Andrisani, Paul J. 1977. "Internal-External Attitudes, Personal Initiative, and the Labor Market Experience of Black and White Men." Journal of Human Resources 12(3):308-328.

Internal-external attitudes tap the perceived payoffs to initiative and have therefore received considerable attention in the psychological literature as a generator of initiative. The National Longitudinal Surveys data for young and middle-aged men used in this study provide considerable support for the hypothesis that internal-external attitudes are strongly related to a number of aspects of labor market experience. Confidence in these findings is strengthened by the fact that the observed relationships were independent of individual differences in a wide range of skills, abilities, and demographic characteristics, and were supported by longitudinal data as well. Not only does initiative appear to have considerable payoffs for both young and middle-aged men, it also appears to pay off for blacks as well as whites, especially among the young.

The author is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Relations, Temple University. This research was prepared under a grant with the Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, under the authority of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. Interpretations or viewpoints stated in this article do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of Labor. The author wishes to thank Gerald Gurin, F. Ray Marshall, Gilbert Nestel, Herbert S. Parnes, Melvin Seeman, and the editor for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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