臺大管理論叢 NTU Management Review VOL.29 NO.3

The Mediating Effect of Glass Ceiling Beliefs in the Relationship between Women’s Personality Traits and Their Subjective Career Success 202 emotional stability are directly related to career success (Ng et al., 2005). There are mixed results on the roles of agreeableness and openness to experience in career success (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Seibert and Kraimer, 2001; Salgado and Rumbo, 1997). The accumulated research on personality traits and career success shows that the Big Five personality traits are important antecedents to the career success of both men and women in organizations (Barrick and Mount, 1991; Judge et al., 1999; Seibert et al., 1999; Seibert and Kraimer, 2001; Tokar et al., 1998). The personality of women and people’s perceptions of their personality also play an important role in the advancement of their careers (Seibert and Kraimer, 2001). If women display masculine and adaptive traits, there is a greater chance that they will be promoted to top management positions (Metz, 2004). Most scholars have suggested that understanding how personality affects career success can help organizations to formulate a strategy for the careers of both men and women in organizations (Seibert and Kraimer, 2001). 7. Women’s Glass Ceiling Beliefs and Career Success As stated earlier, the career pathway survey identified four sets of glass ceiling beliefs: denial, resilience, acceptance, and resignation (Eagly and Carli, 2007; Smith, Crittenden, et al., 2012). Women have been identified as having either optimistic or pessimistic glass ceiling beliefs (Smith, Crittenden, et al., 2012). Smith, Caputi, et al. (2012) find that these beliefs of women concerning career advancement are significantly related to their career success. For instance, according to their study, optimistic beliefs of women, including denial and resilience, are positively related to career satisfaction, and pessimistic beliefs in the form of acceptance and resignation are negatively related to career satisfaction (Smith, Caputi, et al., 2012). Similarly, they find that women who have optimistic beliefs are more likely to show work engagement, feel happy, and be physically and psychologically healthy compared to women who have pessimistic beliefs about their career advancement (Smith, Caputi, et al., 2012). Their study provides an important hint of lifting the subjective career success of women in organizations. Moreover, they recommend the association of personality traits and glass ceiling beliefs as a possible topic for future research in order to better understand the mechanism. Our study fills this gap by adding the personality trait model to the existing body of knowledge.