The Early Identification of Managerial Talent

Research was conducted to determine if managerial motivation can be identified during the period of graduate education, or whether it emerges only subsequent to industrial employment. 106 graduate business students were tested with the Miner Sentence Completion Scale (MSCS) which was scored to give an Item Score and a Rare Score. 41 indicated a desire for managerial employment, 32 a desire to teach, and 33 a desire for specialized or professional employment in business. The mean MSCS Item Scores for these groups were 7.71, .59, and 1.27, respectively; the Rare Scores, 1.00, ?1.72, and ?dash;1.36. In both instances the scores for those with managerial goals were significantly above those for the other groups (p < .01). These results support the conclusion that managerial motivation develops prior to the initiation of the business career, and exerts a strong influence on vocational choice.