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The literature suggests that women are less committed to and less successful in their careers than men because of family responsibilities. I examine whether mothers practicing law are less committed to their legal careers than other women. Mothers acknowledge that they violate certain time and career norms associated with practicing law and work in different settings, which may be interpreted by others as indicators of their lack of career commitment. The survey results reveal that, despite these violations, mothers report greater career commitment than other women in law. I conclude by examining possible explanations for these findings.

As proposed in this paper, in public accounting firms, supervisors and managers provide junior accountants with career-related benefits that include: career development support; social support; and role modeling. Also, employees who receive such career-related benefits are more likely to believe that the firm provides career growth opportunities and more likely to trust their managers. Career growth opportunities and trust, in turn, positively affect organizational commitment, which reduces turnover intentions. In summary, the relation between career benefits and turnover is mediated by several variables: career growth opportunities, trust in managers, and organizational commitment. Results of a survey of junior employees in public accounting firms support these assertions (with the exception of social support).

Organizations have become increasingly interested in developing their human resources. One tool that has been explored in this quest is mentoring. This has led to a surge in mentoring research and an increase in the number of formal mentoring programs implemented in organizations. This review provides a survey of the empirical work on mentoring that is organized around the major questions that have been investigated. Then a conceptual model, focused on formal mentoring relationships, is developed to help understand the mentoring process. The model draws upon research from a diverse body of literature, including interpersonal relationships, career success, training and development, and informal mentoring. Finally, a discussion of critical next steps for research in the mentoring domain is presented.

Organisational commitment has been studied for several decades. Research on the human resource side of mergers and acquisitions has typically emphasised the human resource ‘problems’ related to integration, such as low motivation, increased dissatisfaction, low commitment and performance, stress, leadership and power struggles, and high employee turnover. However, there is scant research on organisational commitment in the context of acquisitions. Yet, based on prior research, organisational commitment is important in terms of employee retention, commitment to change and post-acquisition performance. The model developed in this chapter explains what influences organisational commitment in acquisitions and how to build organisational commitment towards the acquirer. A number of propositions are derived from the model, and the implications for M&A research and practice are discussed.

In the last twenty years, the women’s movement has resulted in a greater representation of women in once male-dominated venues, such as the job force and higher education. Women currently represent nearly 43% of those in the United States labor market, and it is expected that four in every five women ages 25–54 will be employed by the year 2000 (Hoyt, 1988; U.S. Department of Labor, 1995). Despite women’s increasing participation in the world of work, they continue to choose occupations that represent the stereotypically feminine range of occupations, meaning less pay and less status (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987). For example, women are still underrepresented in engineering, architecture, and the physical sciences (Eccles, 1994; U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, 1995). These gender-based occupational patterns are also evidenced in college enrollment; women continue to comprise the majority in academic majors that are considered traditionally feminine, such as early childhood, elementary, and secondary education, library science, nursing, and home economics, whereas men are the predominant majors in physics, chemistry, architecture, and engineering (Bartholomew & Schnorr, 1994; National Science Foundation, 1990).

There is an essential link between the success of hospitality organizations and the availability of appropriate labor resources, making employee attraction a critical concern for the industry. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the role of work experience, both inside and outside the hospitality industry, in shaping students’ attitudes toward hospitality careers. The study was conducted on the group of 338 undergraduates and graduates enrolled in tourism and hospitality studies in Poznan, Poland. The findings suggest that work experience displays a stronger relationship with preferred than with perceived job and organization attributes. It is also related to perceptions of hospitality career attractiveness both in the long and in the short run as well as to intentions to apply for a job after graduation. The results underline the importance of providing students with quality work experience by the hospitality industry stakeholders as it can influence future career decisions.