Where You Came From and Where You Are Going: The Role of Performance Trajectory in Promotion Decisions
Despite the clear theoretical link between promotions and job performance, the few studies that have
tested this relationship have instead found that the role of job performance level in determining
promotions is much less than might be expected. In 4 studies, we propose and test a different way of
thinking about the performance-promotion relationship. Prospect theory, spiraling theory, and sponsored
and contest mobility were used to support the notion that change in performance is at least as important