Opt-out stories: women’s decisions to leave corporate leadership

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how the challenges to women’s authentic leadership identities contribute to their decisions to abandon leadership positions mid-career. It examines the critical career moments and underlying themes behind these women’s decisions to leave. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on semi-structured interviews (n = 9) with women between the ages of 32-53 who had opted-out of mid-level corporate leadership positions. Findings The study found that work–life balance was not the primary factor in women’s decisions to leave. Instead, the women in the study reflected on their inability to be themselves and contribute perceived value to the organization as triggering their decisions to leave. Research limitations/implications There are limitations in using a small sample of women selected through the researchers’ social media networks resulting in limited cultural and racial diversity. Practical implications Misconceptions about women’s decisions to leave corporate leadership mid-career misleads human resource (HR) practices and initiatives focused on retaining female talent. Organizations need to recognize and reshape the organizational environment to support women to be their authentic self and make the value of their contributions more transparent. Originality/value The paper is original in that it examines opt-out from the lens of women’s leadership identities in corporate contexts. There are limited studies that have examined the connections between identity and women’s career decisions beyond work–ife balance. It provides practical value to HR practitioners and organizations focused on retaining female talent.

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Running their own show: Malaysian women entrepreneurs’ kaleidoscope careers

“…Other scholars have drawn attention to structural issues, such as inflexible jobs, low opportunity for advancement, and discrimination in the workplace, that push women out of the workforce (Barbulescu and Bidwell, 2013;Lim and Mohd Rasdi, 2019;Mainiero and Sullivan, 2006;Th ebaud, 2015). Studies have also highlighted that cultural expectations to conform to traditional gender roles may account for women's decisions to opt-out of corporations (Frkal and Criscione-Naylor, 2020). However, we know little about women who leave corporate positions to become entrepreneurs, and even less about those who stay on the entrepreneurship path (Heilman and Chen, 2003;Sullivan et al, 2007;Terjesen, 2005;Wheadon and Duval-Couetil, 2019).…”

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“…Í rannsókninni sem þessi grein byggir á er miðað við einstaklinga sem höfðu sinnt leiðandi hlutverkum í atvinnulífinu og gegnt framkvaemdastjórastöðu eða sambaerilegu í stórfyrirtaekjum eða stofnunum. Ýmsar vísbendingar eru um að konur í aeðstu stjórnunarstöðum kjósi að fara úr þeim á miðjum aldri (Frkal og Criscione-Naylor, 2020;Zimmerman og Clark, 2016). Til þess að kanna þetta á Íslandi var sjónum beint að konum í aeðstu stjórnunarstöðum, sem um eða eftir miðjan aldur kusu að gera róttaekar breytingar á starfsferli sínum, þrátt fyrir að hann hafi verið farsaell og árangursríkur.…”