Effect of Job Level on the Performance of Human Capital Attainment: An Exploratory Analysis‪.‬

INTRODUCTION In recent years, researchers have devoted much of their effort in identifying factors that determine earnings differentials (Moore, Newman, and Terrell, 2007; Heitmueller and Inglis, 2007; Lauermann, 2006; Gottschalk, 1997; Hartog & Vriend, 1990; Hartog, 1988; Autor, Katz, and Krueger, 1998; Lord and Falk, 1980). Many factors have been cited (Shen & Deng, 2008; Buddeberg-Fischer, Stamm, Buddeberg, & Klaghofer, 2008; Ng, Eby, Sorensen & Feldman, 2005; Krueger, 1993; Judge & Bretz, 1994; Petersen and Saporta, 2004; Doms, Dunne, & Troske, 1997) as sources of earnings variations as a measure of career success; among these, human capital investment (Bassi & McMurrer, 2007; Carrera, Carmona, & Gutierrez, 2008) plays a very significant role. Becker (1962, 1975) suggested that inequality in income distribution may be explained by the investment in human capital. Human capital theorists' argument is that investment in education and training are important to improve individuals' earnings and thus enhance career success. Political economist Adam Smith believed that ultimate source of a nation's wealth is the quality of its labor force and the disparities in workers' earnings are due to the differences in their human capital investments. Therefore, the earnings disparities between job levels may be due to the differences in human capital investments. However, the differential effect of human capital may not be same at various job levels even with comparable human capital accumulation. In general, individuals at higher job level receive much greater return (Chang and Huang, 2005) on their investments in human capital. Therefore, the concern of income differential due to job level, tie in closely through the performance efficiency associated with the job-level. If this is the case, then we can postulate a hypothesis that comparatively individuals at higher job level perform more efficiently to attain human capital (such as, acquiring further education, certification, training, etc.) than others. In turn, this accelerates their career success and thrust them further upward in their career path and creates a domino effect. This specific nature of efficiency in performance exists primarily at the higher job level that goes beyond basic human capital and may be a result of managerial role motivation theory (Berman & Miner, 1985).