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This paper identifies three potential barriers to career advancement in sales: being excluded from informal networks, a lack of cultural fit, and a lack of mentoring. Using a sample of 241 account executives and managers from an organization in the television broadcasting industry, study results suggest that perceived barriers to career advancement (PBCA) have a significant negative impact on the organizational commitment (OC) of these sales employees. Effects are estimated with path analysis, and the effects of common method bias and job satisfaction are considered. Demographic variables (age, gender, company tenure, job level) are also hypothesized to moderate the relationship between PBCA and OC. The negative influence of PBCA on OC is found to become stronger as company tenure increases. Data also suggest that the negative relationship between PBCA and OC is more powerful among account executives than sales managers/directors. Managerial and research implications are discussed.

Examination of career advancement opportunities can provide insights into a variety of career patterns and paths. Typically, studies of career management focus on traditional careers (e.g., King, 2004), but the subject is also pertinent to professionals who might occupy boundary spanning positions such as salespeople. Research recognizes that individuals are attracted to these kinds of jobs because they provide enhanced career advancement opportunities. Boone and Milewicz (1989, p.42) report that university graduates who apply for sales jobs usually believe that “an entry position in sales is the fast track to advancement.” Johnston and Marshall (2009, p.42) echo this and give several examples of recently appointed CEO's that moved “up through the sales ranks into the executive suite.” On the other hand, if individuals feel that unfair barriers are impeding their career advancement, it can result in poor productivity and increased turnover costs for their organization (Ragins, Townsend, & Mattis, 1998). These outcomes have commonly been associated with low levels of organizational commitment in personal selling contexts (Jaramillo et al., 2005 and Schwepker, 2001). This study describes a set of perceived barriers to career advancement applicable to salespeople. Using a survey of sales managers and account executives, the influence of perceived barriers on organizational commitment is analyzed. To better establish boundary conditions, four individual employee characteristics are evaluated as potential moderators of the relationship between perceived barriers and organizational commitment: age, gender, tenure, and job level. The conceptual model is illustrated in Fig. 1. The next section discusses background research on sales employees' perceptions of barriers to their career advancement.

Results indicated that the structural model was a good fit to the data (χ² = 24.87, df = 17; CFI = 0.98; NNFI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.044, CI90% = 0.000 to 0.079). Consistent with Hypothesis H1, PBCA was negatively associated with organizational commitment (β = − 0.19, t = − 3.37). Hypothesis H3 predicted that PBCA would have a stronger negative relationship among younger sales employees. However, the interaction between PBCA and age did not affect organizational commitment (β = 0.06, t = 0.34), failing to support this hypothesis. Competing hypotheses were proposed relating to the moderating influence of tenure on the relationship between PBCA and organizational commitment (Hypotheses H4a and H4b). The interaction between PBCA and tenure negatively was found to negatively influence organizational commitment (β = − 0.18, t = − 3.20). This supports Hypotheses H4a, which suggested that PBCA has a stronger negative relationship with organizational commitment among sales employees with longer tenures. Finally, a number of the model controlled paths were significant. PBCA had a negative influence on job satisfaction (β = − 0.38, t = − 6.35) while job satisfaction had a positive influence on organizational commitment (β = 0.48, t = 8.66), implying that a negative indirect relationship between PBCA and organizational commitment may exist, in addition to the direct relationship. Males in the study perceived greater barriers to their career advancement than females (β = − 0.14, t = − 2.19). Age was negatively associated with job satisfaction (β = − 0.15, t = − 2.14). Job level was positively associated with both organizational commitment (β = 0.22, t = 3.49) and job satisfaction (β = 0.15, t = 2.49), suggesting that sales managers/directors have better job attitudes than account executives.