The glass ceiling in context: the influence of CEO gender, recruitment practices and firm internationalisation on the representation of women in management

• Author: Greg J. Sears,Eddy S. Ng
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Date: 01 January 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12135

The glass ceiling in context: the influence of CEO

gender, recruitment practices and firm

internationalisation on the representation of

women in management

Eddy S. Ng, Rowe Schoolof Business, Dalhousie University

Greg J. Sears, SprottSchool of Business, Carleton University

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 27, no 1, 2017, pages 133–151

This study examines macro-level organisational determinants of women in management. Specifically, we

examined organisational characteristics and strategies, including firm levels of internationalisation, firm

foreign ownership, chief executive officer gender and the active recruitment of women, as predictors of an

organisation’s level of representation of women in management.Results from a survey of 278 firms indicated

that the presence of a female chief executive officer and an organisation’s active recruitment of women are

positively asso ciated with a firm’s percentage of women in management while firm internationalisation and

firm foreign ownership are negatively associated with the representation of women in management. Overall,

these findings suggest that although firms exercise discretion with respect to hiring and promoting women,

they are also constrained by the external environment and organisational characteristics. For example, firms

with higher levels of firm internationalisation and that are foreign-owned may limit their efforts and

investment in the advancement of women into management.

Contact: Eddy S. Ng, Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University, 6100 University Avenue,

Halifax, NS, B3H4R2, Canada. Email: edng@dal.ca

Keywords: femaleCEOs; firm internationalisation; foreign ownership;women in management

INTRODUCTION

Although women have made considerable inroads in the workplace (e.g. greater

participation in the labour market, movement towards closing the wage gap) as a

result of equity programs (Ainsworth et al., 2010; Jain et al., 2010), rising education

levels (Turcotte, 2011) and progressive work/life policies (Hakim, 2006; Konrad, 2007), they

continue to experience the ‘glass ceiling’with respect to advancing into management ranks

(Pichler etal., 2008; Cech and Blair-Loy, 2010).In Canada, for example, men faroutrank women

in management, with women occupying only 36per cent of management positions (Catalyst,

2016a).Yap and Konrad (2009) reportedthat one of the primary reasonsfor this disparity is that

women experiencethe greatest disadvantage at the lowerrungs of the organisationalhierarchy,

where they aresignificantly less likely to bepromoted than their male counterparts.Barriers to

promotion at thebottom of the hierarchy are particularly problematicgiven that advancement

to lower-level and middle-level positions is crucial for promotionto upper-level management

(Yap and Konrad, 2009).

A number of researchers(e.g. Hamel, 2009; Cech and Blair-Loy,2010) have identified several

barriers facing women in advancing into management roles. At the individual level, gender-

role socialisation(Litzky and Greenhaus, 2007; Schweitzer et al., 2011), lower self-efficacy and

self-esteem than men (Pell, 1996; Matthews et al., 2010), work/life conflict (Konrad and

Cannings, 1997; Coronel et al., 2010), a lack of family and social support (Aycan, 2004), a lack

of role models (Sealy and Singh, 2010) and a lack of social capital (e.g. mentors and career

HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL27, NO 1, 2017 133

©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd

Pleasecite thisarticle in pressas: Ng, E.S. and Sears,G.J.(2017)‘The glass ceilingin context: the influenceof CEO gender, recruitmentpracticesand firm

internationalisationon the representationof women in management’.Human ResourceManagement Journal27: 1, 133–151

doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12135

bs_bs_banner

sponsors)necessary for advancement (Raginsand Cotton, 1991; Hersby et al., 2009; Metz,2009)

hinder women’s advancement into management. At the organisational level, factors such as

organisational culture (e.g. negative attitudes and biases against women; Aycan, 2004; Weyer,

2007), gender stereotyping of managerial positions (Lee and James, 2007; Schein, 2007), a lack

of organisational support (Aycan, 2004) and inadequate HR policies and practices supporting

women (Konrad, 2007; Hamel, 2009) also contribute to the glass ceiling for women’s

advancement into management.

Although much has beenwritten on the progress of women in the workplace,we do not yet

have a complete picture or understanding of the relationships between organisational

characteristics and macro-level firm strategies and the advancement of women into

management (cf.Fieldset al., 2005). While previous research (e.g. Kamas and Preston, 2012;

Ibarra et al., 2013;Hoobler et al., 2014) has identifiedvarious factors that contribute to women’s

advancement,individual studies have lefta significant proportion of thevariance unexplained

(e.g.Goodmanet al., 2003, explained only 12 per cent of the variance using a number of

organisation-level predictors). Indeed, it is possible that women’s advancement may be

influenced not only by interpersonal biases and individual-level factors but also by a firm’s

leadership[e.g. chief executive officer (CEO)characteristics] and the decision-making processes

that shape a firm’s strategies. Against this backdrop, the present study seeks to extend prior

research on women in management by investigating specific organisational characteristics

and firm strategies that have yet to be explored in the literature on gender diversity in

management.

CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES

We draw from strategic choice theory (Child, 1972, 1997), which emphasises the role of

managers in organising the firm. According to the strategic choice perspective, top managers

(i.e. CEOs)make decisions that influenceorganisational outcomesand performance (Papadakis

and Barwise, 2002). This perspective is anchored in action theory, which presupposes that

organisational structures and responses are fashioned after the people in power (Astley and

Van de Ven, 1983). A central tenet of strategic choice theory is that top managers have

substantial discretion to act on their own free willin formulating and implementing decisions

that shape the firm. For example, CEOs determine the markets firms compete in, the clients

they serve, the types of employees they recruit and the performance standards and structural

forms they adopt (Child, 1972; Miles et al., 1978). Strategic decisionsmade by CEOs, however,

do not occur in isolation; they are bounded by various organisational and external factors

(Hrebiniak and Joyce, 1985). For example, according to resource dependency theory, a key

contextual factor driving strategic decisions is a desire for the firm to secure neededresources

and to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace with respect to their resource base

(Pfeffer and Salancik, 2003). Moreover, the upper echelon perspective posits that a CEO’s

demographic characteristics significantly impact the types of programs,policies and practices

implementedin the organisation (Hambrickand Mason, 1984). In this study, we integratethese

differentperspectives on firm-leveldecision-making in explainingthe factors that impactlevels

of female representation in management.

Chief executive officers may be motivated to promote gender equality for several reasons.

First, in line with upper echelon theory, firms may reflect their CEOs in terms of their basic

demographic characteristics and their cognitive biases (Hambrick and Mason, 1984). In this

regard, CEOs may be committed to an issue such as gender equality because of personal

identification with their social group and as a result, will be inclined to favour this ‘in-group’

The glass ceilingin context

134 HUMANRESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL,VOL 27, NO 1, 2017

©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.