Corporate Leadership Positions Research Articles

The Strategies of Turkish Female Managers to Break Glass Ceiling

The number of female employees in the business world is increasing daily; however, managerial positions have disadvantages. They are not significantly represented in corporate leadership positions. The fragile and transparent but real barrier that prevents qualified women from advancing to senior management positions has been conceptualised as the glass ceiling in the literature. This study aims to identify and conceptualise Turkish female managers' strategies to break the glass ceiling through the qualitative research method within the framework of elements that create a glass ceiling, such as gender discrimination and gender prejudices in society, organisational culture, some female-specific behavioural faults, personal compromises and encouragers for a career. Content analysis of the interviews conducted with senior female managers was carried out using the MAXQDA software program. As a result of the study, it has been determined that Turkish female managers apply different strategies in three areas: work-life and family balance, professional life, and career path. These are inspiring strategies for women at all management levels, which they can use to advance their career paths. Among these strategies, the approach that the organisation can support will also be a guide for human resources management practitioners, managers and leaders, and organisational structure and culture designers.

Indigenous directorship pathways through transformative leadership: a content analysis of reconciliation action plans (RAPs)

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how corporate Australia engages in reconciliation through recognizing and providing pathways for Indigenous Australians' corporate leadership aspirations.Design/methodology/approachThe research design is informed by the prior literature on pathways by minority groups to corporate leadership through the theoretical lens of transformational leadership. The investigation is conducted using textual analysis of reconciliation action plans (RAPs), a contemporary and voluntary practice adopted by Australian listed companies to disclose their commitment to national reconciliation. RAPs are publicly available from the official websites of listed companies.FindingsThe analysis of contemporary RAPs highlights organizational initiatives to support Indigenous Australians related to corporate and community leadership. Since the authors’ focus is the former, corporate leadership initiatives are further analyzed. Two initiatives for Indigenous Australians to pursue corporate leadership positions are emerging future leaders' programs and mentoring programs. This is the extent to which the authors observe Australian firms' transformational leadership. While some firms have implemented these initiatives with specific targets, other firms do not have specific initiatives or targets. The paper also conducts longitudinal analysis into the transformational leaders' past RAPs and triangulates to other evidence of reconciliation commitment such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes new insights to the research area of board cultural diversity, specifically to the limited literature on Indigenous reconciliation. It provides insights into firms and policymakers to address the ongoing issue of the underrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in corporate leadership. The sample of firms comprises Australian listed firms that have adopted higher-order RAPs, which restricts the generalizability of the findings to other sectors.Originality/valueThis paper explores the under researched phenomenon of Indigenous people's pathways to corporate leadership. The research design is informed by transformational leadership theory through considering institutional actions for reconciliation. This research provides evidence of the extent to which corporate Australia has taken action on the issue of the under-representation of Australian Indigenous people in corporate leadership.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II in Indonesian Women Leaders

This study aimed to examine the 16 items of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II (PGIS-II) psychometric traits among women holding corporate leadership positions in Indonesia. It used quantitative methods and was conducted on 181 women in various management positions. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to analyze the PGIS-II instrument factorial validity comprising four dimensions and to determine the factor structure suitability. Furthermore, internal reliability and convergent validity were analyzed from the total and subscale scores. The results showed that the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) matched scores with different ranges. PGIS-II's internal reliability indicated the intentional planning dimensions and behavior that require modifying the items’ measurement and analysis. In terms of validity, the Intentional Behavior (IB2) indicator does not meet the standard loading factor (SLF). However, these findings suggest that the PGIS-II scale could be used to study female figures in Indonesia.

Falling Over the Glass Cliff? The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women Directors’ Board Turnover

Mounting evidence suggests that women have left the labor market at unprecedented rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. We seek to contribute to the ongoing debates on the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by exploring the labor market effects of gender in corporate leadership positions. While the challenges women face to rise above the glass ceiling are well-documented, factors determining their departure are less well understood. The global pandemic offers an opportunity to evaluate the effects of gendered expectations and diversity considerations during a crisis on the likelihood of women director turnover. Using a sample of 15,768 unique outside directors sitting at the boards of 4,249 public firms in 32 European countries between 2019 and 2020, we find that director turnover in general has significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and women directors are as likely as men directors to leave their board positions during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings also hold across different country-level contextual factors. Our findings suggest that beyond the glass ceiling women's behavior is more similar to their men counterparts than women in general. We discuss the implications of our findings for future research on corporate leadership positions and gender differences in the boardroom.

O Processo de Envelhecimento de Mulheres em Cargos de Liderança: a Iminência da Morte e do Renascimento Simbólicos

Abstract This article explores how women in leadership positions experience and develop ways to deal with their aging process in organizations in Brazil. As women have reached these top positions relatively recently, studies on the careers of younger women still dominate the literature. For this reason, the literature on aging women who hold corporate leadership positions is still scarce. Based on empirical data obtained from 58 in-depth interviews based on grounded theory, this research showed that women experience their aging process as symbolic physical, social, and professional deaths and face an age glass ceiling due to their age. However, they also create new life stories based on a redefinition of work and/or a search for a new career, a phenomenon we call ‘symbolic rebirth.’ This paper proposes concepts related to how women see their aging process, uncovering the dynamics and implications of aging for women. There seems to be no room to aging in corporations, even for women in leadership positions. Despite the innumerable changes that have taken place in recent decades, this organizational space is still associated with the male gender, and ageism persists even for women who are in top-ranking executive positions in corporations.

Gender diversity and financial statement fraud

This study investigates the role of gender diversity in fraud commission and detection with a view to identifying whether companies with more female corporate leaders are less likely to be involved in financial statement fraud. Using a bivariate probit model, the role of female corporate leaders in financial statement fraud commission and detection is examined for Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2018. The representation of female corporate leaders increases the likelihood of fraud detection, thus reducing firms’ propensity to engage in fraud. The finding confirms that women are risk averse and more committed to ethical practices than men in corporate leadership positions. Moreover, this impact of gender diversity is contingent upon the nature of ultimate controllers of listed companies: more female representation in top leadership roles can mitigate fraud commission or detect fraud effectively in non-state-owned enterprises, but not in state-owned enterprises. In addition, the recent anti-corruption campaign initiated by Chinese President Jinping Xi is a powerful form of public governance. Female corporate leaders play a more positive role in mitigating fraud commission and detecting fraud commission in the post-campaign period than in the pre-campaign period.

Awakenings: An Authentic Leadership Development Program to Break the Glass Ceiling

Companies are vital agents in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. One key role that businesses can play in achieving the 5th Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality is implementing training programs for their women executives so they can reach top corporate leadership positions. In this paper, we test the effectiveness of an Authentic Leadership Development (ALD) program for women executives. By interviewing 32 participants from this ALD program and building on authentic leadership theory, we find that this program lifts women participants’ self-efficacy perception, as well as their self-resolution to take control of their careers. The driver for both results is a reflective thinking process elicited during the program that leads women to abandon the stereotype of a low status role and lack of self-direction over time. Through the relational authenticity developed during the program, women participants develop leadership styles that are more congenial with their gender group, yet highly accepted by the in-group leader members, which enhances their social capital. After the program, the women participants flourished as authentic leaders, were able to activate and foster their self-esteem and social capital, and enhanced their agency in career advancement, increasing their likelihood of breaking the glass ceiling.

From Help to Harm: Increases in Status, Perceived Under-Reciprocation, and the Consequences for Access to Strategic Help and Social Undermining Among Female, Racial Minority, and White Male Top Managers

This paper explores how social psychological biases impede the social exchange relations of executives who ascend to high-status corporate leadership positions. We theorize that a combination of self-serving attribution biases among executives who gain status and egocentric biases of their prior benefactors cause a systematic difference in perceptions about the relative importance of that help to the beneficiary’s success. This leads to the perception among prior benefactors that the high-status executives have not adequately reciprocated their help. We then extend this argument to explain why perceptions of under-reciprocation are heightened when the high-status executive is a racial minority or a woman but reduced when the prior benefactor is a racial minority or a woman. The final element of our theoretical framework examines the social consequences of perceived under-reciprocation for corporate leaders. We suggest that the high-status leaders’ access to strategic help is reduced, and they may become the target of social undermining that can damage their broader reputation. The findings support our social psychological perspective on social exchange in corporate leadership, revealing how and why executives who have ascended to high-status positions not only may encounter difficulty obtaining assistance from fellow leaders but also may experience adverse reversals in their social exchange ties such that managers who previously aided them engage in socially harmful behavior toward them.

Afro-Diasporic women navigating the black ceiling: Individual, relational, and organizational strategies

In this article, we describe how the black ceiling—upheld by the powerful institutional logics of patriarchy and white supremacy, inordinately challenging and interlocking systemic barriers to leadership advancement—leads to the dearth of Afro-Diasporic women in senior corporate leadership positions and pathologizes Afro-Diasporic women as multiple outsiders. As a result, Afro-Diasporic women’s well-being in the workplace is compromised and many adopt coping and survival strategies to navigate a myriad of relational and environmental phenomena, such as spirit murder, emotional taxation, social closure, white privilege, and white fragility. To navigate and ameliorate these dynamics, we advance several individual, relational, and organizational strategies that support Afro-Diasporic women thriving in the workplace.

In the Shadow of Social Stereotypes: Gender diversity on corporate boards, board chair’s gender and strategic change

Against the backdrop of spirited public and academic discourse about women’s low visibility in corporate leadership positions, we examine board gender diversity’s influence on strategic change in firms. Viewing gender as an institutionalized system of social beliefs, the article makes two related arguments. First, it contends that because of gender status difference and bias, more gender diversity will result in less strategic change as a board’s decisions begin to follow the stance of a smaller but relatively more influential ‘boy’s club’. Second, it contends that should a board have a female chair as opposed to a male chair, a recession in the shadow of gender stereotypes will reverse board gender diversity’s negative effect on strategic change. Instrumental variables analysis of data from Fortune 500 firms supports the theory. We discuss the study’s contributions and implications.

Opt-out stories: women’s decisions to leave corporate leadership

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the challenges to women’s authentic leadership identities contribute to their decisions to abandon leadership positions mid-career. It examines the critical career moments and underlying themes behind these women’s decisions to leave. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on semi-structured interviews (n = 9) with women between the ages of 32-53 who had opted-out of mid-level corporate leadership positions. Findings The study found that work–life balance was not the primary factor in women’s decisions to leave. Instead, the women in the study reflected on their inability to be themselves and contribute perceived value to the organization as triggering their decisions to leave. Research limitations/implications There are limitations in using a small sample of women selected through the researchers’ social media networks resulting in limited cultural and racial diversity. Practical implications Misconceptions about women’s decisions to leave corporate leadership mid-career misleads human resource (HR) practices and initiatives focused on retaining female talent. Organizations need to recognize and reshape the organizational environment to support women to be their authentic self and make the value of their contributions more transparent. Originality/value The paper is original in that it examines opt-out from the lens of women’s leadership identities in corporate contexts. There are limited studies that have examined the connections between identity and women’s career decisions beyond work–ife balance. It provides practical value to HR practitioners and organizations focused on retaining female talent.

Shall we serve the dark lords? A meta-analytic review of psychopathy and leadership.

Both scholars and the popular press have expressed concern regarding the potential prevalence of individuals with psychopathic tendencies in corporate leadership positions and the negative effects they may have on both individual workers and their organizations as a whole. However, research to date has been inconclusive as to whether such individuals are more likely to emerge as leaders or whether they are (in)effective leaders. To clarify the state of the literature, we conducted a meta-analysis on the association between psychopathic personality characteristics and leadership emergence, leadership effectiveness, and transformational leadership. Our results, based on data from 92 independent samples, showed a weak positive correlation for psychopathic tendencies and leadership emergence, a weak negative association for psychopathic tendencies and leadership effectiveness, and a moderate negative correlation for psychopathic tendencies and transformational leadership. Subgroup analyses on methodological factors did not indicate any differences from the main results. However, moderator analyses showed a gender difference in these associations such that psychopathic tendencies in men were weakly positively correlated with leadership emergence and effectiveness and negatively correlated with transformational leadership, while psychopathic tendencies in women were negatively associated with effectiveness and transformational leadership, and largely unassociated with emergence. In addition, small but consistent curvilinear associations were found for all leadership criteria. Overall, these results suggest that concern over psychopathic tendencies in organizational leaders may be overblown, but that gender can function to obscure real effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Women and leadership: Gender barriers to senior management positions

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to show the representation of women in corporate leadership positions. It also aims to identify the key factors that determine the lower presence of women in senior management, as well as policies to achieve gender balance in decision-making positions. Design/methodology/approach: In order to show the representation of women in senior positions, the information contained in the European Commission database Women and men in decision-making has been analyzed. This database contains information on the presence of women in key positions in the largest publicly-listed European companies. The analysis has been completed with the Economically Active Population Survey of the Spanish National Statistics Institute and Catalyst census, including Fortune 500 companies. A literature review was also conducted to find factors explaining the current situation of women in decision-making positions and to propose strategies that promote more women in senior management. The literature review was carried out by means of searches in Google Scholar and in the databases ABI/INFORM Global , Emerald and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences , which permitted the analysis of several journals. Findings: This study highlights the gender imbalance in decision-making positions. Most barriers to senior management are related to gender stereotypes. Therefore, we propose combining short-term measures to provide the required support for women in order to access management positions with other long-term measures to boost analysis and the learning process throughout society. Originality/value: The research assesses the magnitude of the gender imbalance still present in leadership positions today. It also highlights the need for short- and long-term measures.

Is Gender Diversity Profitable? Evidence from a Global Survey

Analysis of a global survey of 21,980 firms from 91 countries suggests that the presence of women in corporate leadership positions may improve firm performance. This correlation could reflect either the payoff to nondiscrimination or the fact that women increase a firm’s skill diversity. Women’s presence in corporate leadership is positively correlated with firm characteristics such as size as well as national characteristics such as girls’ math scores, the absence of discriminatory attitudes toward female executives, and the availability of paternal leave. The results find no impact of board gender quotas on firm performance, but they suggest that the payoffs of policies that facilitate women rising through the corporate ranks more broadly could be significant.

A Case Study on the Lifestyle of Badaga Women in the Blue Mountain District of Tamil Nadu, India

The real growth of women in social and economic life lie in relishing domestic independency and right to take decisions in family and in society is women empowerment. Women upliftment and empowerment should be aimed globally as it is still a stigma in many places around the globe. Empowerment should be aimed for both women in rural and urban.. Many women in villages do a lot of work which includes spinningand plantation. But the society strongly believes that only women in corporate leadership positions can contribute more to the growth of a country. But several researches say that three in ten companies have no woman. Women in villages are also equally talented and biologically strong when compared to women in the cities. But there are many obstacles for women in villages, which stop them from exposing themselves to the society. Perhaps it is because of the unawareness and ignorance and most importantly the unwillingness that stops rural women from enhancing their skills. Badaga women are located in the Nilgiri district and are known for their hospitality. Though there is a constructive growth, there are some facets that badaga women need to change. They are hardworking and in many families’ women replace men in financial and domestic roles but they are not privileged in their hutti's and in the society. This paper aims to present an in-depth exploration of women development and the obstacles that badaga women face in their daily lives. This paper also underlines the sources which would help badaga women to get empowered where gender barrier is a greater jeopardy.

Leading at the top: Understanding women's challenges above the glass ceiling

Women leaders contribute positively to organizations yet remain significantly underrepresented in corporate leadership positions. While the challenges women face are well-documented, less understood are the factors that shape the experience and success of women who, against significant odds, rise above the glass ceiling. This paper advances scholarship on women and leadership by analyzing the conditions under which women are promoted to top leadership positions and exploring the opportunities and challenges they face post-promotion. We draw on two data sources: comparison of the career trajectories of all women who have ever served as CEO in the Fortune 500 with a matched sample of men CEOs as well as in-depth interviews with women executives across a variety of sectors. Our analysis reveals that women are more likely than men to be promoted to high risk leadership positions and often lack the support or authority to accomplish their strategic goals. As a result, women leaders often experience shorter tenures compared to male peers. We consider the implication of our findings for theory, research and practice.

"Increases in Status, Perceived Under-Reciprocation, and Social Undermining Among Top Managers"

This paper explores how social and psychological biases may impede the social exchange relations of executives who ascend to high- status corporate leadership positions. We theorize that a combination of self-serving attribution biases among executives who reach high-status positions, and egocentric biases among their prior benefactors, causes a systematic difference in perceptions between the two parties about the relative importance of that help to the high-status beneficiary’s success. This in turn leads to the perception among prior benefactors that the high-status executives have not adequately reciprocated their help. We then extend this theoretical argument, first by suggesting that the perception of under reciprocation is heightened when the high- status executive is a racial minority or a female. Second, we examine how high levels of ingratiation directed toward the high- status executives may contribute to the attribution biases which lead to perceptions of under-reciprocation. The final component of our theoretical framework addresses the significant social consequences of perceived under-reciprocation for the high-status corporate leaders. Specifically, we suggest that the high-status leaders’ ability to access help when needed is reduced, and they are liable to become the target of social undermining that can damage their broader reputation.

Impact of board gender diversity on firm risk

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study gender diversity on the board of directors and the relation to risk management and corporate performance as measured by the variability of stock market return. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consists of companies from the RiskMetrics database from 2007 to 2011. This database contains information on corporate board of directors. Financial variables were collected from the Compustat database and CRSP database for the years 2005-2011. The authors then measure the effect of gender diversity on corporate performance in terms of firm risk, using the model by Cheng (2008) which measures the variability of stock market return. Findings – The study shows that more gender diversity on the board of directors impacts firm risk by contributing to lower variability of stock market return. The higher the percentage of female directors on the board, the lower the variability of corporate performance. Originality/value – The research design and findings assist in providing additional evidence about the role of women in corporate leadership positions and the association with corporate performance. The approach combines Cheng's (2008) model of stock market variability with the impact of gender diversity on the board of directors.

Gender disparity in the C-suite: Do male and female CEOs differ in how they reached the top?

Through a comparison of the life and career trajectories of thirty male and thirty female CEOs of large organizations, this study offers insights into the genesis of gender disparity in corporate leadership positions, discusses the implications for leadership development, and puts forward a model explaining the disparity in CEO roles. We found gendered patterns in the accumulation of career relevant experiences stretching back to birth into working lives that created significant and cumulative limitations upon the ability of women to access CEO roles and the types of CEO appointments available to them. Limited access to career relevant experiences in childhood, adolescence and in organizations lead to on-going limitations in capital accumulation throughout women's careers. Implications of our findings for both theory and practice are discussed.

Between a rock and a hard place: managing diversity in a shareholder society

This study examines whether the appointment of racial/ethnic minorities into top management positions has a different impact on share price than the appointment of Caucasians into equivalent positions. Our dependent variable is the degree of change in share price following the announcement of racial/ethnic minority and Caucasian men into senior management positions. Market reaction to the naming of racial/ethnic minorities into corporate leadership positions is significant and negative, while the market's reaction to the naming of Caucasians is significant and positive. However, the negative market reaction to the appointment of racial/ethnic minorities into top management positions is mitigated in those firms that have explicitly incorporated diversity into their strategic growth plan. Our findings suggest that to successfully introduce diversity into upper management, firm decision makers must first signal the importance of diversity to market actors.