Career Expectations. As was the case in 1992, we again asked these individuals, now five years further along on their career paths, what level positions they expected to achieve five years from now, i.e., in the year 2002. The results from the 1992 and 1997 surveys are presented in Table 44. The pattern observed in 1992 showing black women as less likely to expect to attain CEO positions is not as evident in 1997. And in fact, if we consider CEOs and senior vice presidents together, more black women expect to attain such positions in 1997 than whites.

Comparing black and white men shows no important differences in their position expectations except that fewer in each group expect to attain CEO or senior vice presidencies in 1997 than was true in 1992. Again, the research cannot determine if these lower career expectations are a result of individual factors including aging, changing priorities for example, or if they are due to environmental accommodations--recognition that fewer top management positions are available given the consolidation of so many organizations in the healthcare arena.

In 1992, white women were more likely than black women to aspire to work in a hospital in five years. Today, fewer white women have such plans for the year 2002 and their expectations are similar to the black women in the study. Among the men, over half aspire to work in a hospital in 5 years--a lower proportion than in 1992. There continue to be no important differences in the organizations aspired to by black men and white men. (Table 45)

Overall, positional expectations appear to have diminished between blacks and whites in the five year period. Where once, more white women than black women anticipated CEO posts, now both are equal in their expectations. Among men, there is a general lowering of anticipated positions they plan to attain for both blacks and whites. Likewise, where fewer black than white women aspired to work in hospitals in 1997, today, closer to equal proportions of both groups want to work in hospitals in 2002.

A nonresponse analysis is presented in Table 46. The comparison shows that respondent women were not significantly different from nonresponding women in level of education, field of highest degree, position level attained or employing organization. However, nonresponding women were likely to be somewhat younger than respondents. Among males, no significant differences exist in age, position level attained or employing organization. However, nonresponding men more often had a doctorate degree and fewer had specialized training in healthcare management.