Search results

This study develops a measure of anticipated chilly climate for women and provides initial evidence of its validity.

We draw on three studies. Study 1 consisted of three focus groups to gain deeper insights into the meaning of the concept for prospective female jobseekers and generate scale items. In Study 2, we pre-tested job post vignettes (N = 203), refined the scale items and explored the factor structure (N = 136). Study 3 aimed to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of the new scale (N = 224) by testing its relationships with organisational attractiveness, person-organisation fit perceptions and gendered language.

The results show that the anticipated chilly climate is an important concept with implications for applicants’ career decision-making and career growth in the technology industry, where women tend to be underrepresented. Perceptions of anticipated chilly climate comprise expectations of devaluation, marginalisation and exclusion from the prospective employment. The masculine stereotypes embedded in the language of the job posts signalled a chilly climate for both genders, negatively affecting perceptions of fit and organisational attractiveness.

Most previous studies have focussed on the actual experiences of chilly climates in organisations. We extend this body of literature to anticipatory climates and draw on social identity threat theory and signalling theory to highlight that job applicants make inferences about the climate they expect to find based on job ads. Specifically, they may anticipate a chilly climate based on cues from job ads signalling masculine stereotypes. Whilst the literature has emphasised women’s perceptions of chilly climates within organisations, our results show that both genders anticipate chilly climates with detrimental consequences for both organisations and prospective job applications.

This paper explores some of the gaps and contradictions that can often be found in public sector leader development approaches and then examines some of the theoretical assumptions related to these gaps and contradictions. The purpose of this examination is to further identify and define some corresponding gaps within public sector leadership development theory, as well as to encourage future theory development.

Using three common examples of contradictions often found within the leadership literature, gaps within public sector leadership development theory are identified and then linked to relevant components of leader development models found within other disciplines. As they were developed in other contexts, these components were then further reviewed to determine their potential applicability in speaking to the gaps often found in public sector leader development theory.

Proposals are made to address some of the common gaps and contradictions often identified in some public sector leader development approaches, along with the detailing of future research directions for the further development of theory.

This exploratory review highlights some of the central assumptions and gaps in the literature for the purpose of clarifying future directions of research into public sector leadership development theory.