Women and Leadership Scholarship: A Scoping Review that Tracks Findings of Qualitative Research and Theory

• In Event: Theorizing and Making Meaning to Advance the Women and Leadership Scholarship Agenda

Short Description

Although the concept of meta-analysis is widely understood as a means of synthesizing findings from quantitative research, similar comparisons of qualitative research findings are rare. Presenters will share a multidimensional, multidisciplinary, qualitative scoping review of the literature related to women and leadership that is underway to fill this gap.

Detailed Abstract

Harvard Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1994) once stated that it had become essential for business success to let “talent rise to the top regardless of where it is found and whether it is male or female” (p. 11). In fact, all types of organizations are in need of strong, competent leadership, and most of them are now looking to both men and women to fill these roles. However, many challenges remain in terms of identifying and preparing future leadership despite the expansive “leadership industry” (Kellerman, 2012, p. xiii). Notably, women are still not represented in top management and leadership positions in most organizations and communities throughout the world (Ngunjiri & Madsen, 2015), despite the fact that hundreds of studies have documented why it is important to business, government, and society to have women leading equally in all capacities, including at the highest levels. Madsen (2014) summarized a host of benefits into five core categories: (1) improving financial performance, (2) strengthening organizational climate, (3) increasing corporate social responsibility and reputation, (4) leveraging talent, and (5) enhancing innovation and collective intelligence. The evidence is now clear that diverse leadership teams provide substantial benefits to organizations and entities today (Catalyst, 2014).

To continue efforts that will both develop and strengthen women themselves and also change the organizational processes and systems that currently disadvantage female employees, additional rigorous research and theory need to be conducted and created. Yet, duplication of efforts is always worrisome, particularly when there is much to be done to create actionable knowledge that can propel change at all levels. To date, several powerful quantitative meta-analyses (e.g., Eagly & Johannesen-Schmidt, 2001; Eagly & Karau, 1991, 1995; Eagly & Makhijani, 1992) have summarized research results about gender and such topics as leadership styles, emergence and effectiveness of leaders, and evaluation of leaders. However, there has not been a strategic and comprehensive effort to critically review the hundreds of qualitative studies that focus on women and leadership with specific sectors or industries, nor has such a review been conducted across the literature more broadly. As a result of this gap, duplicated effort and redundancy of findings is reflected in the qualitative research being conducted and then published within academic journals, dissertations, and peer-reviewed academic books. Notably, scholars have not strategically compared and summarized these findings to determine what is known and what areas merit additional exploration. For example, scholars cannot state with confidence which qualitative findings are similar and which are unique to particular settings.

The purpose of this presentation to share details of a multidimensional and multidisciplinary scoping review project that is currently underway to fill this gap in what we know about women and leadership from qualitative studies. Since it is not clear what research has been conducted and what knowledge has been confirmed, this multi-study project will provide data that will critically inform and guide researchers in understand more clear the need for future research and theory.

Constructs studied in qualitative research include such topics as the rise in women leaders and managers, constraints on opportunities for leadership (e.g., obstacles and conflicts; stereotypes, harassment; tokenism; lack of promotion, networking, and mentoring opportunities; status; socialization and psychosocial development), gender differences (e.g., communication, confidence, emotional intelligence, cognitive skills, style, personality, role identification, values, power, behavior, involvement), success and effectiveness of women leaders, group performance under women leaders, the lived experiences of women leaders, subordinate satisfaction and performance with women leaders, career paths and advancement, personal factors (e.g., attractiveness, personality), family factors (e.g., work-family conflict), organizational factors, failures, and strategies women use in their leadership.

This overall scoping review will focus specifically on collecting and analyzing qualitative research studies with the following initial criteria: (1) female participants only, (2) a minimum of five study participants, (3) studies conducted in North America, (4) publications dated 1995 to the present, (5) methodology involves interviews, journaling, and/or focus groups, and (6) are published as doctoral dissertations or in peer-reviewed scholarly journals or books. Studies may also be removed from the analysis if the data collect and analysis methods are not clearly articulated or are not rigorously designed. Search terms include women, gender, female, qualitative, and United States or Canada. One of the first tasks has been to identify all relevant literature and, among other information, extract theoretical frameworks, overall categories or themes of inquiry, and the type of methodology utilized. This presentation will provide an overview of the findings of this initial comprehensive scoping project.

Participants

• Karen A. Longman, Azusa Pacific University

• Susan R. Madsen, Utah Valley University

• Jolyn Dahlvig, Whitworth University

• Julia B. Storberg-Walker, George Washington University