High‐Involvement Work Practices and the Opportunities for Promotion in the Organization

Using the linked employer–employee component from the National Employer Survey, I examine the effect of employees’ participation in high‐involvement work practices (HIWP) on their opportunities for promotion within the organization. I find participation in HIWP to be positively related to promotion opportunities for individuals, especially for those in lower hierarchical levels and for the supervisors of these levels. In part, these findings can be explained by the new skills acquired while participating in these practices through formal training and informal on‐the‐job learning, and by the use of promotions as an incentive mechanism to motivate workers to engage in HIWP.