Ruth Sealy

The Importance of Role Models and Demographic Context for Senior Women's Work Identity Development

The lack of senior female role models continues to be cited as a key barrier to womens career success. Yet there is little academic research into the gendered aspects of role modelling in organizations, or the utility of role models at a senior level. The paper starts with a review of papers examining the construction of role models in organizational settings. This leads to the inclusion of two related areas – organizational demographics as the contextual factor affecting the availability of role models and how they are perceived, and work identity formation as a possible key explanatory factor behind the link between the lack of senior female role models and the lack of career progression to top organizational levels. The literature looking at social theories of identity formation is then considered from a gender perspective. The key gaps identified are that while the behavioural value of role models has been well documented, a better understanding is needed of how gender and organizational demography influence the role modelling process. Importantly, the symbolic value and possibly other values of female role models in the identity construction of senior women require further in-depth investigation. Finally, this review calls for a more integrated approach to the study of role models and work identity formation, pulling together literatures on organizational demography, the cognitive construal of role models and their importance for successful work identity formation in senior women.

Changing perceptions of meritocracy in senior women's careers

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore how an elite group of senior women in banking represent and describe their understanding and experience of the role of meritocracy, within the context of their own career.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 33 senior female directors from six global investment banks. Template analysis was used in the qualitative analysis of the coding.Findings – The paper found that the womens adherence to the notion of meritocracy diminished over time, as merit appeared to be less defined by human capital (ability and experience) and more by social capital (seen as political behaviour). The paper also reveals how the concept is construed on two levels: first, on a symbolic level, demonstrating how the organization defines and rewards success; second, on a personal level, how it affects the individuals cognitions, emotions and self‐belief.Originality/value – This paper contributes to the small literature on the concept of meritocracy ...

Experiencing privilege at ethnic, gender and senior intersections

Purpose – In management studies, assumptions surround the fixed, categorical and binary nature of male, ethnic and other privileges. Compared to white, middle-class men, “others” are typically assumed not to experience privilege. The authors counter this assumption by applying intersectionality to examine privileges juxtaposition with disadvantage. The paper offers an elaborated conceptualisation of organisational privilege and insight into the agency employed by individuals traditionally perceived as non-privileged. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Using diaries and interviews, the paper analyses 20 micro-episodes from four senior minority ethnic women and mens accounts of intersecting ethnic, gender and senior identities. The paper identifies how privilege plays out at the juxtaposition of (male gender and hierarchical) advantage with (female gender and ethnic) disadvantage. Findings – The fluidity of privilege is revealed through contextual, contested and conferre...

Individual-level foci of identification at work: A systematic review of the literature

This paper presents a systematic literature review of individual-level targets (or foci) of identification, that is, the bases by which one derives a sense of self as a unique being in the context of work. We reviewed 253 articles from over 30 top management journals between 2005 and 2016. In examining foci types, definitions, underpinning theoretical and philosophical assumptions, we catalogue nine categories of individual-level identification foci (manager, leader, follower, team, organization, occupation-specific, professional, career and work), finding a dominance of functionalist meta-theoretical orientations (comprising over half the sample, with interpretivist approaches comprising about a third of studies). Further, we enhance construct clarity in the field; we identify conceptual challenges with extant definitions of key foci, and offer integrative definitions by specifying scope conditions for each identity focus and semantic relationships between various identity foci. We contextualize our discussion of construct clarity to different research orientations in the field and offer possibilities for theoretical developments therein. Third, we offer an integrative framework for positioning work in the field by scope of interest (identity content or context) and identity construction assumptions (stable or evolving), suggesting directions for future research.

Accidental activists: Headhunters as marginal diversity actors in institutional change towards more women on boards

We present a qualitative study that examines the role of headhunters as actors in a broader institutional change process aiming to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. We draw on institutional and diversity management theories to conceptualize their change agency in the broader field of women on boards. We describe their role as ‘accidental activists’ and theorize two micro-processes that define their change agency in this field: voluntaristic framing of intentionality and role redefinition by drawing on competing logics. This conceptualization does not match the heroic image of the institutional entrepreneur driving institutional change, or that of the tempered radical championing diversity, but rather casts light into a marginal and previously neglected change role. We demonstrate the opportunistic and precarious nature of this role with regards to both institutional change and diversity management, and discuss its possibilities and perils.

Expanding the Notion of Dialogic Trading Zones for Impactful Research: The Case of Women on Boards Research

Debates about research impact highlight the importance of involving practitioners in research processes but are unclear as to how precisely to foster this dialogue. This paper considers how dialogic encounter can be encouraged through �trading zones� where academics and practitioners collaborate. We draw on our experience of conducting research on women on boards for over 15 years to examine (a) how we established and evolved our role within trading zones in this field, achieving impact on policy and business practice, and (b) how we interfaced between trading zones and the academic field, thereby enabling cross-fertilization of ideas between academics and practitioners. We contribute to literature on research impact by empirically examining and critically evaluating the key characteristics of trading zones. First, trading zones are theorized to be action-oriented. Our analysis reveals how multiple stakeholders collectively redefine the action goals, illustrating the need to expand our understanding of relevant �practitioners� beyond managers. Second, we find that durability of trading zones is crucial because it enables gestation of ideas and reframing problems. Third, we problematize the notion of psychological safety in trading zones, arguing that dialogic capability and the pursuit of impact require acceptance of trade-offs and political manoeuvrings. © 2017 British Academy of Management

Promoting women to MD in investment banking: multi-level influences

Purpose – Women remain underrepresented at senior levels in global investment banks. By investigating promotion processes in this sector, and using the concept of a multi-level, relational framework, this paper seeks to examine macro, micro, and meso-level influences, and the interplay between them, as explanations for why more progress is not being made. Design/methodology/approach – Data are taken from two projects with a total of 50 semi-structured interviews with male and female directors and managing directors (MDs), across six investment banks discussing careers and promotions. An inductive approach was taken to data analysis. Findings – Womens lack of representation at the top of investment banks is not simply an individual level problem but is the result of the dynamic interplay between macro- and meso-level influences that impact individual agency, identity and perception of fit. Research limitations/implications – Public debate should be refocused around the meso-level influences of what organi...

Advancing racio-ethnic and diversity theorising through intersectional identity work

Management research on racio-ethnicity inadequately addresses the complexities of multiple identity dimensions and underplays the role of context. Integrating identity construction with intersectionality, we focus on how individuals make sense of the dynamic nature of non-essentialist identities. We offer an ‘intersectional identity work’ framework to advance racio-ethnic scholarship in organisations.

The Importance of Role Models in the Development of Leaders’ Professional Identities

Our sense of what is possible in our careers is influenced by what has gone before, how we interpret that history, and how we draw inspiration and learning from leaders past and present in our own identity development. In Western societies, authority and power are bound with notions of leadership that are shaped by the almost exclusively male incumbents of leadership roles. Hence leadership is inherently gendered in style, reflecting characteristics of heroic heterosexual and powerful males. Indeed, preparation for leadership is so gendered that even at middle levels of management, ‘think manager, think male’ seems such a natural and normal process that we are unaware of it (Schein, 2007). Both men and women in general accept this, because it is the way things are in terms of sex roles in society and reinforced at work, and the way things have always been - unless they are females with ambition coming up against a ‘glass ceiling’. But it is not natural and normal - in other societies, different patterns are still to be found, and therefore it is clear that leadership is a social and cultural construction. Role models are an important part of the development of social identities, and we argue, the scarcity of female role models in leadership positions plays a major part in the persistence of the gender stereotypical construction of leadership (Sealy and Singh, 2006).

Women's leadership ambition in early careers

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Edward Elgar via the DOI in this record.