Promotion Tournaments and White Collar Careers: Evidence from Williams Deacon's Bank, 1890-1941
- Resource Type
- research-article
- Authors
- Seltzer, Andrew J.; Frank, Jeff
- Source
- Oxford Economic Papers, 2007 Oct 01. 59, i49-i72.
- Subject
- N33
N34
J41
J44
Banking industry
Financial management
Employee demotion
Wages
Real wages
Office management
Corporate headquarters
Banks
Business management
Seltzer
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 00307653
14643812
This paper uses a unique historical dataset constructed from the payroll records of Williams Deacon's Bank to examine career structures in a white collar firm. We examine promotions from the level of clerk to branch manager in the context of the Bank's strong internal labour market. There is evidence the Bank used promotion tournaments with returns to promotion that were inversely related to the probability of promotion. In expectation these returns were relatively constant over an individual's career. There is also evidence that the Bank compensated individuals with pay rises for frequent lateral moves and even demotions. Such moves were designed to discourage dishonest behaviour.