Constructions of career progression by women leaders in a corporate context

Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology)Abstract: In the context of increased representation of women in the job market and the underrepresentation of women at the most senior positions of executive leaders, an understanding of how women leaders in the corporate sphere construe career progression is particularly germane. The aim of this study was to explore women leaders‘ constructions of career progression in a corporate environment from three traditions embedded within the constructionist tradition: personal constructivism, social constructionism, and constructivism grounded in subjective lived experience. To this end the aim was further sub-divided into three sub-aims: (a) to explore women leaders‘ shared (constructed) mental models of the career progress of others in a corporate environment; (b) to explore women leaders‘ collective (―ours‖) co-construction of career progression in a corporate environment and (c) to generate a constructivist grounded theory of women leaders‘ own career progression based on their subjective experiences. Taken together, the study seeks to offer a holistic and in-depth account of the constructions of career progression by women leaders in a corporate environment. A qualitative research design using a case study research strategy was employed in a large financial institution in South Africa. A purposeful sampling consisting of women leaders in lower, middle and senior management positions was utilised. To address the stated aim and sub-aims of the study the research design was formulated and is presented as three sequential research phases, each consisting of an independent but related study. Given the three-phased nature of the study, more than one data collection technique was applied, with data being analysed through qualitative methods. In Phase I, data were collected by means of the repertory grid technique, the methodological application of personal construct theory, and analysed by means of qualitative content analysis and the core-categorising procedure. In Phase II, data were collected using the Appreciative Inquiry method, which included semi-structured paired interviews, small group discussions, plenary discussions and written activities. Data were analysed using a collaborative data analytic approach. In Phase..