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Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation

Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify enablers of upward mobility into middle and senior management positions among female employees in a particular organisation of the financial services sector. Motivation for the study: In the South African context, it was demonstrated that al...

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Main Author: Moyana, Matilda
Other Authors: Mulenga, Chao
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Organisational Psychology 2019
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access_status_str Open Access
author Moyana, Matilda
author2 Mulenga, Chao
author_browse Moyana, Matilda
Mulenga, Chao
author_facet Mulenga, Chao
Moyana, Matilda
author_sort Moyana, Matilda
collection Thesis
description Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify enablers of upward mobility into middle and senior management positions among female employees in a particular organisation of the financial services sector. Motivation for the study: In the South African context, it was demonstrated that although women comprised 51.2% of the adult population in 2016 (numbering approximately 28 53 million and were supported by progressive legislation and had a 45.8% representation in the workforce, they occupied a relatively low percentage of management positions. South African research on enabling factors that are important for the career progression of women has been conducted in national banks, South African business schools and the education sector. The findings revealed that enabling factors for the career progression of women include supervisor support, education, social networks, top management support and family-friendly policies. Identifying such enabling factors is important since there is strong evidence that the promotion of women into management roles is not only morally right but can also increase business performance. Research design and method: The research design was descriptive. A cross-sectional qualitative approach was used to collect the primary data. Data analysis was exploratory. Since the aim of the study was to investigate perceptions of female employees in middle and senior management positions through their lived experiences, in-depth one-on-one interviews with 15 female employees were completed. Purposive sampling was used to secure the research participant sample. The results from the qualitative data were collected and analysed using content analysis. Themes extracted were used to report the findings of the study. Findings: The results show that organisational support structures (i.e. supervisor support and career development), employee competence (i.e. education and social networks) and strategic interventions (i.e. top management support and family-friendly policies) are important factors for the career progression of women in the financial services sector under investigation. Practical implications: The enabling factors identified in this study can be used to enhance interventions for the advancement of promotion of women into senior management positions. Contribution: The findings of the study indicate that organisational support structures, employee competence and strategic interventions are important factors for the career progression of women, adding to the discourse of the promotion of women into senior management positions.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:27.580Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2019
publishDateRange 2019
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publisher Organisational Psychology
publisherStr Organisational Psychology
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29589 Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation Moyana, Matilda Mulenga, Chao People Management Organisational Psychology Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to identify enablers of upward mobility into middle and senior management positions among female employees in a particular organisation of the financial services sector. Motivation for the study: In the South African context, it was demonstrated that although women comprised 51.2% of the adult population in 2016 (numbering approximately 28 53 million and were supported by progressive legislation and had a 45.8% representation in the workforce, they occupied a relatively low percentage of management positions. South African research on enabling factors that are important for the career progression of women has been conducted in national banks, South African business schools and the education sector. The findings revealed that enabling factors for the career progression of women include supervisor support, education, social networks, top management support and family-friendly policies. Identifying such enabling factors is important since there is strong evidence that the promotion of women into management roles is not only morally right but can also increase business performance. Research design and method: The research design was descriptive. A cross-sectional qualitative approach was used to collect the primary data. Data analysis was exploratory. Since the aim of the study was to investigate perceptions of female employees in middle and senior management positions through their lived experiences, in-depth one-on-one interviews with 15 female employees were completed. Purposive sampling was used to secure the research participant sample. The results from the qualitative data were collected and analysed using content analysis. Themes extracted were used to report the findings of the study. Findings: The results show that organisational support structures (i.e. supervisor support and career development), employee competence (i.e. education and social networks) and strategic interventions (i.e. top management support and family-friendly policies) are important factors for the career progression of women in the financial services sector under investigation. Practical implications: The enabling factors identified in this study can be used to enhance interventions for the advancement of promotion of women into senior management positions. Contribution: The findings of the study indicate that organisational support structures, employee competence and strategic interventions are important factors for the career progression of women, adding to the discourse of the promotion of women into senior management positions. 2019-02-18T10:13:42Z 2019-02-18T10:13:42Z 2018 2019-02-18T09:32:28Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29589 eng application/pdf Organisational Psychology Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town
spellingShingle People Management
Organisational Psychology
Moyana, Matilda
Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
title_full Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
title_fullStr Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
title_full_unstemmed Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
title_short Perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
title_sort perceived enablers of upward mobility of female employees in a financial services organisation
topic People Management
Organisational Psychology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29589
work_keys_str_mv AT moyanamatilda perceivedenablersofupwardmobilityoffemaleemployeesinafinancialservicesorganisation