A Study on the Impact of Glass Ceiling Factors on Women Career Development

Abstract

In this competitive business world, women are increasingly entering into diverse occupations like men. Not only that, they are articulating a strong desire to pursue a career than just a job. They are looking for employment opportunities that promise an extension of their interests, personality and abilities, which is common for women as well. However, according to the literature, it is a question whether there is actual career advancement for women in most of the countries. Hence, the researchers conducted a preliminary survey and it was found that the current level of women career development is low at the head office of ABC Bank PLC, one of the top three private banks in Sri Lanka. Literature highlights that among the several factors which influence women career development, glass ceiling is the most prominent. Glass ceiling means a barrier so subtle that it prevents women and minorities from moving up in the management hierarchy. Therefore, this study aimed to find out whether each glass ceiling factor such as organisational factors, work-family conflict, and cultural factors, impacts on women career development at the head office of ABC Bank PLC. This study was based on positivistic research paradigm and quantitative research methodology. Deductive research approach was applied and a validated and reliable questionnaire was used to collect the data. By using a census method, 90 female executive employees were selected. Data was basically analysed using a multiple regression analysis by considering career development as a dependent variable and organisational factors, work-family conflict, and cultural factors as dependent variables. As all the dimensions were rejected except organisational factors from the very first model, simple regression analysis was used to develop a final fitted model. SPSS and Minitab software were used to analyze the data. While work-family conflict and cultural factors were rejected, this research revealed that only organisational factors have a significant positive impact on women career development at the head office of the bank. This research finding will be mostly supportive to mitigate invisible organizational factors which limit the women career development of the bank and it will give new insights for future researchers to further study each of these organizational factors.