionnaire. Except for questionnaires completed by those with less than five years of tenure, a total of 91 were used for research. The five year criterion was used because employees need at least five years to evaluate their career success (Wayne et al., 1999). Analysis results showed that organization network had positive effect on employability in both samples, and supervisor support was also found to have positive effect on career satisfaction of both samples. Second, the effect of work-centered characteristics was found to be positive both for Korean and American female managers, however, individual-centered characteristics had negative for American women. Finally supervisor-centered characteristics had no significant effect on Korean women’s career success, but had significantly positive effect for American women on a marginal level. The results and implications are as follows: For both Korean and American female managers, organizational support variables had positive effect on career success. This is consistent with prior research conducted in the United States. Women managers with good supervisor support were satisfied with their overall career. In other words, women with organizational support are found to judge their value as high not only within an organization, but in the general labor market. Second, women’s social disposition or skill has not been the subject of research, positive effect of work-centered dispositions is found to be an important element of their career success through which they enhance their employability to both samples. However, the difference in the effect demonstrates that American female managers capitalize on supervisor-centered skill to be positively, meaning that American women are better aware of the importance of those characteristics. In the United States, a letter of recommendation of the supervisor in the previous workplace plays a huge role in landing a job. In other words, supervisor-centered not only helps an individual’s career success in the organization. Under the circumstances, American female managers are more active in using social influence behaviors to get their supervisor’s support than their Korean counterparts. Despite the above mentioned implications, this study has some limitations. First, the biggest limitation of this study is errors that can occur in cross-cultural research. To resolve the problem, a pre-test or/and consultation on experts is recommended for other researchers. Second, it is hard to acquire enough questionnaires filled by American female managers because of time and other constraints and data collection depended solely on a cross-sectional survey. Hence, one should be cautious about the generalization of the research result.

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Korean & American female managers, career success, employability, career satisfaction, organization network, supervisor support, work-centered, individual- centered, supervisor-centered.