The Position That Awaits: Implications of Expected Future Status for Performance, Helping, Motivation, and Well-Being at Work

Social status shapes many important aspects of people’s experiences at work. Guided by research and theory on prospection, the authors tested the predictions that a) expectations of future status predict important outcomes at work independently of current status; and b) expectations of future status are based on current status and partially explain effects of current status. Eight studies using a combination of survey, experimental, and intensive longitudinal methods supported these predictions. Across these studies, expectations of future status had unique effects relative to current status and partially explained the effects of current status on behavioral outcomes (i.e., task performance, organizational citizenship behavior), motivational and affective outcomes (i.e., work engagement, turnover intentions, and learning, performance, and helping motivation), and psychological well-being. Furthermore, several of these responses predicted changes in status over time, and they elicited status conferral by others, suggesting that expectations of future status may elicit responses that confirm those expectations. Status may be consequential for people’s work lives, in part, because it shapes how people construe the future. Implications are discussed.