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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 study examines the time, place and theme constructs from the viewpoints of their theoretical configurations and potential applications in heritage conservation. The examination taps on the relationship of time to chronology, place to geography and theme to the human agency. Time, place and theme pose challenges in delineating workable definitions and in corroborating the resolvability of the terms into real-world applications. The challenges stem from the metaphysical nature of the constructs and the conjectural interpretability of the associated connotations.

The humanistic setting of the study supports qualitative research and information assessment methods. Information to support the theoretical objective (configurations) comes from the seminal literature on the very nature of time, place and theme and on their relationship with chronology, geography and human agency, respectively. The information to support the applied objective (applications) comes mainly from the works of the US National Park Service heritage programs, particularly the historic context strategy where the members of the triad are applied.

The theoretical knowledge about time, place and theme geared towards framing the constructs' configurations and applications in heritage conservation is lacking. Mediating time into chronology, place into geography and theme into argument provides a useful framework for understanding the constructs' configurations and applications.

The study adds knowledge on time, place and theme that helps delineate the configurations and applications of these constructs to the benefit of heritage conservation planning.