The effects of leadership development on women's career success

Abstract

This study extends the knowledge of leadership development, specifically Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programs, from a gender perspective. It presents the case of a comprehensive, women-only development program, and conducts an empirical, longitudinal, qualitative study of the effect of one of the program modules, namely, the women-only MBA-on the women's career success. The empirical study focused on selfefficacy mechanisms for explaining women's appraisals of their changes in capabilities affecting their career success during the MBA program. The participants were interviewed twice: once at the beginning of the MBA and then, after completing it. A trusting atmosphere, social support, new business competencies, and the participants' ability to reframe their mindsets concerning women's career potential were detected as significant sources of self-efficacy gained from the MBA. Encouragement from significant others, typically respected males, was also found to be a promoting factor.