Examining the relationship between academic performance and workplace position: does the glass ceiling exist among graduates from the same university?

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationship between academic performance and workplace position. Academic performance is measured by undergraduate grade point average (GPA). A series of ordered probit regression models are estimated to isolate the impact of undergraduate GPA on the probability that female and male graduates from the same university hold middle or upper management jobs within their companies. After all potential heterogeneity and explanatory variables are controlled for, results of the pooled regression models suggest that women are less likely to hold both middle and upper management positions. Further analysis also suggests that lower GPA significantly decreases the probability that women hold these positions, while GPA seems to have no significant impact on workplace position for men. Moreover, most factors which positively impact the probability that women attain these positions also benefit men more at the highest level.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• GPA
• workplace positions
• glass ceiling
• ordered probit model

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• J10
• J16
• J24

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ The questionnaire is available upon request.

² Note that the regional unemployment rate represents the unemployment rate in the region that the individual is currently working in the year that they graduated. There is an assumption here that the individual did not change region of employment between graduation and the time of the survey. This is included to control for difference in labour markets at the time of graduation. However, results remain similar whether regional unemployment is or is not included in the model.

³ Major, industry, and region fixed effects are included for all regression models. However, estimated coefficients for each major, industry, and region are suppressed in the regression tables to condense the results.

⁴ Note that results are robust to diverse specifications of the ordered probit model. Additional results available upon request.