Women In Top Management Positions Research Articles

Does Female Management Influence Firm Performance? Evidence from Luxembourg Banks

In this study we examine the relationship between the proportion of women in top management positions at banks and these institutions' financial performance. Using prudential data from supervisory reporting for all credit institutions in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg from 1999 to 2013, we find a positive association between female management and firm performance. The economic effect is substantial: a 10% increase in women in top management positions improves the bank's future return on equity by more than 3% p.a. Moreover, we show that this positive relationship is (i) almost twice as large during the global financial crisis than in stable market conditions and (ii) non-linear, with banks having 20%-40% female management being the most successful.

Understanding Perceptions of Female and Male Leaders

Although the representation of women in top management positions has increased in recent years, there remains a gender imbalance at upper levels in organizations (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009). Past research revealed that this gender gap can be explained through a biased evaluation of female leaders such that when exhibiting the same behavior as male leaders, female leaders are less favorably evaluated than their male counterparts (Heilman, 2001). In this symposium, we include five papers that explore factors influencing this biased evaluation, namely leader emergence (Presentation 1), individuating information about and positions of leaders (Presentation 2), leader role-based behavior (Presentation 3), leader body posture and gender (Presentation 4), and degree of match of individuals’ Implicit Leadership Theories (ILT) with their own leader identity (Presentation 5). Following the presentations, Lynn Shore will serve as the discussant to highlight both theoretical and practical implications and lead a...

Women's Participation in Senior Management Positions: Gender Social Relations, Law and Corporate Governance

We provide an empirical overview of women’s under-representation in positions of senior management in Brazil, including the board of directors and "C" level positions. We do so by collecting data on 73,901 top managerial positions of 837 different publicly held companies throughout sixteen years from 1997 until 2012. We find that the proportion of women in top management positions in Brazilian companies is currently around 8% and relatively stagnant over the years under analysis. Around half of the companies did not appoint a single woman to their boards during the years under analysis, whereas around two-thirds did not exhibit at least one woman on their senior management teams. We also investigate the corporate attributes associated with a higher or lower presence of women on board and top executive positions. Contrary to the common sense, we find that companies listed on the Novo Mercado as well as state-owned companies are associated with a lower presence of women on the board of directors. We conclude by discussing some possible institutional solutions, including the possibility of affirmative actions such as quotas, in order to promote higher gender equality at the top of the Brazilian corporate world.

Gender-Specific Preferences in Global Performance Management: An Empirical Study of Male and Female Managers in a Multinational Context

This study investigates gender-specific preferences in one important human resource management (HRM) practice—namely, global performance management (GPM). GPM has major consequences for the career advancement of women and can therefore also represent a barrier if it is rooted in traditional male corporate cultures. As prior research suggests that the underrepresentation of women in top management positions is a worldwide phenomenon with only minor national variations, empirical data were collected in five countries belonging to various cultural clusters: China, France, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. For all countries, the results show that preferences vary significantly between male and female managers for crucial parts of the GPM system (actors’ roles, evaluation methods, feedback procedures, and GPM purposes). This study confirms that the preferences of female managers do not match more male-oriented GPM practices, indicating that female managers are less satisfied with existing GPM procedures. It was particularly surprising to find that these gender differences do not vary according to cultural background, but rather display the same pattern in all investigated countries. These findings not only have the potential to explain the often-limited career advancement of women, but also have major implications for multinational companies aiming to retain talented women. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Yfirlit um stöðu og áhrif jafnari kynjahlutfalla við stjórnun og í stjórnum fyrirtækja

Í þessari yfirlitsgrein er farið yfir stöðu kvenna í stjórnum fyrirtækja, bæði hér á landi og erlendis. Aðeins rúm 20% stjórnarsæta eru skipuð konum og svipað hlutfall er í hópi æðstu stjórnenda. Farið verður yfir þróun þessara mála og reynt að leita skýringa á stöðunni og hvernig hún getur breyst. Kynntar verða helstu rannsóknir sem hafa kannað hver áhrifin eru af fjölgun kvenna í stjórnum fyrirtækja. Ýmsum spurningum er velt upp, svo sem hvort fjölbreyttar stjórnir séu líklegri til að skila meiri rekstrarárangri, hvort stjórnhættir breytist með fjölbreytni og loks hvort fjölgun kvenna í stjórnum fyrirtækja muni leiða til þess að konum fjölgi í stöðum æðstu stjórnenda. Það liggur fyrir að þau fyrirtæki sem hafa konur í stjórn skila betri árangri en niðurstöður rannsókna benda til þess að erfitt sé hins vegar að fullyrða að fjölgun kvenna í stjórn leiði til betri árangurs. Í erlendum gögnum sjáum við að konur sitja yfirleitt í stjórnum stærri fyrirækja en þessu virðist öfugt farið hér á landi. Sammerkt með öllum rannsóknum er að fjölgun kvenna í stjórnum leiðir ekki til fjölgunar kvenna í stjórnunarstöðum. Vegna nýlegrar lagasetningar um kynjakvóta þurfa mörg stórfyrirtæki að gera verulega bragarbót í þessum efnum. Loks er farið yfir mögulegar leiðir sem eru fyrir hendi í ljósi þeirrar staðreyndar að veruleg fjölgun kvenna verður að koma til ætli fyrirtækin að uppfylla lagaskilyrðin.

“Statistical correctness”: Do demographic‐based strategies bring about corporate diversity?

AbstractQuestioning the usefulness of naïve conceptions of gender and diversity that run in much of the managerial literature, the authors used a series of qualitative interviews with women in top managerial positions in large French corporations to examine corporate gender diversity discourses and strategies. They found that recruiting women in top management positions does not systematically produce the sort of diversity targeted by corporate strategies. Moreover, evidence shows that the corporate diversity strategies and gender conceptions in play tend to reproduce gender stereotypes and fail to democratize access to high‐ranking positions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gender Diversity Research in the Slovak Republic and the Participation of Women in Top Management Positions in Science and Research

The issue of female participation in the field of science and research has been researched and discussed in several studies, most noticeably in ´She figures 2009´. The latest research in Slovakia was conducted by Tatiana Sedová in 2009 and focused upon female students at two faculties within two different universities (Comenius Universtity - The Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics and the Slovak University of Technology – The Faculty of Electrotechnics and Informatics). The study´s results highlighted the presence of gender role stereotypes, but also a high and long established interest of female students in natural science subjects. Therefore, not only the topic of participation of women in science and research, but also the issue of women in managerial positions is worthy of investigation over an extended period of time. However, the statistics show a relatively low proportion of women in professor position at universities and a low number of women in top positions. The authors of this article will argue that the reasons for this long-time trend are not only based on stereotypes in thinking about gender equality. To be able to identify the next set of factors, it is necessary to carry out research over a long time period that also includes the women’s domestic and working environment. Until now, in Slovakia such a complex study has not been carried out. The article however, contains the starting point facts from the areas of participating women in science and research and in top management positions from the available statistics, relating to researches and area specifications for the future research. Finally, the authors would like to share their experience in this area obtained from UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and from the active involvement in the Seventh Framework Programme: ”Improving gender diversity management in materials research institutions” with the acronym Diversity, supported by the European Union.

Do Women Top Managers Help Women Advance? A Panel Study Using EEO-1 Records

The goal of this study is to examine whether women in the highest levels of management ranks of firms help reduce barriers to advancement in the workplace faced by women. Using a panel of over 20,000 private-sector firms across all industries and states during 1990-2003 from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, we explore the influence of women in top management on subsequent female representation in lowerlevel managerial positions in U.S. firms. Our key findings show that an increase in the share of female top managers is associated with subsequent increases in the share of women in mid-level management positions within firms, and this result is robust to controlling for firm size, workforce composition, federal contractor status, firm fixed effects, year fixed effects and industry-specific trends. The influence of women in top management positions is stronger among federal contractors, in firms with larger female labor forces, and for white women. We also find that the positive influence of women in top leadership positions on managerial gender diversity diminishes over time, suggesting that women at the top play a positive but transitory role in women’s career advancement.

Factors Affecting Women's Career Advancement in the Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Students, Educators and Industry Recruiters

The underrepresentation of women in top management positions is an important concern in the hospitality industry, in spite of the increasing number of women employees. This study examined factors affecting women's career advancement in the hospitality industry. An online survey was conducted on a convenience sample of 226 hospitality students, educators and recruiters. Seven factors were extracted: External (e.g. network, mentor), Character, Equity, Family issues, Lack of support, Advancement and Treatment. A major finding of this research was that significant differences existed in perceptions by gender and groups (students, educators, and recruiters). Group differences showed that industry recruiters always had significant differences with educators and students. The findings indicated that hospitality education programs could implement a number of measures to better prepare women for leadership roles in the hospitality industry.

IDENTITY AND REFLEXIVITY IN RESEARCH ON WOMEN ACCOUNTANTS.

The article analyzes stories which purport to explain the dearth of women in top management positions in the field of accounting. The four explanations discussed include the lack of experienced candidates, characteristic differences of women from men, organizational obstacles, and prejudice. It is said that none of these separate reasons can wholly account for the scarcity of top-level female executives in accounting. The combination of social with organizational barriers is presented as a more accurate explanation.

The role of culture and gender in the choice of a career in management

PurposeThe paper addresses the influence of culture and gender on the choice of a management career among men and women MBA students in Israel, the USA, the UK, Turkey, Cyprus, Hungary and India. The culture by gender comparison enabled an examination of five theories: two that focused on culture (Hofstede's and an application of Schneider's ASA model) and three that focused on gender (evolutionary theory, social role theory and social construction theory). The five theories have contradictory predictions about the relative influence of culture and gender.Design/methodology/approachSeven hundred and forty‐seven MBA students (390 male and 357 female and approximately 100 in each country) responded to a self‐report measure that was assembled especially for the purpose of the study.FindingsThe findings showed large cross‐cultural differences and small gender differences in the influences and aspirations associated with a career choice in management.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings support Hofstede's research and social construction theory, which predicted the cross‐cultural differences. They provide some support for social role theory, which predicted both gender and cross‐cultural differences, and very limited support for evolutionary theory, which predicted large and universal gender differences, and for the application of Schneider's ASA model, which predicted no cross‐cultural differences.Originality/valueThe findings are important in light of the small percentage of women in top management positions and the view of an MBA as means for breaking through the glass ceiling into top management. The findings can be translated to recommendations for encouraging women's entry into management.

Equal opportunity and affirmative action for South African women: a benefit or barrier?

PurposeThe paper aims to examine whether the South African government and its corporate organizations have been successful in employing women as professional equals by utilizing them fully in senior and top management positions after equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation was introduced by the democratic government.Design/methodology/approachA descriptive and theoretical paper, and thus secondary data from previous studies are used as comparative analysis for discussions and examinations.FindingsReaching top level positions is still uncommon for South Africa's women, as its corporate environment is not yet ready to accept women as professional equals, resulting in government legislation and policies working against women's growth and advancement instead of working in their favour. Suggestions are made for future studies to investigate what makes women worldwide flourish in government and public sector jobs, but fail in private and corporate sectors.Practical implicationsRecommends implications for South Africa's corporate organizations to become more women‐sensitive and friendly by empowering women as a group regardless of their race and colour for government policy and legislation to be successful. This area is unexplored, thus making it a new topic.Originality/valueThis paper may be of value to those professional women who are oblivious to barriers affecting their advancement and to corporate organizations puzzled by the imperceptible upward mobility of women in top management positions despite the implementation of equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation.

Cracks in the Glass Ceiling

This study investigates variables that differentiate work establishments that have women in top management positions from those that do not. Women occupied top management positions in slightly more than half of the 228 medium- to large-sized private sector establishments the authors studied. The authors found that women are more likely to occupy top management ranks in establishments that have more lower level management positions filled by women, have higher management turnover, have lower average management salary levels, place greater emphasis on development and promotion of employees, and operate in nonmanufacturing industries.

Gender-based Barriers to Senior Management Positions: Understanding the Scarcity of Female CEOs

Although the number of women in middle management has grown quite rapidly in the last two decades, the number of female CEOs in large corporations remains extremely low. This article examines many explanations for why women have not risen to the top, including lack of line experience, inadequate career opportunities, gender differences in linguistic styles and socialization, gender-based stereotypes, the old boy network at the top, and tokenism. Alternative explanations are also presented and analyzed, such as differences between female leadership styles and the type of leadership style expected at the top of organizations, feminist explanations for the underrepresentation of women in top management positions, and the possibility that the most talented women in business often avoid corporate life in favor of entrepreneurial careers.