Gender and leadership aspiration: The impact of work-life initiatives

Abstract

Despite the increase in female leaders, women still remain a minority. As aspiration, defined as the interest for achieving a leadership position, is one predictor of advancement, it is important to understand conditions fostering female leadership aspiration. Because women face more domestic and child care responsibilities, we predict that there is an interaction between gender and work–life initiatives. These initiatives help employees balance their work and private life through simplifying the integration and diminishing tension between the two spheres. Because the work–life interface poses greater challenges for women, we hypothesize that work–life initiatives have a stronger influence on women's leadership aspiration. Results of a survey of N = 402 employed men and women supported this hypothesis. The interaction effect of gender and work–life initiatives on leadership aspiration was positive, implying that women's leadership aspiration is more influenced by work–life initiatives. Our other hypothesis which states that work–life initiatives—regardless of gender—are positively related to leadership aspiration was supported. Hence, men's leadership aspiration also was positively influenced by the availability of such initiatives. This study suggests that by implementing work–life initiatives, such as flexible work arrangements, leaves of absence, or on-site child assistance, organizations may encourage leadership aspiration for both genders. Our data show that the interaction effect of gender and work–life initiatives was positively related to leadership aspiration, but this may particularly hold true for women.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21875
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Work & Organisational Psychology
Additional Information: Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hrm.21875/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Uncontrolled Keywords: gender; leadership aspiration; work–life initiatives
Publication ISSN: 1099-050X
Last Modified: 25 Mar 2024 08:24
Date Deposited: 19 Jan 2018 14:00
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://doi.wile ... .1002/hrm.21875 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2018-07-01
Published Online Date: 2017-11-20
Accepted Date: 2017-06-12
Authors: Fritz, Claudia
Van Knippenberg, Daan (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-0269-8102)

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