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Hamid Zarei, Hassan Yazdifar and Farideh Soofi
After graduation, many female accountants tend to ordinarily have professional work experience to obtain an ideal position in the career; but under the influence of both internal…
Abstract
Purpose
After graduation, many female accountants tend to ordinarily have professional work experience to obtain an ideal position in the career; but under the influence of both internal (in the profession) and external (in life) adverse conditions, the application of their potential talent would be failed and they cannot utilize their abilities to progress in the career. Relevant studies in this field are in developed countries with minimal attention to females in other countries. This study contributes to the literature by examining the case in a developing country–Iran.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method study was undertaken to gather data by a postal questionnaire distributed in 2016–2017 and structured interviews with females who assuredly have working experience in the corporate finance department of firms listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange.
Findings
It is concluded that the primary issue affecting the career vision of women is to achieve a better working environment. This issue admittedly can be considered as a reason for women to change their employer. The salaries and benefits are also the least important to them. Most women prefer to work in the educational part because of flexible working hours, and they broadly obtain almost no desire to work in the field of tax and cost accounting.
Research limitations/implications
When answering the questionnaire or during the interviews, women are supposed to think about events that happened in the past, so it is recognized that they may selectively remember such events and interpret them with reference to the intervening events and the values that they hold at the time of the data collection. Moreover, all selected respondents may be naturally influenced by a desire to provide socially acceptable answers. Accordingly, the inherent limitations of the results are acknowledged. However, the prime focus of this paper is to consider and give voice to the female experience, which may or may not replicate the experience of their male counterparts.
Practical implications
This paper contributes meaningfully to the debate on the issues affecting the career vision of women and may result in their departure.
Originality/value
The impact of the dual work–life burden of women on career progression is assessed which contributes to the extant literature on the career progression of women in the context of developing countries such as Iran.
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Tania Saba, Mustafa Ozbilgin, Eddy Ng and Gaëlle Cachat-Rosset
We are the midst of accelerated change in the academic workforce. Academic roles, being a resilient mixture of research and education, are differentiating. An education-focused…
Abstract
We are the midst of accelerated change in the academic workforce. Academic roles, being a resilient mixture of research and education, are differentiating. An education-focused academic role, rather than one solely focused on disciplinary research, is gaining credibility and value. With the rise of the education-focused academic roles, questions are being raised about whether this new form of education-focused academic will continue to be overly represented by women in a new form of “women's work.” In the next decade, as academic roles continue to differentiate, care needs to be taken not to repeat the practice of the last 100 years which has seen gender bias continue. We will present four profiles of education-focused women academics, the snakes and ladders in their careers, and the strategies needed to ensure that women progress with equal recognition in these complex but exciting times.
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Elza Saitova and Carmela Di Mauro
This study aims to analyze and contrast the role of organizational and individual level factors in influencing the effective participation of women managers in decision-making in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyze and contrast the role of organizational and individual level factors in influencing the effective participation of women managers in decision-making in Japanese business organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative study based on 21 in-depth interviews with women and men in managerial positions in Japanese organizations is adopted.
Findings
Results show that gender equality structures and practices are not effectively institutionalized within Japanese organizations. In particular, corporate social responsibility programs are perceived by women respondents to be formally adopted to gain legitimacy in the eyes of foreign investors. However, they lack effectiveness in giving the woman manager a “voice” in business decisions. Organizational practices such as leadership development and mentoring are generally not evident in the organizations analyzed. Conversely, the personal traits of the woman manager, such as determination, self-confidence and “being able to confront men colleagues” are the factors perceived to be crucial in influencing women’s participation in decisions.
Social implications
The study suggests that to increase the weight of women managers in Japanese organizations’ decision-making, action is still needed within organizations to create a true diversity-culture. Additionally, action at the educational level has to remove women’s own self-segregation.
Originality/value
The study offers novel evidence on the “glass ceiling” in Japanese businesses by investigating whether women’s access to management positions corresponds to effective decision power. The study also highlights the key enabling factors, therefore contributing to the analysis of how to create more effective gender “diversity” within Japanese businesses.
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Michelle K. Ryan, S. Alexander Haslam and Tom Postmes
This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of the glass cliff, whereby women are more likely than men to be placed in precarious leadership positions. Men's and women's…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of the glass cliff, whereby women are more likely than men to be placed in precarious leadership positions. Men's and women's reactions to this subtle form of gender discrimination are examined, the identity processes involved, and the implications for organisations who must manage this change in the gender make‐up of their workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is qualitative analysis of participants’ spontaneous explanations for the glass cliff, after having read about the phenomenon on an online news web site.
Findings
The research demonstrates clear differences in men's and women's reactions to the glass cliff. While women were more likely to acknowledge the existence of the glass cliff and recognise its danger, unfairness, and prevalence for women, men were more likely to question the validity of research into the glass cliff, downplaying the dangers. These patterns were mirrored in the explanations that individuals generated. While women were most likely to explain the glass cliff in terms of pernicious processes such as a lack of alternative opportunities, sexism, or men's ingroup favouritism, men were most likely to favour largely benign interpretations, such as women's suitability for difficult leadership tasks, the need for strategic decision‐making, or company factors unrelated to gender.
Originality/value
This research examines people's reactions to a new form of subtle sexism in the workplace which allows one to develop a more thorough theoretical understanding of the phenomenon and of the likely impact of practical interventions designed to help eliminate discriminatory appointment practices.
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Jenny K. Rodriguez, Elisabeth Anna Guenther and Rafia Faiz
This paper introduces intersectional situatedness to develop inclusive analyses of leadership. Intersectional situatedness recognises the contextual and situated nature of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper introduces intersectional situatedness to develop inclusive analyses of leadership. Intersectional situatedness recognises the contextual and situated nature of experiences and their interaction with socially constructed categories of difference.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on memory work by three feminist academics who situate their understandings and experiences of leadership as part of socio-historical contexts.
Findings
Understandings and experiences of leadership are multifaceted and benefit from being examined in their intersectional situatedness. This way, the simultaneity of visible and invisible disadvantage and privilege, which accumulate, shift and get reconfigured across the life course and are based on particular intersectional identity invocations, can be integrated into narratives about leadership.
Research limitations/implications
Interrogating gender-in-leadership adopting an intersectional situatedness helps to advance the field by embedding the recognition, problematisation and theorisation of situated difference as critical to understand leadership, its meaning and its practice in management and organisations.
Practical implications
In embedding intersectional situatedness in the analysis of leadership, more inclusive understandings of leadership are qualified that recognise differences positively and support changing the narratives around the meaning of “leader” and “good leadership”.
Social implications
Intersectional situatedness helps to identify tangible ways to see how inequalities impact women’s career progression to leadership and enable more nuanced conversations about privilege and disadvantage to advance feminist social justice agendas.
Originality/value
The paper reveals the narrow and restricted understandings of leadership and how this influences who is regarded as a legitimate leader. In addition, it adopts a methodology that is not commonly used in gender-in-leadership research.
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A new phenomenon called “Glass Cliff” has formed claiming that women at the higher echelons of organizations are being placed in higher risk positions when compared to men. The…
Abstract
Purpose
A new phenomenon called “Glass Cliff” has formed claiming that women at the higher echelons of organizations are being placed in higher risk positions when compared to men. The purpose of this research study is to examine whether this phenomenon occurs at the middle to upper middle management levels for women. If so, it can possibly be one of the many underlying reasons that contribute to the grounds of why the pipeline problem exists with female leadership at the top-level management positions.
Design/methodology/approach
The design considers competing hypotheses based on the emerging, contradictory research on the Glass Cliff and the more established perspective of social norms and implicit biases. The experimental study is conducted on 202 participants to examine the likelihood of occurrence of this phenomenon at middle to upper middle management levels.
Findings
Counter to the tenets pertaining to the Glass Cliff phenomenon but consistent with the implicit leadership theories, this research study revealed that when compared to the female candidate, the male candidate was more likely to be assigned to the higher risk position.
Research limitations/implications
The subjective nature of the study can be the reason for variations of each participant and their biases since it is a specific experiment dealing with perceptions, social norms and prejudice.
Originality/value
This phenomenon is mostly studied at the executive level and can contribute to the pipeline problem for women, hence this study provides insight and examines the phenomenon at the middle to upper middle management levels to examine its likelihood.
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