Business Commons^™

Motivated And Determined & Making A Difference As Executives (Mad & Made) In The Entertainment Industry: A Phenomenological Study Of Black Female Entertainment Industry Executives’ Challenges And Paths To Elevation, Angela M. Killens

Theses and Dissertations

Since the birth of the United States and the enslavement of Africans in America, Black women have had to navigate challenges in various industries to elevate toward, and excel in, positions of power. From grade school to the workplace, Black women have had to contend with racism, discrimination, and inequities that have been impediments despite their level of education and experience. With little literature specifically documenting the experiences of Black women who work on the corporate side of the entertainment industry, the data acquired from this qualitative phenomenological study provides insight into these women’s lives. The study discloses some of …

A Look At Contributing Factors That Affect Female Underrepresentation In Management, In The United States, Nushine W. Hosseini

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines contributing factors that affect female underrepresentation in management, in the United States (U.S.), within the U.S. workforce. The primary variables of interest are intrinsic motivation, work life balance and organizational climate support, which have typically not been reviewed in depth, in prior research.

Using a framework of varied theoretical approaches, this research studies the relationship between the above-mentioned constructs and gender effect, as related to interest in career advancement opportunities and female leadership underrepresentation within organizations.

The results of this study further validate existing research and highlights the importance of establishing programs, geared towards shifting mindsets and …

Perceived Organizational Support For Women’S Advancement And Turnover Intentions And Career Advancement Aspirations. The Mediating Role Of Job And Employer Satisfaction., Marta Squadrito

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine whether the lack of organizational support for women’s advancement decreases female supervisors and managers’ aspiration to advance their careers and increases their turnover intentions and, the mediating effect of job satisfaction and employer satisfaction on the relationship between support and advancement aspirations and turnover intentions.

The antecedents of turnover intentions have been widely studied in the literature, while the antecedents of career aspirations, especially women’s, have not been a focus of much scholarly attention. Based on a review of the literature and drawing upon social exchange theory, and social cognitive theory, it …

Women In Leadership: A Comparative Case Study On Successful Leadership, Christine Newcomb

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this report is to understand what makes a successful female leader. Since there are so few women in executive level positions, especially chief executive officer positions, I became interested in analyzing how successful leaders act in contrast with how unsuccessful leaders act. To analyze, I will focus on the leadership of two prominent businesswomen, one who has been successful in their tenure, and one who has been unsuccessful. Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, Inc. has been successful throughout her tenure, while Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo has been unsuccessful in turning the company around. I will …

Exploring The Lives Of Women Who Lead, Susan Cloninger

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Scholars have identified various reasons for the underrepresentation of women in the upper echelons of organizations.This study used grounded theory methodology enhanced by situational analysis to explore how American women at senior levels in large organizational contexts engage and negotiate the totality of their situation.Utilizing a predominately White, married, middle to upper class, heterosexual sample, this study sought to understand how women create and consign meaning around their experiences; how they experience the fluidity and boundaries of multiple identities; and how they experience the entanglement of macro, meso, and micro societal forces.It explores relationships among factors participants named as influential …

A Macro Economic Approach To Gender Disparities In Hiring At The Ceo Level, Abigail R. Wood

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

More men named John run S&P 1500 companies than all women combined, causing many to wonder what factors are limiting women’s career advancement. While many studies have been written about the topic of women’s success in the business world, most focus on individual firms or positions and therefore miss macroeconomic factors such as women’s completion of master’s degree programs and labor force participation rates. This research examines the disparity of gender in CEO positions through the examination of macroeconomic data which captures women’s career trajectory and qualifications. This research specifically examines trends in women’s obtainment of master’s degrees in business …

An Exploration Of The Use Of Photovoice-Inspired Techniques To Facilitate Narrative Leadership In A Small Group Of Middle-Aged Women, Michelle M. Zive

Dissertations

Leadership often is defined as a persuasive relationship. Over the last two decades, narrative leadership has been viewed in the Leadership Studies literature as a source of persuasion. Narrative leaders use stories to impact others in both large-scale political and social movements, as well as in large-scale organizations. Even as this has been happening, the field also has begun to re-conceptualize leadership as a group rather than an individual process, a view of leadership sometimes characterized as shared leadership. There is limited understanding of whether narrative leadership operates in shared leadership situations and a dearth of literature about specific techniques …

A Mixed Methods Study: Dimensions Of Cross-Cultural Professional Success: Experiences Of Western Women Living And Working In Eastern Cultures, Tami J. France

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this world of global interconnectedness women continue to develop cross-cultural careers and their experiences impact and influence global scholarship and practice. Through this study, the relationships, resources, and characteristics that support female expatriate success were explored, with additional focus on the role of mentor and coach relationships. The mixed-methods study was conducted using a sequential approach to research that began with one-on-one semi structured interviews with ten professional women from the United States and Canada working or formerly working in China and Hong Kong. A survey was designed based on the interview findings. Professional women from western countries working …

Women Directors On Public Company Boards: Does A Critical Mass Affect Leverage?, Cindy K. Harris

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

This study examines the relationship between corporate leverage (the ratio of total debt to total assets) and gender diversity on US public company boards, with particular focus on boards that have at least 25% women directors. Using this critical mass of women eliminates from consideration boards with lesser female representation, whose female directors may be marginalized in their contributions to board functioning and decision-making. I hypothesize that when boards have this minimum threshold of gender diversity, the influence of risk-averse female directors will impact board decisions related to financing, resulting in lower debt ratios when compared to boards with no …

Women In Business Leadership: A Comparative Study Of Countries In The Gulf Arab States, Susan R. Madsen, Linzi Kemp, James Davis

Susan R. Madsen

The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of women in leadership positions (senior executive and management roles) in private companies within the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (i.e., Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, State of Qatar, and United Arab Emirates). Henceforth in this article we refer to the countries collectively as either the Gulf Arab states or the GCC countries, and the countries by their common or shortened names (e.g., Bahrain, UAE). The study explores where women are located within the organizations (e.g., as board members, chief officers, …

Advancing Research On Women And Leadership: Developing An Hrd Scholarly Agenda, Susan R. Madsen, Julia Storberg-Walker, Kristina Natt Och Dag

Susan R. Madsen

Clearly, the topic of developing leaders is of utmost importance in all contexts and it is particularly important for the HRD discipline: over 1,400 journal articles in AHRD journals have the word ‘leadership’ as one of their subject terms. Almost monthly the front cover of the Harvard Business Review has ‘leadership’ boldly displayed, either as the main article or as a supporting news brief. Scholarly research abounds, and there are many leadership frameworks, models, and theories contributing to the quantity of research articles. Unfortunately, however, the diversity of ideas and the explosion of interest has generally not focused on an …

Socio-Economic Stability And Independence Of Appalachian Women, Michele Dawn Kegley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study researched Appalachian women who were in emotional, social, or economic reliant relationships with male spouses and became socio-economically stable and independent. This effort is to give Appalachian women voice and learn from their accounts of how they led change by financially, physically, and socially providing for themselves and their dependent children. Research is limited to a particular group of white middle class Appalachian women in the North-Central sub-region of Appalachia. This group was chosen because they have been largely overlooked in the literature. However, this study does not answer questions of all women‘s experiences and barriers in Appalachia. …

Stories Of Resistance: Black Women Corporate Executives Opposing Gendered (Everyday) Racism, Cheryl D. Jordan

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

For this research, I explored contemporary resistance strategies that Black women executives in the corporate world use to oppose negative behaviors by others associated with their race and gender. The dissertation reviews scholarship about the major role the convergence of race and gender play in the day-to-day existence of Black women. Historically, negative images and beliefs have influenced the treatment of Black women in society. These same thoughts and images affect Black women executives in today’s workplace. African-American women continue to see limited advancement to senior levels within the corporate organization, even though diversity programs abound. As leaders in the …

Communication Channels Utilized By Emirati Females To Enact Leadership, K. Kathleen O'Neill

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify the communication channels six Emirati females concurrently employed in organizations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in which they had supervisory responsibilities; formal, legitimate authority; and positional leadership roles recalled using with their direct reports to enact leadership. In particular, the study attempted to ascertain the reasons for the selection of communication channels when engaged in downward communication with organizational subordinates. Data were collected via three interviews with each participant over a four week period. Interviews were conducted both face-to-face and via telephone. Data were analyzed via thematic content analysis to …

Women And Leadership Working Paper Series: Paper No. 6: Women In International Assignments: The Australian Experience, Catherine R. Smith, Leonie V. Still

Research outputs pre 2011

Businesses are increasingly operating within an international environment, where the human and financial costs of failure are more serious than the domestic arena, and expatriate failure is reported to be a persistent and recurring problem for multinational corporations (Scullion, 1994). The successful implementation of global strategies depends heavily upon the existence of an adequate pool of nationally and internationally experienced managers with a diversity of talent. Adler ( 1993a, p55) has argued that "the option of limiting international management to one gender is an arm-chair 'luxury' that no company can afford". Given the need to develop global teams with a …

Women In Leadership Program 1993: Shaping The Culture, Catriona Pyner

Research outputs pre 2011

In discussing Women in Leadelrship one member of the Management Group sometimes used the term "Program", and sometimes "Project". This was not a mere slip of the tongue. One useful way to conceptualise "Women in Leadership" is as a Project- which seeks to strategically engage with a changing institution, and which is both organic and structured. Part of the Project structure is the Program. The Program is made up of three formal elements: The Collegial Groups; the Public Lecture Series and the National Conference. And yet, part of the Purpose of the Program is to engage with, shape and respond …