Study Finds Early Academic Excellence Does Not Lead to Future Occupational Success

Dr. Yavorsky

A new study by Jill Yavorsky, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yue Qian, an assistant professor of sociology the University of British Columbia, finds that men supervise more people than women at work during their early-to-mid careers, regardless of their grade point averages in high school.

The authors used data on 5,000 people born in the U.S. between 1957 and 1964. They analyzed these individual’s grade point averages in high school and compared that to how many people they supervised at work.

The study found that men who received straight A’s in high school could expect to eventually supervise an average of 13.3 workers. Women with the same grades only supervised five workers.

Dr. Qian

Among men and women who are parents, early academic achievement is much more strongly associated with future leadership roles for fathers than it is for mothers. Among parents who were top achievers in high school, fathers manage over four times the number of supervisees as mothers. In fact, the study found that women parents who achieved straight A’s in high school supervised on average about the same number of employees as did male students who flunked their high school courses.

The authors conclude that “overall, our results reveal that suppressed leadership prospects apply to even women who show the most promise early-on and highlight the vast under-utilization of women’s (in particular mothers’) talent for organizational leadership.

Dr. Yavorsky joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hull in 2017. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology, all from Ohio State University. Dr. Qian joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in 2016. She is a graduate of Renmin University in Beijing, China. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Ohio State University.

The full study, “The Under-Utilization of Women’s Talent: Academic Achievement and Future Leadership Positions,” was published on the website of the journal Social Forces. It may be accessed here.