Constructing a professional identity: how young female managers use role models

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how young career‐minded women use role models. It draws on previous research into how professionals experimented with their identity projections to become partners in US professional service firms.Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical paper with in‐depth interviews with ten young professional women.Findings – The women revealed that they actively draw on role models from different domains. In some cases, the role models were personally known to the individual women, whilst in other cases, they were personally unknown to them. The women revealed that they preferred to use the learning from external role models rather than focus on individual women from the top of their own professions.Originality/value – This research adds richness to our understanding of young female managers' use of role models, and contributes up‐to‐date empirical evidence in a field which has been somewhat neglected in recent years.