An investigation of perceived discrimination and career advancement curtailment: The African-American female accountant's perspective

Abstract

Although several research studies have focused on women and gender bias in the accounting profession and some have examined African-American CPAs and race bias, little has specifically addressed African-American women accountants who may be subject to both race and gender biases. While an increase in the African-American female presence in the accounting profession has been noted, little research has been undertaken to investigate factors that may affect their upward mobility in the profession. The objective of this exploratory survey-based study was to collect descriptive data on African-American female accountants, across a wide variety of organizations, and provide insights regarding their perceptions of discrimination and career advancement curtailment.The majority of respondents in this study are certified, hold middle-level positions, have limited supervisory duties and mentoring support, have less than six years tenure with their current employer and would leave their current employer for better career advancement opportunities. When compared to other job-levels, a larger proportion of the top job-level respondents are married and perceive greater levels of discrimination. Moreover, the majority of top-level respondents are employed in private industry and a little less than half of all respondents are employed in private industry. The statistical results and written comments of the respondents suggest that some of the African-American females in this study perceive both gender and race discrimination and career advancement curtailment. Some results of the study, however, are mildly encouraging since a comparison of current and previous employer indicates that the respondents perceive less race discrimination and career curtailment with their current employer than they did with their previous employer.

Citation

Robinson-Backmon, I. and Weisenfeld, L. (2001), "An investigation of perceived discrimination and career advancement curtailment: The African-American female accountant's perspective", Lehman, C.R. (Ed.) Advances in Accountability: Regulation, Research, Gender and Justice (Advances in Public Interest Accounting, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 241-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1041-7060(01)08012-9