Self-esteem and extrinsic career success: Test of a dynamic model

It has been proposed that one's self-esteem is both a cause and a consequence of one's extrinsic career success, but empirical research examining the direction of these effects is lacking. We tested a model which examines the relationships among self-esteem, education, occupational prestige, and income over a span of seven years during early careers. We use social identity theory to propose that self-esteem will be affected by extrinsic career success, and self-consistency theory to propose that extrinsic career success will be affected by self-esteem. Our results, based on a cross-lagged regression design, suggest that self-esteem increases occupational prestige (β =.22), and income (β =.22), but career outcomes did not alter self-esteem. Implications of these results for the study of self-esteem and careers are explored.