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The purpose of this paper is to explore how the challenges to women’s authentic leadership identities contribute to their decisions to abandon leadership positions mid-career. It examines the critical career moments and underlying themes behind these women’s decisions to leave.

This paper is based on semi-structured interviews (n = 9) with women between the ages of 32-53 who had opted-out of mid-level corporate leadership positions.

The study found that work–life balance was not the primary factor in women’s decisions to leave. Instead, the women in the study reflected on their inability to be themselves and contribute perceived value to the organization as triggering their decisions to leave.

There are limitations in using a small sample of women selected through the researchers’ social media networks resulting in limited cultural and racial diversity.

Misconceptions about women’s decisions to leave corporate leadership mid-career misleads human resource (HR) practices and initiatives focused on retaining female talent. Organizations need to recognize and reshape the organizational environment to support women to be their authentic self and make the value of their contributions more transparent.

The paper is original in that it examines opt-out from the lens of women’s leadership identities in corporate contexts. There are limited studies that have examined the connections between identity and women’s career decisions beyond work–ife balance. It provides practical value to HR practitioners and organizations focused on retaining female talent.

The paper aims to clarify the multivariate effects of follower communication apprehension (CA) and demographic dissimilarity on follower perceptions of the leader–follower relationship quality (i.e. measured by leader–member exchange (LMX) theory). This study examined the possible mediating effects of follower CA on the relationship between demographic dissimilarity and LMX.

Research was collected from self-report ratings of one member of the dyad; several proactive techniques were utilized to reduce common method variance in the development and administration of the survey instrument. In total, 260 (N = 260) full-time hospitality industry employees participated in the study.

The results of this study indicate demographic dissimilarity has minimal effect on LMX and CA. However, the results indicated that follower CA was negatively related to follower perceptions of LMX quality. In addition, the results indicated that tenure working with the supervisor was negatively related to follower CA and positively related to follower perceptions of LMX quality.

Research results may lack generalizability, and causality cannot be confirmed. Future studies utilizing longitudinal designs and/or data collected from each member of the dyad may provide support for current findings.

This paper includes implications for understanding how situational characteristics influence follower CA and perceptions of LMX to encourage supervisors to increase communication with new subordinates, especially during the organizational acculturation process, thus reducing turnover. Furthermore, the significant relationship between age dissimilarity and CA offers practical implications for managing and celebrating generational differences in the workplace and bridging the gap between generations by maximizing communication between supervisors and subordinates. Communication is an essential consideration in the hospitality industry linked to creativity, relationship building and enhanced service experiences. Ultimately, this paper provides guidance for leaders to build sustainable, positive relationships with subordinates through more effective communication and build more inclusive service-based organizations.

This paper contributes to communication and leadership management practices by addressing four major problems: (1) limited research on situational characteristics that inhibit LMX quality, (2) limited research on communication variables as antecedents to LMX, (3) minimal research on the relationship between CA and LMX and (4) non-existent research on CA as a mediating variable in the relationship between demographic dissimilarity and LMX.