Barriers to Authentic Leadership: A Multi-Industry Study of Executive Women’s Experiences of Unconscious Bias

• In Event: Studies on Gender, Class, Ethnicity, and Bias

Short Description

While some studies show that women leaders may be particularly adept at authentic leadership, others show that they encounter additional challenges due to gender. Presenters will share the findings of a multi-industry study on women’s experiences in law, medicine, higher education and faith-based non-profits, and explore how to reduce hindrances to women’s exercise of authentic leadership and create spaces where leaders flourish as their authentic selves.

Detailed Abstract

Problem, Need, and Significance
The theory of authentic leadership has steadily gained attention in the twenty-first century (Northouse, 2016). Authentic leadership is conceived as developing from a leader’s self-knowledge and their relational skills (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009; Northouse, 2016), attributes which are commonly thought to be strengths for women (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996). Indeed, some studies indicate that women may be particularly good at exercising authentic leadership (Seo, 2015).
However, women also encounter various obstacles to leadership, especially when they rise to executive levels in an organization (Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016). Although organizations have policies that prohibit outright discrimination based on sex, women may still encounter barriers arising from unconscious gender bias, which are barriers that arise “from cultural beliefs about gender as well as workplace structures, practices, and patterns of interaction that inadvertently favor men” (Ely, Ibarra, & Kolb, 2011, p. 475). These barriers may not only hinder women’s advancement, but also hinder their ability to exercise authentic leadership, because they need to engage in constant self-monitoring to meet male-normed workplace standards (Dzubinski, Diehl & Taylor, 2015). Recognizing barriers to women’s exercise of leadership is one step towards enabling them to lead from their authentic selves. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to name and describe specific challenges to authentic leadership faced by women leaders in the fields of law, medicine, higher education, and faith-based non-profit organizations.

Framework
Authentic leadership has been conceptualized in multiple ways over the past decades; while the concept of authenticity seems straightforward, defining it as a leadership style has proven challenging (Northouse, 2016). Still, a central component of authentic leadership is the leader and the question of the extent to which they can fulfill their own self-concept in their leadership role (Avolio et al., 2009; Eagly, 2005; Shamir & Eilam, 2005). The question seems particularly troubling for women. While Seo (2015) found that women preferred to use an authentic leadership style that grew out of their individual life experiences, Eagly (2005) argued that cultural and organizational constraints made the exercise of authentic leadership more difficult for women. A significant layer of challenge for women may be the presence of unconscious bias in the workplace (Ely et al., 2011). Recent studies have shown the existence of at least 27 distinct gender-based barriers to organizational leadership faced by women in the workplace (Diehl & Dzubinski, 2016). Navigating these barriers may reduce women’s ability to enact authentic leadership in the workplace, as the barriers inhibit women’s full expressions of self and cause them to acculturate to male-normed workplace culture (Dzubinski et al., 2015).

Questions, Content, and Design
The data for this study were collected from over 1,000 participants in the fields of law, medicine, higher education, and faith-based non-profits. The goal of the qualitative section of the study was to explore participants’ additional experiences with unconscious bias beyond the previously-identified barriers. The research question guiding qualitative data collection was: What additional gender-based leadership barriers beyond the 27 already identified do women report experiencing? Participants were asked four open-ended questions to gather additional experiences they have had with unconscious bias in their workplaces. This presentation presents the findings from data collected in response to the following three questions: (a) Have you experienced barriers or obstacles not reflected in the questions above? If yes, please describe; (b) Have you been impacted by other types of bias such as racial, ethnic, age-related, sexual orientation, religious, disability, etc.? If yes, please describe; and (c) Is there anything else we neglected to ask that you wish to share?
Responses were loaded into NVivo and coded using grounded theory coding procedures (Charmaz, 2006). Each researcher individually coded all responses using an inductive, open coding process. Next, each researcher engaged in focused coding using constant comparative analysis to develop themes related to the experiences of unconscious bias (Charmaz, 2006; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Then the NVivo files were combined to allow each researcher to review and analyze the entire coding process. Finally, through discussion and comparison, the researchers arrived at agreement concerning the themes.

Results, Findings, Outcomes
Data from the open-ended questions revealed a persistent theme across all industries: We want what you’re not. In relation to age, physical size, education, marital status, and parental status, women consistently received the message that their current status was inadequate or inappropriate for their position. For example, seasoned women were told that younger women were needed, and vice versa. Married women were told the job required a committed single woman, while single women were questioned about their lack of a partner. Some messages were blatant, such as “we don’t want someone on the mommy track” while others were subtle, such as “we forgot we had asked you to lead.” Taken together, the clear message of inadequacy was communicated to women in all four sectors. In response, women worked to show their adequacy and capacity by self-monitoring in an attempt to acculturate themselves to workplace norms and standards.

Conclusions
The data from this study show that women struggle to make sense of the message “we want what you’re not.” In attempting to show their suitability for the job at hand, they expend time and energy trying to fit in to existing organizational culture. The constant self-monitoring and adjusting negatively impacts their ability to enact their own authentic leadership style.

Implications
Implications for both women and organizations can be drawn from this study. Women can become consciously aware of messages of inadequacy they may receive in their workplace, thus enabling themselves to make conscious choices about how they wish to respond. Organizations can also become aware of unintended messages of inadequacy and work to create spaces that allow all people, regardless of gender, to bring their full, authentic selves to the workplace.

Participants

• Leanne Dzubinski, Biola University

• Amy Diehl, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

• Amber L. Stephenson, Clarkson University