Ethnic and gender differences in motivation to manage were studied using a sentence completion test and an in-basket exercise. Comparisons among White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian students revealed no statistically significant differences in total scores when motivation to manage was measured by either instrument, but Blacks displayed different attitudes from Whites on some components of motivation to manage when they were measured with the sentence completion test. Comparisons between males and females on the total score showed that males scored higher than females on the sentence completion test but not on the in-basket exercise. Gender differences for one dimension of motivation to manage were found using the in-basket exercise. Implications for the measurement of psychological constructs and the identification of management talent are discussed.
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