Impact of Gender and Expatriation Choice on Career Paths in Supply Chain Management: Evidence from Master of Science Graduates

Salomée Ruel,Anicia Jaegler

doi:10.3390/su13126907

Abstract

Zinn et al. (2018) and Esper et al. (2020) call for more research on gender diversity in Supply Chain Management, and our study responds to that call. We analyze the career path of 1081 international graduates from a higher degree program in Supply Chain Management from 2000 to 2017 to assess the impact of gender and expatriation choice on hierarchical progression. We explore two variables that may affect graduates’ career paths, namely, their gender and their expatriation choices, and compare their relative importance. Our analysis shows that there were, on average, 33.5% women recruited in the MSc and that this has not significantly changed over the years. It also shows that gender significantly influences the number of years spent at each level in the career hierarchy and the level reached. Regarding expatriation choice, this variable has some significant impacts on career progression. Finally, statistics indicate that gender has a far greater influence on career progression than expatriation choice. Overall, this study proves the difficulties for women in enjoying the same career progression as men in the field of Supply Chain Management.

Highlights

McKinsey & Company (Paris, France) has worked since 2007 on a program entitledWomen Matter, and this has generated several reports
(“Level 2”), we propose the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1 (H1): In the SupplyChain Management (SCM) function, there is a difference in the number of years spent at each hierarchical level
Taking into account that the SCM function is international in nature and considering the studies above, we suggest the following hypotheses: Hypotheis 3 (H3): In the SCM function, the expatriation choice differs according to gender

Summary

Introduction

McKinsey & Company (Paris, France) has worked since 2007 on a program entitled. Women Matter, and this has generated several reports. The 2010 report [1] addresses the proportion of women in decision-making bodies and boards of managers worldwide. Women made up 6% of the boards of directors and 10% of decision-making bodies, while in the transport sector, they made up 9% in both categories. The global situation is not very different. Chain Management (SCM) function, in the production and transport sectors, recent data still show the need to include more women. The SCM function is known by professionals as one of the least feminized company management functions

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Conclusion