University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Women in information technology senior leadership: incremental progress and continuing challenges

(USC Thesis Other)

Women in information technology senior leadership: incremental progress and continuing challenges

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

Women in Information Technology Senior Leadership: Incremental Progress and
Continuing Challenges

By
Julie White

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
A dissertation submitted to the faculty
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Education

December 2022

© Copyright by Julie White 2022
All Rights Reserved

The Committee for Julie White certifies the approval of this Dissertation

Dr. Alison Muraszewski
Dr. Maria Ott
Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi, Committee Chair

Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California
2022
iv

Abstract
Although the number of women working in information technology (IT) has increased, the
percentage of senior women leaders in this area remains low. Previous studies examining the
underrepresentation of women in IT leadership positions have analyzed factors that hinder
women from reaching these positions. This study sought to identify organizational factors that
influence the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in the IT industry and how the
organizational factors impact their career advancement. This study identified critical individual
and organizational factors that facilitate women’s advancement in IT leadership. Furthermore,
the study examined the influential factors, such as mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship, which
enabled women leaders to advance in their careers. This study used a qualitative approach
consisting of semistructured interviews. The findings identified the organizational factors that
facilitated or hindered women’s career advancement experiences. The data analysis yielded two
main emergent themes, sources of support and challenges. Under sources of support, sub-themes
identified included supportive leaders, capability-building initiatives, role models, supportive
relationships and a learning environment. Within challenges, the following sub-themes emerged:
work–life balance, and lack of access to informal networks in a male-dominated environment.
The participants believed engaging in supportive relationships was critical to their career
development and advancement. The participants further described the types of supportive
relationships they leveraged throughout their careers, and one person assumed multiple
supportive roles. The participants’ lived experiences generated insights into how human
resources practitioners and executive leaders can create gender-balanced and inclusive
organizational leadership that would lead to developing women talent for senior leadership
positions.
v

Dedication
To my family: Craig, Chance, Somer, and Grayden, you gave your unwavering love and
support each day so that I could achieve my dream. You were understanding when I was tucked
away in my room, attending class, reading, completing assignments, and endlessly writing. I am
thankful because you gave me words of encouragement when I needed them the most. To my
Dad and heavenly Mom, thank you for always believing in me and encouraging me to go after
my dreams. You instilled in me perseverance and the importance of dedication. For my family
and friends, thank you for your prayers, love and support during this amazing journey. I hope I
continue to inspire and make you proud.

vi

Acknowledgements
It is with profound appreciation that I acknowledge all those individuals who were
involved in this learning journey. Your time, contribution, patience, encouragement and support
made it possible for me to create a path of achievement that has enriched my life. I extend my
utmost gratitude to my dissertation committee, Dr. Kimberly Hirabayshi, Dr. Allison M, and Dr.
Maria Ott. Thank you for believing in my abilities and supporting me throughout this process.
Dr. H and Dr. M made me a better researcher and writer. Thank you to Dr. Ott for agreeing to
join this committee. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and leadership expertise. I would
also like to express my appreciation to all the women who volunteered for the study and
generously shared their lived experiences. Throughout this journey, I have had the privilege of
being taught by exceptional professors. Thank you to Dr. Grant, Dr. Lynch, Dr. Wilcox, and Dr.
Canny. Your classes were thought-provoking, engaging, and fun. For my family and friends,
thank you for believing in me when I had my doubts.

vii

Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iv
Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ v
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................... x
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. xi
Chapter One: Introduction to the Study ........................................................................................... 1
Context and Background of the Problem ............................................................................ 1
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................ 3
Importance of the Study ...................................................................................................... 3
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology ..................................................... 4
Definitions ........................................................................................................................... 5
Organization of the Study .................................................................................................... 6
Chapter Two: Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 7
History of Women in Information Technology ................................................................... 7
Women in IT Leadership ..................................................................................................... 9
Benefits of Women in IT ................................................................................................... 10
Information Technology Leadership Skills ....................................................................... 11
Barriers to Career Advancement ....................................................................................... 12
Strategies for Career Advancement ................................................................................... 22
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 32
Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 32
viii

Chapter Three: Methodology ........................................................................................................ 36
Research Questions ........................................................................................................... 36
Research Design Overview ............................................................................................... 36
Research Setting ................................................................................................................ 37
The Researcher .................................................................................................................. 38
Data Sources ...................................................................................................................... 39
Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................... 41
Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 43
Validity and Reliability ..................................................................................................... 44
Research Ethics ................................................................................................................. 45
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 46
Chapter Four: Findings .................................................................................................................. 47
Research Question 1: What Organizational Factors Influenced the Beliefs and
Behaviors of Women Leaders in Information Technology? ............................................. 49
Research Question 2: How Did Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Allyship Influence
Their Career in the IT Industry? ........................................................................................ 71
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 83
Chapter Five: Recommendations .................................................................................................. 85
Discussion of Findings ...................................................................................................... 85
Recommendations for Practice .......................................................................................... 93
Limitations and Delimitations ......................................................................................... 103
Recommendations for Future Research ........................................................................... 105
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 106
ix

References ................................................................................................................................... 109
Appendix A: Interview Questions ............................................................................................... 117
Appendix B: Recruitment Email ................................................................................................. 119
Appendix C: IRB Approval ......................................................................................................... 120

x

List of Tables
Table 1. Characteristics of Participants ......................................................................................... 48
Table 2. Participants’ Experiences of Having a Mentor, Sponsors, or Ally .................................. 74
Table 3. Summary Table of Research Questions, Findings (Themes) and Subthemes ................. 84
Table 4. Overview of Discussion of Themes and Links to Theoretical Framework ..................... 87

xi

List of Figures
Figure 1. Conceptual Framework .................................................................................................. 35

1

Chapter One: Introduction to the Study
Women have made progress moving into leadership positions in the information
technology (IT) industry; however, progress has been slow and has seen a decline (Johnson et al.,
2020). Data show women working as computer and information systems managers was 32.3 %
in 2005, 29.9% in 2010, and 28.6% in 2013 (Catalyst, 2015). The percentage of women in IT
leadership is only 11% in the United States (Ashcraft et al., 2016). In addition, research suggests
the number of women in the computing workforce has steadily decreased since 1991, when it
reached a high of 36% (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2016). Women in the IT industry are impacted by
gender stereotypes and gender-biased organizational cultures in their pursuit to advance their
careers (Orser et al., 2012; Trauth, 2002; Trauth et al., 2016). Women are less likely to advance
or remain in senior leadership than men counterparts, when women were not already present in
upper management (Johnson et al. 2020). From the literature, it is clear that women continue to
face challenges to their career persistence and advancement in the IT industry (Armstrong et al.,
2018). The U.S. Bureau of Labor (2013) has expected the IT industry to increase IT jobs by 1.5
million over the next decade. With the continued growth of the IT industry, women have
opportunities to expand their presence in the industry and advance to senior leadership positions.
Context and Background of the Problem
In the United States, women account for approximately half of the working population,
yet they remain significantly underrepresented in the IT industry (Taneja et al., 2012). According
to the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT, 2015), 57% of
bachelor’s degrees were awarded to women; however, only 18% of computer or information
science graduates were women. The numbers are slightly better in the workforce: Women held
57% of all professional occupations, with 25% in IT occupations (NCWIT, 2015; U.S. Bureau of
2

Labor, 2016). The numbers are even lower for women of color; for example, Latina (1%),
Black/African American (3%), and Asian (5%) women hold positions in IT (U.S. Bureau of
Labor, 2016). The UCWIT (2009) reported a staggering 56% of women in IT exit their jobs,
with nearly 40% of them leaving from midmanagement leadership positions (Ashcraft & Blithe,
2009). The IT industry is composed of companies that produce software or hardware and
companies that store or retrieve data and information. For years, researchers have sought to
identify challenges and barriers to the advancement and retention of women IT professionals.
The focus of this study addresses the role of women in IT leadership and organizational factors
that may affect the ability to attain and remain in those positions.
The percentage of women in senior leadership positions in IT, while improving, was
reported as only 7% globally and 11% in the United States (Ashcraft et al., 2016). Research
indicates women and men in IT experience work environments differently and have varying
opportunities for advancement (Armstrong et al., 2012). There are likely many reasons for
limited career opportunities for women, and prior research has identified the challenges women
in technology (WIT) face. Over the last decade, researchers have found consistent trends in
factors impacting women’s career advancement in IT, including exclusionary culture (Wentling
& Thomas, 2009); inflexible work environments (Orser, 2012); lack of role models (McGee,
2018), networks (Armstrong, 2012), and mentors (Ahuja, 2002; Wentling & Thomas (2009) ;
and inability to strategically and objectively identify and develop talent (Kirton & Robertson,
2018). Scholars have found role models, mentors, and support systems are necessary to stop the
decline and increase the number of women in senior leadership in IT (Bhattacharya et al., 2018;
Burke & Simmons, 2018, 2020; Johnson et al., 2020; Orser et al., 2012; Wentling & Thomas,
2009). Scholars have highlighted that bridging the gender gap in senior leadership in the IT
3

industry will take a commitment from the individual to be proactive in their career development
and organizational commitment to embrace strategies to advance women (Beeson & Valerio,
2012; Elliott, 2017; McGee, 2018; Orser et al., 2012).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study was to understand senior women leaders’ perspectives about the
organizational factors that facilitate or inhibit their career advancement and examine how
organizational relationships influences the careers of women leaders in the IT industry. The
research questions were
1. What organizational factors influenced the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in
IT?
2. How did mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship influence their career in the IT
industry?
Importance of the Study
The IT industry is essential to future economic growth in the United States (Orser et al.,
2012).; however, women account for approximately half of the working population and are
significantly underrepresented in the IT industry (Armstrong et al., 2015; Orser et al., 2012).
Anderson et al. (2013) conducted a survey of technical women in midlevel IT professional roles,
and respondents expressed strong leadership ambitions. The study found over 85% of
respondents wanted career advancement in the next 3 years, and 62% were seeking a chief-level
(C-suite) position or senior management position in the future (Anderson et al., 2013). Despite
their aspirations, only 24% of the technical women in the study reported their organizations
support their leadership aspirations (Anderson et al., 2013). This evidence supports the need to
address the individual and organizational factors impacting women’s career advancement to
4

senior-leadership roles in the IT industry and what needs to change in organizations to support
the advancement of women in IT.
The study can help organizations gain a better understanding of the challenges and
barriers that women in IT leadership face, as they advance in their careers; provide an
understanding of how women in IT could overcome social and structural barriers to become
successful leaders; and provide insight for organizations to establish strategies to develop and
advance women in IT.
Overview of Theoretical Framework and Methodology
The study focused on social cognitive theory (SCT), proposed by Albert Bandura (1977),
to address the underrepresentation of senior women leaders in the IT industry. Social cognitive
theory focuses on the reciprocal interactions between people, environment, and behavior,
emphasizing self-regulation (Caprara et al., 2005). Social cognitive theory considers how
environmental and cognitive factors influence human learning and behavior (Caprara et al.,
2005). Self-efficacy lies at the center of SCT and shows beliefs about one’s ability or capacity to
execute a behavior successfully (Elliot et al., 2018). Self-efficacy beliefs affect thought patterns
that may aid or hinder one’s desired outcome (Bandura, 1989). Social cognitive theory was used
to gain a deep understanding of the social and structural factors in the form of barriers and
supports that influence women’s career decisions and persistence to advance to senior leadership
positions in IT.
Social cognitive theory provides a unique theoretical framework to examine the factors
that have influenced women’s career trajectories and their decisions along the way. Social
cognitive theory guided the understanding of environmental factors and experiences that
influenced women’s behaviors to persist and advance to senior leadership in IT. By examining
5

the factors that have affected women’s career trajectories, the study focused on women’s
strengths and how organizations and other factors support or provide barriers to their career
advancement.
The design of this study was a qualitative phenomenological study. A phenomenological
study is where the researcher investigates and describes the lived experiences of the individuals
who have experienced the phenomenon (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The qualitative research
design aligns with the purpose of this study because, to gain insight into the factors that
contribute to or prevent women from advancing in their careers, it is important to hear from the
women who experience it.
Definitions
This section provides a list of key terms and definitions used throughout this study of the
problem of practice.
Allyship is the practice of emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights by
members of an ingroup to advance the interests of an oppressed or marginalized outgroup
(Anicha et al., 2015; Madsen et al., 2020).
Career advancement is the upward movement of job level, position, and title in
organizational hierarchy (Jauhar & Lau, 2018).
A glass ceiling is an unofficial, acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession,
especially affecting minoritized people, including women (Appelbaum et al., 2011).
Information technology (IT) is defined as the technology involving the design,
development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based
information systems, software applications and computer hardware (Merriam-Webster, 2023).
6

A mentor is an individual that formally or informally helps a person navigate their career,
providing guidance for career choices and decisions (Hewlett et al., 2014).
Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief about their capacity or capability to perform
actions (Lent et al., 1994). Self-efficacy is based on an individual’s belief that they will succeed
in accomplishing a given task (Bandura, 1977).
Senior leadership refers to the target population for this study. Research suggests senior
leaders at the highest level, such as CEOs, presidents, senior officers, are leaders at the top of the
organization hierarchy (Northouse, 2019). This study included senior leaders, such as those in
the C-suite, senior vice president (VP), VP, senior director, and director positions for this study.
A sponsor is someone who intercedes and advocates for career advancement of an
individual (Foust-Cummings et al., 2011).
Organization of the Study
This study is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is an overview of the study, including
the problem statement, the background of the problem, the purpose of the study, the research
questions to guide the study, an overview of the theoretical framework, methodology, and key
terms to guide the research. Chapter 2 reviews the literature and discusses the conceptual
framework used to guide the research of women in IT leadership and the journey it took to
advance in the IT industry. Chapter 3 presents the research methodology and how the data were
collected and analyzed. Chapter 4 reveals the study’s findings, as they relate to the research
questions. Finally, Chapter 5 captures the study’s implications and recommendations for future
research.
7

Chapter Two: Literature Review
The purpose of the literature review is to provide historical and current literature content
relevant to studying the experiences and barriers of women in IT on their paths to senior
leadership. The review of the literature examines the (a) history of women in the IT industry, (b)
barriers women face in the IT industry and advancing in their career, (c) strategies women in IT
use to advance in their careers, and (d) organizational practices and individual strategies that help
women thrive in the IT industry. Following the literature review, the chapter concludes with a
look at the path to senior leadership through the lens of Bandura’s (1986) SCT.
History of Women in Information Technology
Information technology is a relatively young profession, dating back to the early 19th
century, where computing programming began (Rogers, 2015). Women have played a significant
role in the development of computing and helped develop early programming languages
(McGee, 2017). For example, Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) worked with Charles Babbage to
develop the analytical engine, which is also considered a mechanical computer (McGee, 2017).
Some scholars consider Lovelace the world’s first computer programmer (Hammerman &
Russel, 2015; McGee, 2017). Grace Hooper (1906-1992), referred to as Amazing Grace or the
Queen of Code, is best known for inventing the compiler and the Common Business-Oriented
Language (COBOL) programming language, COBOL (Gurer, 1995; McGee, 2017; Williams,
2012). Hooper wrote the first computer programming manual, while working on an assignment
for the U.S. Navy to program the Mark I, the first digital computer (McGee, 2017). In 1946,
Presper Eckert and John Mauchly built the first electronic computer with the help of six women:
Kathleen McNulty, Frances Bilas, Betty Jean Jennings, Ruth Lichterman, Elizabeth Snyder, and
Marlyn Wescoff, who wrote code for the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (Light,
8

1999). Margaret Hamilton and her team of programmers developed software that guided Apollo
11 on its 1969 lunar mission (Mindell, 2008). The history of women in computing shows how
women pioneered the profession of computer programming.
According to scholars, by the late 1960s, women made up at least 30% of the computer
programming workforce (Ashcraft et al., 2016; Esmenger, 2010; Rogers, 2015). The rapid
expansion of the computer industry in the 1970s created a demand for computer specialists and
programmers (McGee, 2017). The hiring process included aptitude tests and personality profiles,
which created the benchmark for programmers as highly intelligent, socially inept and men
(Esmenger, 2001). This profile laid the foundation for a man-dominated profession (Ahuja,
2002; Esmenger, 2001; McGee, 2017; Rogers, 2015). Even though women entered the field in
the early 19th century, they have not made much progress in expanding their footprint in the
industry.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor the proportion of women in highly technical
and analytical roles has remained constant for over a decade; women held 29.6% of IT
occupations in 1983 and 30.6% in 1996. The percentage of IT occupations held by women has
been declining since 1991, when women held 36% of the total IT occupations (U.S. Bureau of
Labor, 2016). In 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported women made up 25% of the
entire IT occupation. This decline is both a societal concern and a significant workforce
challenge. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2024, there will be more than 1.2
million open jobs in IT due to industry growth and the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation
(Larson, 2018). Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) jobs will grow by
8.9% between 2014 and 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Zara et al.,
2019). Technology plays an integral role in essentially every sector of the U.S. economy.
9

Computer-related jobs are considered to be one of the top 10 fastest-growing occupations in the
United States (Rogers, 2015). It is essential to address the declining rate of women in IT for
organizations to remain competitive in the industry (Annabi & Lebovitz 2018; Rogers, 2015;
Trauth, 2001).
Women in IT Leadership
People in IT leadership roles are responsible for managing technology operations and
overseeing IT personnel. Of people working as computer and information systems managers, in
2005, 32.3 % were women, in 2010, 29.9% were women, and in 2013, 28.6% were women
(Catalyst, 2015). Despite women’s success in midlevel management, the numbers have declined,
and few women make it to the C-suite. Korn Ferry (2019) analyzed the top 1,000 U.S. companies
by revenue and found the percentage of women in C-suite positions had increased slightly from
the year prior, but their representation was still dramatically lower than that of the representation
of their men counterparts. Korn Ferry found the percentage of women in C-level roles varied by
industry. The most senior level is the chief executive officer (CEO) was held by the smallest
percentage of women, with only 6% serving as CEO. Women in the technology industry held
only 5% of the CEO roles. Women held 18% of the chief information officer (CIO) or chief
technology officer (CTO) positions across all industries, with only 10% of women serving as
CIO in the technology industry. These numbers have not increased substantially over the last
decade.
The CIO role emerged in the 1980s and is the first senior executive role focused on IT in
the corporate United States (McGee, 2017). The role can have varying titles, such as chief
knowledge officer (CKO), CTO, and senior VP of IT (McGee, 2017). The CIO role and other
senior IT leadership roles are unique in that they focus on business strategy and demonstrate
10

technical expertise (McGee, 2017; Orser et al., 2012). It will be critical to examine the required
skills, existing challenges, and key success factors for women in the field to advance women in
senior leadership roles.
Benefits of Women in IT
From a financial perspective, scholars believe organizations that support diversity can
better attract top talent, increase employee satisfaction, and improve the customer experience,
leading to increased financial returns (Hunt et al., 2015; Thomas et al., 2016; Wentling &
Thomas, 2009). Thomas et al. (2016) found a diverse and inclusive workforce in IT results in
higher innovation and creativity, resulting in increased revenue and profits. Organizations are
experiencing significant losses of talent, creativity, and innovation in the workforce because of
the lack of women in IT and IT leadership (Ashcraft & Blithe, 2009; NCWIT, 2014). This loss
impacts women and the U.S. economy. Wentling and Thomas (2009) found a gap between the
number of IT workers needed and the number of skilled IT workers available to fill positions.
The IT shortage could cost the U.S. economy $4 billion annually in lost production (Wentling &
Thomas, 2009). Increasing the representation of women in IT and IT leadership roles can help
close the IT-talent gap.
Research shows that team diversity improves innovation and profitability (NCWIT,
2014). Women differ in their social backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge from their men
colleagues, contributing to the innovation of novel products and services (NCWIT, 2014; Varma,
2018). A technology company without women and other marginalized groups is unlikely to
reflect the population they seek to serve, which could result in an economic loss for the company
and the U.S. economy (Hunt et al., 2015; Varma, 2018). Increasing the number of women in the
IT industry could lead to enlisting a broad range of diverse minds and backgrounds to create
11

products and services that benefit society as a whole (NCWIT, 2016). Organizations that attract,
develop, retain, and advance women and men at equal rates increase economic and social
benefits (Elliott, 2017).
Organizations have been increasingly publicly releasing gender, racial, and ethnic
diversity data, demonstrating organizations’ commitments to creating diverse workforces
(Thomas et al., 2016). Thomas et al. (2016) analyzed gender, racial, and ethnic diversity data
across 170 tech companies to measure the relationships between (a) gender diversity and racial
diversity and (b) financial performance. The authors found every incremental percentage point in
female representation linked with a three-percentage point increase in revenue. Dezso and Ross
(2012) evaluated 1,500 firms over 15 years to examine the relationship between a firm’s
economic performance and women in senior management positions. Dezso and Ross found
organizations with the highest representation of women on their top management teams
increased return on equity (ROE) by 35% and total return to shareholders (TRS) by 34%. Padnos
(2010) compiled data from 100 studies on gender and tech entrepreneurship and found
organizations that are gender diverse demonstrate more innovation which provides a competitive
advantage in the tech industry. Similarly, Dezso and Ross found the more a firm’s strategy is
focused on innovation, the more female representation in top management improves firm
performance. Organizations like Apple, Facebook, and Intel have publicly released diversity data
to create transparency on what organizations are doing to attract, develop, retain, and advance
women in the IT industry (Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018; Thomas et al., 2016).
Information Technology Leadership Skills
Technology is constantly evolving; identifying the skills needed by IT employees, as they
progress in their careers, is difficult because of the pace of innovation (Kappelman et al., 2016).
12

In 2014, the Society for Information Management (SIM) surveyed its members to identify
foundational skills needed across three stages of career development in an IT career. The three
stages address a newly hired IT employee, midlevel IT professional, and most senior IT manager
or CIO (Kappelman et al., 2016). The SIM survey found the skills needed in an entry-level IT
role include a mix of technical skills and interpersonal skills, such as collaboration with others,
technical knowledge, problem solving, communication, business knowledge, emotional
intelligence, and programming. The skills needed for IT middle management are similar to those
most essential for the entry-level IT role, especially collaboration with others, functional area
knowledge, problem solving, and people management. The skills needed for the senior-most IT
manager or CIO include providing leadership, people management, strategic planning, decision
making, communication, collaboration with others, emotional intelligence, credibility, business
acumen, and change management.
Hickman and Akdere (2017) identified similar skills across the three levels and showed
low-level employees require more technical knowledge than mid to senior level positions do.
Collaboration becomes increasingly essential for middle managers, and CIOs or the senior-most
level requires leadership and people management skills. Although the skills needed for each level
are gender neutral, women continue to experience barriers that prevent them from ascending into
senior leadership positions.
Barriers to Career Advancement
Factors that impact women and their career advancement in the IT industry have been
studied extensively (e.g., Armstrong, 2012; Ahuja,2002; Kirton & Robertson, 2018; Orser et al.,
2012; Trauth et al., 2009). Ahuja (2002) created a conceptual framework, identifying early
determinants to pursuing a career in IT. Ahuja considered two types of influences: (a) social and
13

(b) structural. Social influences are biases based on gender perception and include social
expectations, work-family conflict, and informal networks. Structural influences include
occupational culture, availability of role models and mentors, industry composition, and
organizational structure. Social and structural factors help to explain the problem of attracting
women to IT and the development and advancement of women in IT.
A term frequently used to describe women’s underrepresention in IT careers is the leaky
pipeline, which means the talent entering the field is lost along the path (Annabi & Lebovitz
2018; Gonzalez et al., 2018; Rogers, 2015). Women tend to leave IT and other computing-related
fields at much higher rates than rates in nontechnology areas (Johnson et al., 2020). The attrition
rate for WIT occupations is 56%, compared to 20% in nontechnology occupations (Johnson et
al., 2020). Barriers are defined as personal and structural factors that make career progression
difficult (Armstrong, 2012; Hotlzblatt & Marsden, 2018; Orser et al., 2012). Factors impacting
the career advancement of professional women include gender-role stereotyping (Auster &
Prasad, 2016), culture (Wentling & Thomas, 2009), lack of supportive relationship (Trauth et al.,
2009), lack of inclusion (McGee, 2018), work-life balance (Orser et al., 2012), inequities in
development and promotion process (Wentling & Thomas, 2009), and self-efficacy
(Quesenberry & Trauth, 2012).
Gender-Role Stereotypes
Although women are advancing into leadership positions, gender biases and stereotypes
still play a significant role in how women leaders advance in their careers (Auster & Prasad,
2016; Caleo et al., 2019; Schulz et al., 2014). Cognitive psychologists view stereotypes as the
mental pictures (e.g., personality traits, behaviors, physical appearance) and set of beliefs held by
an individual or collective group about the attributes of a group of people (Auster & Prasad,
14

2016). Scholars have found organizational practices and jobs in the IT industry are
stereotypically geared toward men’s lifestyles, characterized by long working hours and
extensive travel (Cardador, 2017; Orser et al., 2012). Additionally, studies suggest the “technical
expert” equates to masculinity (Kenny & Donnelly, 2020; Burke & Simmons, 2020). Many
authors have pointed out the occupational identity of the IT professional embodies masculine
characteristics, such as technological skills, independence, and competitiveness (Kenny &
Donnelly, 2020; Trauth, 2002; Trauth et al., 2016; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Faced with the
widely held view that the IT industry is perceived as masculine, women working in the IT field
feel they have to prove their work is good or sometimes better than their men peers’ work
(Kenny & Donnelly, 2020; Kohl & Prikladnicki, 2021). Additionally, Cardador (2017) found
women engineers were placed in less technical roles and frequently asked to take notes during
meetings, reinforcing gender stereotypes about women in IT. According to Trauth (2002), the
social shaping of IT as a masculine field impacts women’s participation and abilities to advance
in the industry.
Culture
The unwelcoming culture in organizations poses a key gender-related barrier and
increased challenges for women to advance in the IT industry (Ahuja, 2002; Holtzblatt &
Marsden, 2018; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). It is important to explain corporate culture and
climate to explore further the organizational factors that impact women in the IT industry. Schein
(2004) defined organizational culture as the pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group has
created to navigate organizational problems, has worked well enough to be considered valid, and,
therefore, is taught to new members as the correct way to behave in the organization.
Organizational climate is implicit in how members of an organization or workgroup interact
15

with customers or other stakeholders (Schein, 2017). Organizational climate can encompass
organizational conditions and individual reactions revealed through artifacts such as structure,
standards, responsibility, and conflict (Trauth et al., 2009).
Several studies referenced terms used by women to refer to the IT industry culture as the
“boys club,” “men’s work,” or the male-domain industry (Burke & Simmons, 2020; Kirton &
Robertson, 2018; Trauth, 2002). Wentling and Thomas (2009) found company culture in the IT
industry is unfriendly to women and is described as male dominated, “good old boy” culture,
results driven, very competitive, exclusive, and having in groups and out groups. Additionally,
they found women who described the workplace as a good old boy culture experienced difficulty
in feeling accepted and breaking into the male-dominated network. The lack of inclusion often
creates inhibitors to career opportunities (Ahuja, 2002, Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Furthermore,
studies exploring women’s experiences at work have revealed types of workplace environments
that help or hinder a women’s career progression in IT (Ahuja, 2002; Armstrong, 2012;
Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018; Kirton & Robertson, 2018; Trauth, 2009).
Ahuja’s (2002) literature review highlighted organizational factors negatively influence
women’s career decisions to persist in advancing their IT careers, if they perceive the workplace
to be an unwelcome, men-dominated, and hostile environment. Scholars have revealed how
workplace challenges for WIT organizations impact their career progressions (Holtzblatt &
Marsden, 2018). Kirton and Robertson (2018) found unfriendly work policies as barriers to
women’s advancement in IT. Organization practices emphasized the need to work whenever and
wherever, according to project or client demands (Kirton & Robertson, 2018). The women
perceived the inflexible work policy as not providing flexible work schedules as a man-gendered
behavioral norm.
16

Armstrong (2012) found the IT work environment, consisting of long hours and the need
to be on call, was linked to work stress, which impacts women’s persistence in the IT industry.
Orser et al. (2012) conducted a survey of 2,300 women from a WIT association to assess the
members’ needs for professional development. The study found organizational challenges faced
by women in IT included longer time spent in low-level roles before being considered for
promotion, women feeling they need to assimilate to fit into the culture, inflexible work
schedules, lack of organizational leadership, and lack of training and resources. These findings
support IT corporate culture and climate as obstacles for women advancing their careers (Kuntz
& Livingston, 2020).
Lack of Supportive Relationships
One challenge women in IT face in navigating their careers in the IT industry is a lack of
supportive relationships (Madsen et al., 2020; Trauth, 2009; Wilson et al., 2020). Supportive
relationships can take the form of a mentor, sponsor, or ally and include individuals who
demonstrate specific behaviors and strategies to successfully support women’s professional
development and advancement (Madsen et al., 2020; Trauth, 2009; Wilson et al., 2020). Kirton
and Robertson (2018) conducted a field study of men and women in the IT industry to
understand how they interpreted and navigated the workplace culture and how managers and
colleagues’ behaviors impacted their career development. The study found a masculine
workplace culture made it challenging for women to identify role models and engage mentors,
and woen were excluded from informal networks, negatively influencing their careers.
Ahuja (2002) pointed to the absence of mentoring as a barrier to women’s advancement.
In their study on technical women’s career advancement, Wentling and Thomas (2009) found
female role models and mentors were difficult to find in the IT field because it is primarily male
17

dominated. Armstrong et al. (2012) similarly found women in IT have fewer options than men
do to find same-gender mentors because of the low number of women managers. In many cases,
women mentors and sponsors are not available to women in IT leadership due to the shortage of
women in leadership positions (Larson, 2018; Madsen, 2020).
Scholars found sponsors tend to help people that have similar traits and interests to
themselves (Hewlett et al., 2014), and senior IT leaders are overwhelmingly White men, making
it much harder for women in IT to gain access to a sponsor (Armstrong et al., 2012; Atal et al.,
2019; Kirton & Robertson, 2018). Women often seek out support from people they like, rather
than leaders who can elevate their careers in the organization (Burke & Simmons, 2020; Hewlett
et al., 2014). Madsen et al. (2020) postulated women tend to have less access to upper
management and stated access affects promotion opportunities for women. Scholars attributed
the lack of women in IT leadership to the lack of access and opportunity for professional
development and high-visibility assignments (Johnson et al., 2020; Madsen et al., 2020;
Wentling & Thomas, 2009).
Lack of Inclusion
According to McGee (2018), IT organizational culture can be viewed as exclusive. In-
group favoritism and out-group homogeneity bias impact how people decide with whom they
want to work (Cohen et al., 2020). Research suggests women may be concerned about
advocating for other women because it may be perceived as in-group favoritism (Cohen et al.,
2020). Scholars have found gender perception for women in the IT industry can hinder access
and career progression to high-level positions (Orser et al., 2012; Trauth et al., 2016; Wentling &
Thomas, 2009). McGee (2018) studied the exclusion of women from IT senior leadership and
found that gender bias, discrimination, lack of access to formal and informal networks, and
18

leadership development opportunities were barriers to advancement. Women’s experiences of
informal networks were challenging and seen as exclusionary practices and behaviors (McGee,
2018). Navigating a primarily man-dominated environment, women have experienced hostile
work environments, exclusionary practices, behaviors, and men colleagues’ intimidation (Kirton
& Robertson, 2018; McGee, 2018; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Additionally, IT women leaders
experience hostile work environments, where their ideas are openly challenged during meetings,
leading to questions about their credibility (McGee, 2018). Furthermore, women report they are
often excluded from critical networks of key decision makers (Armstrong et al., 2018).
Networking has been identified as an essential factor in career development and,
therefore, an organizational practice that women in IT could potentially benefit from to advance
in the industry (Kirton & Robertson, 2018; McGee, 2012); however, scholars have suggested
women are frequently excluded from informal men’s networks, which provide development and
promotion opportunities (Armstrong et al., 2012; Atal et al., 2019; Kirton & Robertson, 2018).
Furthermore, women stated the lack of opportunities to engage in informal networks, where men
gather after hours or on the weekends (McGee, 2012). Kirton and Robertson (2018) recognized
the importance of tactical networking and found some women purposefully involved themselves
in man-dominated networks to gain exposure to people who could impact their careers.
Work-Life Balance
Research suggests the reason there continues to be a small percentage of women in
senior-level positions is due to women’s personal choices and lifestyle considerations (Caleo et
al., 2019). Leadership research has highlighted women’s struggles with work-family balance, as
they manage their careers (Brue, 2018). Women working in IT acknowledge struggles in
simultaneously managing the demands at work and home (Ahuja, 2002; Armstrong et al., 2018;
19

Orser et al., 2012). Women with dual responsibilities in IT expressed the challenges of taking
care of children and the elderly, while dealing with demands of the job (Orser et al., 2012).
Furthermore, some women report delaying having children to achieve their career goals (Simard
et al., 2008). Inadequate support for women with dual responsibilities is a crucial impediment to
women’s career advancement in the IT industry (Orser et al., 2012).
Inequities in Development and Promotion Process
The glass ceiling is a term used to describe the invisible barriers that prevent women and
minorities from being promoted into managerial and executive-level positions in an organization
(Jauhar et al., 2018; Kaiser and Wallace, 2016). Appelbaum et al. (2011) conducted a field study
and captured data from 41 women working in different technical positions in an aviation
organization. The goal of the study was to investigate the perspective of women working in IT
about their career path, promotional aspirations, work-family balance, and the presence of the
glass ceiling. The study found overall, most women felt they were not underrepresented in their
department (63.6 % of respondents), were successful at networking with their men colleagues
(85%), and received constructive feedback from their supervisor through timely job evaluation
(78%); however, married women, especially with children, stated they face higher barriers and
stressors that result in work-family conflicts that impact their career progression. The study
found some women changed jobs or worked part time to balance their work-family life. Thus,
women who are intrinsically motivated to balance their work-family life may experience the
glass ceiling effect hindering their career advancement because of personal choice.
The declining numbers of women advancing to senior leadership and the increasing
numbers of women leaving the IT industry indicate organizations have not paid sufficient
attention to professional development and the promotion process to support women’s career
20

advancement in IT (NCWIT, 2016). Professional development opportunities can include
training, stretch assignments, and rotational assignments (Burke & Simmons, 2020). Scholars
have postulated IT jobs demand extensive educational skills and continual training to be
competitive in the industry. Wentling and Thomas (2009) conducted a survey and captured data
from 25 women from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and found
72% of the women indicated they had not progressed as rapidly as they thought they should
have. The four most frequent reasons given by the participants included (a) male-dominated
organization, (b) gender discrimination, (c) difficulty conforming to company norms, and (d)
lack of company support or develop women for top-level positions. Similarly, McGee (2018)
found the promotion rate for women in IT was slow and shaped by gender- and race-related bias.
Specifically, one participant shared her path to the CIO position was one lateral move after
another; she willingly accepted multiple lateral roles in different departments as development
steps, leading her to the CIO role (McGee, 2018). This example supports the claim women
accept lateral positions to develop skills to advance their careers, which could explain the slow
paths to senior leadership positions (Johnson et al., 2020).
Kohl and Prikladnicki (2021) interviewed a group of software engineer leaders to learn
about the challenges they faced in advancing their careers. Access to professional development
opportunities, such as training and high-profile assignments, were factors they needed to
overcome to advance in their career. Furthermore, the women engineer leaders stated the need to
put forth more effort to prove their work was good or even better than their male peers’ work.
Adams and Weiss (2011) studied how women positioned themselves to advance in
technology leadership. They found women spent more time in business roles than men did;
conversely, men spent more time in technology roles than women did, before advancing to
21

senior-level positions. Men and women saw the key to achieving leadership roles as linking
technology to business goals and people management activities (Adams & Weiss, 2011). The
study found women in the IT field are more similar to men in their preferences and perspective
of what is expected of the technology leadership role. Men and women spend time in technology
and business roles; however, the length of time may differ. Women may take longer to reach the
senior leadership role but are willing to take the lateral business roles to gain the knowledge to
implement technology solutions to solve business problems (Adam & Weiss, 2011; Annabi &
Lebovitz, 2017).
Self-Efficacy
Barriers to women’s career advancement in IT fall into two categories: (a) personal and
(b) structural. Personal barriers are related to self-efficacy or beliefs about what one is capable of
(Bandura, 1997). Lent et al. (1994) defined self-efficacy as an individual’s belief about their
capacity or capability to perform actions. Work interests and self-efficacy expectations begin to
develop in early childhood and are influenced through interactions with parents, teachers, and
peers through the process of socialization (Michie & Nelson, 2006). Scholars examining
women’s career trajectories have found individual influences that focus on how an individual’s
personality, abilities, and experience shape the decisions one makes along their career paths
(Jaeger et al., 2017; McGee, 2018; Quesenberry & Trauth, 2012). From an early age, girls who
pursue interests in mathematics or computers often experience feelings of not fitting, self-doubt,
or imposter syndrome (Trauth, 2002; Vitores & Gil-Juarez, 2016). Literature suggests difficulty
with self-esteem and other personal factors are critical challenges for IT women when advancing
in their careers (Burke & Simmons, 2020; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Social factors, such as
media and pop culture, influence a woman’s choice to pursue a career in IT or computing
22

(Vitores & Gil-Juarez, 2016). When women do not see other women in the industry or advancing
to senior positions, it creates a situation in which women learn those professions do not match
their gender identity, and they may choose a different career path (Jaeger et al., 2017; Orser et
al., 2012; Vitores & Gil-Juarez, 2016).
McGee (2018) identified credibility and legitimacy challenges impacting women’s self-
efficacy to persist in the IT field. Specifically, women of color described recurring experiences
of peers or subordinates questioning their knowledge or speculating how they got to their roles.
Annabi and Lebovitz (2018) conducted 23 interviews with women in IT across various
organizations. In their study, women with self-agency were able to recognize and overcome
external influences to successfully navigate their career in the IT industry. Furthermore, women
who do not have strong self-agency remain marginalized and either leave IT or feel stalled in
their careers (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2018; Hewlett et al., 2016). The barriers and obstacles that
women in IT leadership face suggest personal and organizational factors influence women’s
career advancement.
Strategies for Career Advancement
Based on the literature, the researcher selected a mix of individual and organizational
strategies that have enabled women leaders to advance in their careers in IT: (a) individual
factors, (b) inclusive environments, (c) professional development, and (d) engaged success
partners (Bhattacharya et al., 2018; Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018; Madsen et al., 2019; McGee,
2018; Quesenberry & Trauth, 2012; Trauth et al., 2009; Wentling & Thomas, 2009); however,
the stated strategies in this study are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all notable strategies
that aid women in IT to advance in their careers. Scholars have highlighted that bridging the
gender gap in senior leadership in the IT industry takes a commitment from the individual to be
23

proactive in their career development and organizational commitment to embrace strategies to
advance women (Beeson & Valerio, 2012; Elliott, 2017; McGee, 2018; Orser et al., 2012).
Individual Strategies
The most frequently noted strategy used by women to advance in the IT industry is to
modify their behavior by continuously expanding their knowledge and skills, taking risks, and
demonstrating their work ethic (Bagchi-Sen et al., 2009; Bhattacharya et al., 2018; Orser et al.,
2012; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Bhattacharya et al. (2018), in a quantitative study on women
in senior leadership positions in IT across various industries, found risk taking, self-confidence,
perceived high emotional intelligence, and learning agility helped women reach senior leadership
positions. McGee (2018) found one factor that was common to each of the participants in their
study and essential to advancing in the IT industry is personal agency. The participants
highlighted internal factors such as self-confidence, personality, and faith helped them advance
to senior leadership positions. The women discussed engaging in activities, such as joining
women in IT resource groups, attending external courses to obtain new skills, and soliciting
career advice from outside the organization to development their personal agency. Additionally,
McGee found women with high self-confidence were prepared to deal with difficult situations,
advocate for themselves, and change their work situations, if they experienced harassment or
discrimination. As these studies show, high levels of self-confidence and personal agency make
it more likely for women to overcome barriers in the IT industry to advance their careers
(Bhattacharya et al., 2018; McGee, 2018). Women in Communications and Technology (2017)
surveyed its members and identified strategies women used to advance their careers: (a) meet
and exceed performance expectations, (b) have a mentor or sponsor, (c) network, (d) strategically
change organizations or jobs, and (e) pursue training and education to obtain new skills.
24

Research suggests women leverage a mix of personal and organizational strategies to advance in
the IT industry.
Organizational Strategies
To develop and advance women in IT, some organizations have attempted to resolve
barriers that women in IT face by striving to create an inclusive environment (Holtzblatt &
Marsden, 2018), providing leadership development (Bhattacharya et al. (2018), and fostering
supportive relationships Madsen et al., 2020). To advance women technologists into positions of
leadership, informal practices, such as networking, mentoring, leadership development programs,
and transparent promotion processes, need to be implemented to mitigate barriers women face in
the industry (McGee, 2018).
Foster an Inclusive Environment
Scholars have found interventions that reduce the masculine culture and foster a sense of
belonging and inclusiveness lead to greater retention and advancement of women in the IT
industry (DuBow, 2016; Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018). In 2019, Women in Technology
International (WITI) surveyed 1,133 men and women to examine the gender views of diversity
and inclusion in the technology industry. The study found 45% of men and 29% or women
viewed their organization as gender diverse. The study highlights the differing perceptions
between men and women and their views on creating diverse organizations. Organizations are
recruiting women and people of color; however, if organizations do not foster inclusive
environments, women will seek other opportunities (Armstrong et al., 2018; Holtzblatt &
Marsden, 2018). Strategies to foster an inclusive environment include developing diversity and
inclusion initiatives that focus on equity, educating everyone in the organization about
unconscious bias, creating transparency in the hiring and promotion process, implementing
25

work-life practices, and holding leaders accountable to supporting diversity, equity, and
inclusion interventions (Armstrong et al., 2012; Atal et al., 2019; Bhattacharya et al., 2018;
Kossek et al., 2017). Organizational climate provides the foundation for women to make career
decisions and encourages or hinders women’s advancement (Trauth et al., 2009).
Professional Development
Women in IT are more likely to advance their careers when organizations invest in
professional development and support systems designed to meet the unique needs of women in
IT (Burke & Simmons, 2020; Wentling & Thomas, 2009). In 2017, Women in Communication
and Technology surveyed over 8,000 members to learn about barriers to career advancement,
organizational climate, and successful strategies that women in IT leveraged to advance their
careers. The study found women need to be identified and developed for advancement
opportunities. Furthermore, participants were asked to choose the top five barriers they believed
inhibited their career advancement. Lack of development and advancement opportunities were
selected most often. Bhattacharya et al. (2018) interviewed 20 women leaders in the IT industry
and found various capability-building initiatives along their career journeys helped them advance
into leadership positions. The initiatives included technical training, leadership development
interventions, coaching, and mentoring. Wichert (2012) found organizations that educate
managers about unintentional bias against appointing women to specific projects or roles can
increase access to career-enhancing experiences. Holtzblatt and Marsden (2018) identified
critical assignments increase women’s capabilities and prepare them for more complex roles.
Women executives who successfully made it to senior leadership positions were surveyed and
asked to define the most critical strategy leading to their success (Baker & Cangemi, 2016). The
first strategy identified was consistently exceeding expectations. The second most critical
26

strategy successful women employed was to develop a professional style that assimilated to the
male-dominated environment. The third most crucial career strategy was engaging in stretch
assignments and gaining access to highly visible assignments. Effective professional
development offers technical training, mentoring, coaching, and access to critical assignments
that offer visibility in the organization (Baker & Cangemi, 2016; Wichert, 2012).
Innovative professional development approaches are needed to address the ongoing lack
of women leaders in the IT industry (Oosten et al., 2017). Dwivedi and Mukherjee (2021)
suggested creating a forum for women to hear from successful women leaders to understand their
stories of success and challenges and how they advanced in their careers. Women-only
leadership development programs create safe environments for exchanging developmental
feedback and for women to learn from one another (Oosten et al., 2017). Organizations that
provide formal leadership development programs to high-potential women demonstrate a
commitment to invest in women’s career development as a top priority (Beeson & Valerio, 2012;
Elliott, 2017; Wentling & Thomas, 2009).
Engage in Supportive Relationships
Research suggests there are too few women leaders in the IT industry to affect
meaningful change for themselves, and women need the support of men to help them advance in
a man-dominated industry (Madsen et al., 2020; Warren et al., 2021; Wentling & Thomas, 2009;
Wilson et al., 2020). Researchers have found women persist and develop in their career when
they engage in supportive relationships (Madsen et al., 2020; Trauth, 2009; Wilson et al., 2020).
By working together, men and women can transform their workplaces to ensure diversity,
inclusion, and equity (Madsen et al., 2020; Wilson et al., 2020). Wentling and Thomas (2009)
explored workplace culture and environmental factors that contributed to the success of women
27

in IT. They found women who cited collaborative and teamwork-oriented workplace
environments had relationships with colleagues that benefited them in their career development
(Wentling & Thomas, 2009). Researchers have found to understand women’s perceptions and
behavior, there must be an understanding of the organizational systems impacting their career
development (Wilson et al., 2020).
Based on the literature, women in IT identified a supportive manager as a source of social
support to advance to a leadership position in the IT industry. Support from management can be
described as how women perceive their organization’s response to career development
(Cimirotic et al., 2016; Jauhar & Lau, 2018). Cimirotic et al. (2016) examined factors that enable
the advancement of women to leadership positions. The study found manager support was a
critical factor that contributed to their career advancement. Holtzblatt and Marsden (2016) found
one essential factor that characterized the ascent to senior leadership in IT was trusted managers
encouraging them to take on new opportunities. The participants explained how their managers
supported them, as they took challenging assignments.
Appelbaum et al. (2011) found 78% of women respondents in their study believed they
received constructive feedback from their manager through timely developmental conversations.
Quesenberry and Trauth (2012) discussed the importance of supportive managers, mentors, and
executive leadership programs as enabling factors for women in their career development. The
literature highlighted types of development relationships a manager can engage in to support the
development of women in IT. Studies frequently used terms like mentor, advocate, and sponsor
to describe a supportive manager (Cimirotic et al., 2017; Griffeth et al., 2021).
28

Mentorship Versus Sponsorship
The different types of development relationships observed in the workplace are
mentoring and sponsoring (Griffeth et al., 2021). The distinctions between mentoring and
sponsorship are fundamental in understanding why promotion rates of women lag behind that of
rates for men in senior leadership positions (Griffeth et al., 2021). Women recognize the need for
support systems, such as mentors and sponsors, to facilitate advancement in the IT industry
(Ahuja, 2002; McGee, 2018; Hewlett et al., 2014; Trauth et al., 2009); however, mentoring and
sponsorship often lead to varying career development outcomes (Ayyala et al., 2019; Ibarra et
al., 2010; Griffeth et al., 2021). Griffeth et al. (2021) found mentors facilitate the professional
development of less-experienced employees to help them develop in their current roles. With
sponsorship, a sponsor puts forward a person for high-visibility, career-advancing opportunities
(Ayyala et al., 2019).
Mentoring serves the mentee’s professional development through career support and
psychological support (Hewlett et al., 2014; Trauth et al., 2009). Mentorship has been shown to
significantly impact a mentee’s personal development and career satisfaction (Ayyala et al.,
2019; Hewlett et al., 2014). A mentor provides strategies and advice on how to navigate the IT
industry to increase the mentee’s confidence (Hewlett et al., 2014). Mentorship is longitudinal,
addressing one’s overall career development (Ayyala et al., 2019). Mentorship forms at a
mentee’s request or because of a formal mentoring program, and a mentor can exist at any level
of the organization (Hewlett et al., 2014). Formal and informal mentoring programs present the
opportunity for women to develop skills and enhance their knowledge to elevate to the next level
(Groves, 2021).
29

Successful mentorship programs allow women access to resources and professional
development to advance their careers (Goves, 2021). Murray et al. (2012) studied women
seeking promotion to leadership positions and who engaged in informal and formal mentoring
programs. The study found women who engaged in informal or formal mentoring relationships
were more likely to advance in their career as opposed to women who did not engage in a mentor
relationship. The women in the study took risks, applied for promotions, and advanced in the
company at a higher rate than before implementing the mentoring program. Catalyst (2010)
conducted a study of a formal mentoring program at a national insurance company. The study
was not gender specific; however, the insurance company’s VP noted the study found formal
mentoring programs can reduce turnover, enhance recruitment efforts, increase organization
performance, and improve the work environment, especially for women and people of color.
Sponsorship can be defined as episodic and focused on specific opportunities (Ayyala et
al., 2019). A sponsor is someone who intercedes and advocates on behalf of the person (McGee,
2012). Sponsorship provides public and private endorsements and advocacy for prominent
stretch assignments or job promotions, enabling career advancement and access to senior leaders
Hewlett et al., 2014). A sponsor goes beyond giving general career feedback and advice; a
sponsor can propel a person to the next level by proactively creating visibility and promoting the
person for promising opportunities (Cummings et al., 2011). Lastly, sponsors put forth their
resources and power to advocate for someone who would otherwise not have access to the
necessary resources, such as leadership development and access to high visibility projects that
contribute to advancement (Griffeth et al., 2021). Eighty-six percent of women participating in a
2015 Kellogg School of Management Executive Education Program reported a sponsor, rather
than a mentor, was instrumental in their career advancement (RHR International, 2015). Griffeth
et al. (2021) suggested one reason men advance to senior leadership positions faster than women
30

do is because they engage in informal networks that allow a sponsor relationship. Ibarra et al.
(2010) highlighted one reason women are underrepresented in senior leadership is overmentoring
and undersponsorship, impacting their opportunities to advance in their careers.
Ayyala et al. (2019) conducted a qualitative study with Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine faculty engaged in sponsorship relationships. The study found sponsorship, in
addition to mentorship, is critical for successful career advancement. Additionally, participants
highlighted findings of prior studies that viewed mentorship as especially important for early
career development; however, sponsorship is critical when there are few opportunities to
advance to high-level positions, and the support of an influential sponsor can generate
opportunities and make connections.
Allyship
Historically, the allyship research literature has focused on social justice advocacy or
addressing gender equity (Anicha et al., 2015). Alternative terms, such as action phrases like
operating in solidarity with rather than identity words like ally, demonstrate that work is done
alongside underrepresented and marginalized groups (Wilson et al., 2021). People aspiring to be
allies are characterized by a desire to become educated on the experiences of underrepresented
and marginalized groups and to identify ways to support and promote those individuals by
creating change in organizations and communities (Madsen et al., 2020). Wilson et al. (2021)
conducted a longitudinal study of a men’s allyship program implemented on a university
campus, specifically in the engineering school. One goal of the men’s allyship program was to
improve gender equity in the hiring process. Before implementing several talent acquisition
initiatives, 26% of job offers went to women. A year into the allyship program, 56% of job offers
went to women, a 30% increase. The researchers found the allyship program was one factor
31

enabled the increase of job offers to women. Another factor contributing to increased women job
offers was implementing new talent strategies to establish more equitable hiring practices.
Combining the allyship program and implementing new hiring practices created organizational
support systems to help women enter the technology industry.
Kim and Meister (2022) interviewed 39 women leaders in various STEM fields to
understand the gender microaggressions they experienced and how the microaggressions
impacted their career advancement. One example of a microaggression the women regularly
experienced was having their competence questioned throughout their careers. The study
revealed buffers of microaggressions that altered the negative experience felt by the women.
Colleagues who proactively intervened on behalf of women emerged as the most frequently
mentioned buffer to mitigate microaggressions. To the women in the study, the supportive
colleague included men and women that engaged in allyship behavior. The colleagues provided
proactive unsolicited support, which validated the women’s capabilities. Allies were colleagues
and managers with whom the women had close working relationships and were leaders who had
power in the organization.
Research suggests the burden of discrimination remediation has primarily been placed on
the marginalized groups; however, there is evidence that allies can create transformational
change in remediating discrimination (Cheng et al., 2019; Jain et al., 2019; Madsen et al., 2020).
Cheng et al. (2019) surveyed 100 women of multiple racial backgrounds and employed across
various industries. The participants were asked to recall instances of male ally behavior in the
workplace and how the allyship behavior impacted their career development and sense of
belonging. The study found people in power, such as managers or organizational leaders, were
effective in advocating or demonstrating supportive behaviors. This finding aligns with other
32

literature that shows leaders are essential as allies of marginalized groups because they are in
positions of power (Schneider et al., 2017).
Summary
The purpose of this study was to examine organizational factors that influence the beliefs
and behaviors of women leaders in the IT industry and how women leveraged supportive
relationships to obtain their leadership positions. Furthermore, the study focused on realizing the
organizational factors that are enablers or barriers to the advancement of women to leadership
positions from the perspective of women leaders in IT. The literature review offers valuable
insight into the experiences of women leaders in the IT industry. The literature review consisted
of studies revolving around factors impacting women’s career advancement in IT. The
organizational factors influencing women’s career advancement were reviewed with the
following subtopics: gender-role stereotyping, man-dominated environment, lack of supportive
relationships, lack of inclusion, work-life balance, and inequities in professional development.
The women in IT leadership experiences consisted of a combination of individual and
organizational strategies to include the following subtopics: meeting and exceeding performance
expectations, continuously learning new skills, fostering an inclusive environment, creating
equitable human resources (HR) practices, and engaging supportive relationships. The final topic
examined the various supportive relationships women engage in to navigate their IT industry
career, including mentor, sponsor, and ally.
Conceptual Framework
Bandura’s (1986) SCT provided the framework for this study and informed the concepts
revealed through the literature review. This study aims to examine the organizational factors
influencing the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in the IT industry and how they
33

leveraged supportive relationships to obtain their current leadership positions. Social cognitive
theory has been applied to many areas, including career development (Fu & Chen, 2015). This
section focuses on the role SCT plays in the development of the individual experiences of
women navigating their career in the IT industry. Social cognitive theory provides a unique
theoretical framework to examine the factors that have influenced women’s career trajectories
and their decisions along the way. Social cognitive theory is a model of interactive agency
meaning personal and environmental factors influence one’s sense of self (Bandura, 1999).
The critical components of SCT are (a) self-efficacy, (b) outcome expectations, and (c)
goal setting (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief about their capacity or
capability to perform actions (Lent et al., 1994). Bandura (1986) theorized if people believe they
can or have developed skill and self-efficacy, the combination of factors can lead a person to
pursue a goal. Bandura (2012) stated people with high self-efficacy view problems as challenges
and are less inclined to blame external factors. Self-efficacy is at the core of one’s pursuit to
accomplish goals (Bandura, 1989).
A central tenet of SCT is that individuals’ evaluations and interpretations of their own
experiences inform their self-beliefs, which influences their behaviors (Fue & Chen, 2015). The
application of SCT may clarify environmental factors and experiences that influence women’s
behaviors to generate career decisions. By examining factors that influence women’s career
trajectories, the study focused on women’s strengths and how organizations and other factors
support or provide barriers to their career advancement. Social cognitive theory is grounded in
triadic reciprocal determinism, which illustrates that learning is based on people, environment,
and behavior (Bandura, 1989). Furthermore, learning can happen in a variety of ways and can be
bidirectional. A person can learn from direct experience, observing others or other environmental
34

influences (Bandura, 1986). Applications of these influences may explain possible personal or
organizational barriers preventing women from advancing to senior leadership positions in the IT
industry.
The model presented in Figure 1 is based on Bandura’s triadic relationship between
person, behavior and environment. The figure represents the bidirectional influence of (a)
personal factors: women senior IT leader, personal expectations, and self-efficacy; (b)
environment: sources of support, workplace environment, and organizational practices; and (c)
behavior: performance at work, work-life balance, and career decisions. The model illustrates the
relationship between women in IT and their environment to understand the influences to personal
beliefs and behaviors related to their career success in IT.

35

Figure 1
Conceptual Framework

Note. Adapted from “Regulation of Cognitive Processes Through Perceived Self-Efficacy” by A.
Bandura, 1989, Developmental Psychology, 25(5), 729–735. [https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-
1649.25.5.729]

36

Chapter Three: Methodology
The purpose of this study was to examine women’s perspectives of organizational factors
and influential relationships that impacted their ascension to senior leadership roles in the IT
industry. This chapter provides a detailed overview of the methodology and its components. In
addition, this chapter includes the resercher’s positionality, a detailed review of research design,
setting, population sample, procedures, and an examination of how validity and reliability were
addressed in this study. Finally, the chapter concludes with ethical assurances used in this study.
Research Questions
` This study examined women’s perceptions of barriers and influential factors that enabled
them as leaders in IT to advance in their careers. The following research questions (RQ) guided
this study:
1. What organizational factors influenced the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in
IT?
2. How did mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship influence their career in the IT
industry?
Research Design Overview
This study was a qualitative phenomenological study. In a phenomenological study, the
researcher investigates and describes the lived experiences of the individuals who have
experienced the phenomenon (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The research design supports SCT’s
triadic reciprocity, wherein the person, environment, and behavior influence one another.
Qualitative research is most suitable for examining the perceived organizational factors that
contributed to women advancing in their careers. Women leaders in IT discussed how
37

organizational factors supported or hindered their career trajectory. Furthermore, the study
examined the influential relationships the women encountered throughout their careers.
Research Setting
The NCWIT (2016) defined the IT industry as companies that produce software,
hardware, or store or retrieve data and information. People working in the technology industry
work in computer-related occupations (NCWIT, 2016). This study focused on women leaders
who worked in computing and IT positions and who advanced to senior leadership positions in
IT. In 2015, women made up 25% of computing-related occupations in the United States (U.S.
Bureau of Labor, 2016). Positions found in the computing and IT industry include computer and
information systems managers, computer systems analysts, computer hardware engineers,
computer programmers, software developers, web developers, database administrators, network
and computer systems administrators, computer network architects, product manager, business
analysts and information security professionals (U.S. Bureau of Labor, 2016). The percentage of
women varies across each position, with approximately 51% of women holding operations
analyst positions and 12% of women holding computer network architect positions (U.S. Bureau
of Labor, 2016). Information technology senior leadership consists of people in positions of CIO,
CTO, VP of IT, senior director of technology, and director of technology (Weiss & Adams,
2011). This study explored the experiences of women who have advanced from technology roles
to positions of IT leadership. To address the gender gap in IT leadership, the researcher sought to
hear from women in multiple organizations to examine the environment that enabled them to
thrive in their careers.
38

The Researcher
As I consider my worldview, the two paradigms that align with my outlook are
constructivist and critical/transformative. I sought to understand and expose marginalized
group’s views to initiate change to improve the lives of others. Creswell and Creswell (2018)
described the constructivist approach as individuals who seek to understand the world in which
they live and work. I relied as much as possible on the participants’ views of the situation being
studied. Understanding the marginalized individuals’ beliefs resonated with me because I was
interested in learning about participants’ perspectives of factors that contributed to their career
advancement in the IT industry. Creswell and Creswell described the critical/transformative
approach as an action plan for reform that may change participants’ lives, the institutions in
which individuals work or live, and the researcher’s life. As a woman who works in the IT
industry as an organizational development practitioner, it was essential for me to elevate voices
that may not always be heard. I valued the opportunity to talk to women, listen to their stories,
and learn about their career aspirations. As a critical/transformative researcher, I wanted to take
those stories to inform organizations on how to shape a talent development process that is fair
and equitable for all women.
By elevating the voices of senior women leaders in the IT industry, I sought to surface
the factors contributing to their success to help other women advance their careers. It was
essential to learn about their successes and failures, so other women can be inspired by their
journey and persist in achieving their career goals. The women in the study held the knowledge
of their lived experiences on how they could advance their careers. They shared their realities of
their lived experiences, and I heard multiple realities in my research. I listened to each individual
39

to hear their truth to extend the research on the factors that contribute to or create barriers for
women to advance their careers in the IT industry.
As an organizational development practitioner, I am aware of employee career planning
tools and programs. I believe people want to learn and grow in their careers. I needed to be
mindful of this bias, as I gathered data from other women in the IT industry who wanted to
advance in their careers but did not seek out career planning resources. It was essential to look at
individual and organizational factors that influenced the interviewees’ career journey. As a
constructivist and critical/transformative researcher, I sought to understand and elevate
marginalized groups’ views to initiate change and improve the lives of others.
Data Sources
The current study investigated women’s lived experiences in IT leadership that led them
to advance successfully into senior leadership positions. Interviews were the primary sources of
information used for data collection. The choice of qualitative methodology was driven by the
research questions, which sought to explore women’s lived experiences in IT and factors that
contributed to their success. Qualitative methods allow the researcher to obtain in-depth
information to explore participants’ motivations, actions, and beliefs (Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative
interviews were deemed the most appropriate to answer the research questions.
Interviews
Qualitative research is considered exploratory and is used to understand underlying
reasons, motives, and opinions: how people make sense of their world and the experiences they
have in the world (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Researchers explore participants’ motivations,
actions, and beliefs using interviews, observations, or written documentation (Cresswell &
Cresswell, 2018). Interviews were the primary source of information used for data collection. In
40

addition, the interviews had a semistructured format. The semistructured format allowed me to
ask a broad set of fixed questions with the flexibility to obtain deep insight into the participants’
experiences in the IT industry (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Participants
Participants were selected through purposeful sampling, which is when characteristics of
individuals are defined to align to the problem and research questions (Creswell & Creswell,
2018). The criteria for participating in the research were (a) self-identifying woman leader, (b)
manager with at least 6 months of senior leadership experience (i.e., director, senior director, VP,
CIO, CTO), (c) currently working in some capacity in an IT department, and (d) currently
working in a U.S.-based organization. The participants were recruited using the researcher’s
LinkedIn connection of senior leaders in the IT industry and the researcher’s personal network of
IT leaders. In addition, snowball sampling was used to expand the number of participants in the
study. Snowball sampling strategy involves locating a few key participants who meet the criteria
established for the study and asking those individuals for referrals to others who meet the study
criteria (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Instrumentation
The instrument for the study consisted of semistructured interview questions developed
based on the literature review and research questions to ensure alignment and consistency of the
study. The specific studies in the literature review that guided the development of the
semistructured interview questions were studies that researched workplace environments where
women in IT thrive and the factors that help or hinder women’s advancement in the IT industry.
Semistructured interview questions (see Appendix A). were designed to discover participants’
41

subjective responses about a phenomenon they experienced (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Eleven
interview questions and probing questions were created to align to the study’s research questions.
The interview questions targeted four areas: (a) individual and organizational barriers, (b)
personal success strategies, (c) organizational factors, and (d) mentor, sponsor, and ally
relationship influence on career. Personal demographic information was captured by each
participant to identify the type of organization, and role in the organization. The interview
questions consisted of open-ended questions. The design of the open-ended questions allowed
the participants to share stories and describe their career journey experiences. The design of the
interview questions sought to understand the lived experiences of women in senior-level IT
leadership positions and the events that guided their career journey. The researcher explored
barriers and support systems that fostered the participant’s successful development and
advancement into senior leadership positions. For this study, participants shared their
experiences and identified supportive relationships and how those relationships helped them
advance into senior leadership roles.
Data Collection Procedures
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) was established to protect individuals who
participate in research studies to ensure no harm or damage comes to the subjects (Creswell &
Creswell, 2018; Tisdell, 2016). Researchers who desire to work with human subjects must
officially present a proposal to conduct the study to the IRB. Working with adults is considered
an exempt study with minimal to no risk to the participants. On February 28, 2022, the IRB
approved all primary research questions and subsequent questions before interviewing
participants. The data collection from participants occurred between March 16 and April 24,
2022. The interview questions are shown in Appendix A.
42

The criteria for participating in the research were women currently holding senior
leadership positions in the IT industry. I initially attempted to recruit women IT leaders through
my informal network in the IT industry. I then used a snowball recruiting technique to expand
the sample population. Seventeen participants met the research criteria and agreed to participate
in the study. I sent all 17 participants individual invitation emails. In addition, all invitations
included an information sheet describing the study. The information sheet outlined the purpose
of the research, participant involvement, confidentiality, contact information for principal
investigator, and contact information for the IRB. The information sheet for exempt research is
shown in Appendix B. When participants replied they were interested in participating in
interviews, I emailed invitations with time slots and dates to schedule the interview. I sent all
calendar invites in 1-hour increments via Google Calendar.
Face-to-face interviews via Zoom were conducted with each participant. Interviews took
between 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes long. Participants were asked for their consent to
record interview sessions. Due to confidentiality and sensitivity of the research, I assigned
numbers to all participants. Interviews were recorded using Zoom transcription services to
capture data for analysis and coding. The researcher took notes and documented quotes in case
the audio recording did not work (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The researcher took note of
verbal queues, voice inflections, and any additional data observed during the interview process.
The interviews were recorded on Zoom, and the researcher used the transcription feature
to transcribe all interviews. The researcher ensured the interview recording through Zoom was
saved on a secure device and transferred onto a hard drive to be analyzed for data collection.
After each interview, the researcher reviewed the recording and wrote notes in the margin of the
43

transcript. The researcher wrote notes in an interview journal to document thoughts about the
data after each interview.
Researchers can have biased views because of cultural background and personal values.
My positionality and identities (White woman professional in a leadership role) may have
influenced the interpretation of the data. An interview guide was followed during each interview
to ensure consistency and nonbias by the researcher. The researcher was mindful of personal bias
and put systems in place to mitigate biases in the interview and data analysis process. The
research questions guided the study to mitigate personal biases, employing constant reflected
practices raised my awareness of my bias to be open to hearing the lived experiences of the
women leaders in the study.
Data Analysis
The collected data were analyzed and coded to align to the research questions. The initial
process in analyzing the data was coding the data according to themes related to the research
questions. Analyzing the data through coding allowed meaningful categories to emerge. The
researcher looked for patterns in the data and consistent responses that appeared more than twice.
A priori codes were identified through the literature review (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The a
priori codes included (a) enabling factors, (b) organizational factors, (c) challenges, (d)
strategies, and (e) supportive relationships. Codes that were not anticipated were also defined to
demonstrate surprising information to the researcher (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The initial
coding process identified answers to primary research questions. The codes were then grouped
into relevant themes. The themes were then grouped with all participants who talked about an
identified theme.
44

Validity and Reliability
Validity and reliability demonstrate the level of rigor and the trustworthiness of the
research findings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In research, the qualitative researcher’s goal is to
be objective and ensure validity and reliability in the investigation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Validity is associated with truth and authenticity (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative validity
means the researcher checks for the accuracy of the findings by conducting various procedures
(Cresswell & Cresswell, 2018). The strategies used to check the accuracy of the findings include
triangulation and member checking. Triangulation refers to the use of multiple data sources and
comparing themes across the various sources (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). In this study
interviews conducted with a variety of women in the field of IT who advanced to senior
leadership positions. The data were compared to look for commonalities and differences to
ensure the findings provided an accurate representation of the women’s experiences.
Member checking involves allowing participants to review transcripts of their interviews
to confirm accurate representation of what was said during the interview (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). Several participants checked part of the preliminary data for accuracy, validating the data
collected. Memos were used to document the responses from the participants, and transcripts
were reviewed for clarity (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). By confirming the accuracy of the data
through member checks, the researcher could confirm the data were valid. In addition to member
checking, the researcher kept a journal to write reflections after each interview to capture the
interview experience, issues or ideas that resonated in collecting data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The researcher then analyzed the data to interpret the meaning of the responses to generate
themes. All transcripts, field notes, and data collected were kept in their original form to ensure
the validity of the data.
45

For phenomenological research, reliability describes the extent to which the data
collected is consistent (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Consistency refers to the extent to which the
same results are produced across the same population, or to what degree the interviews are
conducted in the same way with each participant (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Reliability for this
study was addressed by providing an interview guide to ensure consistency in the interview
process with each participant. To further ensure the reliability of the investigation, the researcher
consistently reviewed the coding system to ensure the participants’ comments align with the
appropriate coding mechanism.
Research Ethics
The research was conducted ethically with a focus on building a rapport with participants
to encourage them to speak their truths about their experiences as women leaders in the IT
industry. Furthermore, confidentiality was upheld to ensure no one was harmed because of
sharing personal information or information about their organization. Due to the sensitivity of the
information, protecting the privacy of each participant was an essential part of the research.
Participants received an information sheet in Appendix C notifying them of their right to cancel
at any time during the process and how their personal information will be confidential. To ensure
an ethical approach was taken throughout the study, the researcher explained to the women
leaders the purpose of the study, the methods and processes to be used to collect and analyze the
data, and how the findings would be used. The researcher asked for the participants’ permission
to record the interview via the Zoom recording feature. An information sheet was shared with
each participant and documented how their information will be used in the study and how the
information will be secured to protect their identity. The researcher used a participant numbering
system to protect the participants’ identities. Participants were informed of how their names,
46

identities, and organizations would be kept confidential to encourage open and candid responses
by the interviewees.
Participants held the knowledge of their lived experiences on how they could advance in
their careers. The participants shared the realities of their lived experiences, which varied from
participant to participant. The researcher listened to each individual to hear their truth to extend
the research on the factors that contribute to or hinder their career trajectory. By focusing on
women leaders in the IT industry, men who hold leadership positions could be harmed in the
study or feel underrepresented. Women who have not achieved leadership positions in the IT
industry may also feel slighted by this research.
Summary
This chapter presented the research questions, research design, research setting,
population sample, procedures, detailed instrumentation, information including the validity and
reliability of the research, data analysis procedures, and the ethical assurances that were
considered.

47

Chapter Four: Findings
The purpose of this study was to understand and examine women’s lived experiences in
technology to identify the factors that contributed to their successful career progression. This
chapter presents findings from in-depth interviews that allowed the participants to share their
experiences as women in IT, specifically by describing their journeys of advancement.
Psrticipants shared the external factors that inhibited or facilitated their advancement to senior
leadership in IT. During the interview process, questions were constructed to solicit a thoughtful
response to the following research questions:
1. What organizational factors influenced the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in
IT?
2. How did mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship influence their career in the IT
industry?
This qualitative study consisted of 17 participants who held senior-level leadership
(director and above) positions in the IT industry. All interviewees self-identified as women;
therefore, the terms woman/women and pronouns she/her will be used to describe the
participants’ experiences. This study focuses on the journey of those who identify as WIT. Table
1 provides an overview of the participants.
The following findings were derived from the data collected during semistructured
interviews as part of the study. Each participant was asked a series of questions to understand
women’s lived experiences in IT and the factors that contributed to their career trajectories. The
interview questions can be found in Appendix A. The data collected were coded, placed into
thematic sections, and analyzed into key findings to address the two research questions.
48

Table 1
Characteristics of Participants
Participant Race/Ethnicity Title Industry
1 White Chief information officer Banking
2 Asian Vice President E-commerce
3 White Vice president E-commerce
4 White Vice president Bio-technology
5 Asian Director Cyber security
6 White Senior director E-commerce
7 White Chief information officer Healthcare
8 White Director Business services
9 White Director Business services
10 White Director Cyber security
11 White Chief technical officer Banking
12 White Vice president Government
13 Black/African American Senior director E-commerce
14 White Chief technology officer Banking
15 Asian Vice president Government
16 White Director Cyber security
17 Hispanic/Latino Vice president Business services

49

Research Question 1: What Organizational Factors Influenced the Beliefs and Behaviors of
Women Leaders in Information Technology?
Research Question 1 sought to determine what factors influenced the beliefs and
behaviors of women leaders in IT. Questions such as
• What practices enabled you to obtain your senior leadership position in the IT
industry?
• What career development opportunities or talent development practices contributed to
your success as a senior leader?
• What challenges or obstacles did you face in reaching the senior leadership position
in IT, and how did you overcome those challenges?
were constructed to gather insightful responses that led to the following key findings. Responses
to the interview questions formed themes that were analyzed for each research question and
compared across participants. In this section, the findings are presented in two subsections: (a)
organizational factors that helped participants reach their current positions in the IT industry and
(b) challenges participants experienced on their ways to their current leadership positions. There
were five organizational factors that influenced the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders as
they navigated their careers in IT. The five organizational factors influencing women’s career
progression are summarized under the sources of support theme.
Sources of Support
All 17 participants identified one or more workplace cultural experience that influenced
their career trajectories. Responses to the question of the organizational factors that influenced
their career trajectory yielded five common themes: (a) supportive leadership, (b) access to
stimulating work, (c) visibility of role models, (d) supportive relationships, and (e) learning
50

opportunities. Statements from the participants detail how each organizational factor influenced
their beliefs and behaviors throughout their career journeys.
Supportive Leadership
The research revealed a common theme of having a supportive manager who contributed
to the advancement of women in IT leadership. In this study, supportive leadership is defined as
a manager who fosters a shared understanding of one’s aspirations, helps drive self-awareness
through coaching and feedback, and provides access to relevant resources to advance one’s
career (Jauhar & Lau, 2018; Walsh et al., 2016). Eleven women leaders stated having a manager
who supported, challenged, and encouraged them throughout their careers contributed to their
advancement in the IT industry. P1 said she worked for the same person for 10 years and
believed he was her biggest champion. She said he was someone who recognized when she was
getting bored and would give her new opportunities. Additionally, P1 described how he coached
her to pursue other opportunities to advance in her career. P1 elaborated,
He ultimately pushed me out of the nest, so to speak, made me network to find other
roles, and said, you need to do something else. I am a blocker for you, and I think you are
better than me. And I’m not going to volunteer to give up my job for you yet.
But I think you should do something else and when I am ready to leave, I will find you.
After working for the same person for 10 years, P1 acknowledged the risk of leaving a
supportive manager to work elsewhere; however, she felt it was a risk worth taking because she
asked her manager, “If it doesn’t work, will you bring me back? And he said, ‘I would fire
someone to bring you back.’” P1 acknowledged how special that relationship was and that he
gave her significant assignments that were challenging but supported her in doing them. P1
elaborated on how her manager would continuously teach her and how other people who worked
51

for him felt like he was a person who invested in the development of others and who was
interested in helping women reach their career goals.
P3 emphasized the importance of articulating her career aspirations and having
development conversations with her boss. She reflected on a conversation she had with her boss,
where she expressed interest in doing more technical work and said he made a phone call, and in
a week, she was transferred to a new office. She stated, “He put me into a very technical
organization that was well respected, which was key to my development.”
P14 recalled a time in her career when her manager helped her discover her strengths and
provided the feedback she needed to build her confidence. P14 said, “He was incredibly
supportive as I was going through a difficult time in my career where I doubted my ability to
lead a team.” She said, “He was the right leader at the right time.”
P9 believed she had several supportive managers throughout her career and highlighted
how her current manager engaged in intentional development practices to elevate her to her
current senior leadership position. P9 said, “I felt like I was stalled in my career, and my boss
believed in me and started giving me critical assignments to showcase my capabilities.” She said
her manager would share her accomplishments with other leaders and said, “She is the biggest
reason I persevered and finally made it to a director position.”
P10 shared how she would purposefully seek out people to work for who believed in her
growth and development. P10 shared, “I am very intentional about whom I work for, they need
to believe in me, and they need to be a supporter of the places that I want to push.” This quote
indicates P10 made career decisions based on her interactions with potential leaders.
Another participant shared her experience of moving into different positions along her
career journey. P7 stated, “Moving into new positions has certainly been a combination of
52

picking where I want to go next and my leaders saying we have a need here and we think you’re
a good fit for the role.” Navigating positions was a combination of the women expressing interest
in a role and managers identifying business needs and highlighting the women’s capabilities to
assume the role. Similarly, to P1’s story of being strongly encouraged to take a new role, P7 said
she was strongly pushed into her executive role. P7 elaborated,
I had another job offer where I would have been an individual contributor. And that was
the one I was going to take. I was pretty vocal about it with my husband and with my new
boss, saying I am going the other route. That is what I want. So, they respectfully allowed
me to make my decision but strongly made the argument of why they felt I was ready for
this role and believed I will succeed.
As P7 reflected on that career decision, she admitted she shied away from the role because of her
limiting beliefs. She ultimately took the executive position and believed she had the support
system to succeed. P15 described her manager as someone who would coach or advocate on her
behalf to help her develop her skills and build her reputation in the industry. She elaborated,
Every time I was in a meeting with him, he would shine a spotlight on me and tell others
how amazing I was. He saw something in me that I did not see in myself. He knew how
to challenge me and give me assignments that aligned with my strengths and interests.
P15 explained how this manager leveraged team members’ strengths and created a dynamic team
of individuals from many different social identities. She said he would look for situations where
he could provide additional opportunities for people who might not otherwise get them. In
addition to engaging in development conversations with their managers, the women shared
examples of how the managers supported the women’s career development by providing open-
and-honest communication.
53

Receiving feedback from supportive leaders was repeatedly described by the participants
as a crucial factor to advancing in the IT industry. P1 recalled a critical moment in her career
when she received feedback from her manager. Even though the feedback was difficult to
receive, she recognized she had a career development decision to make. P1 shared her manager
said she was demonstrating career-limiting behaviors. She was grateful to have a manager who
cared about her and wanted her to be successful. P1 said, “That was a pivotal moment in my
career, where I shifted my mindset to be willing to receive feedback.” P3 shared a similar
sentiment: “I often asked for performance development feedback from my leaders, direct reports,
and peers. I wanted to know what I needed to work on to advance in my career.” P10 recalled an
experience of working for an organization that emphasized the importance of providing timely
feedback to help people develop in their careers. P10 said, “I had a leader that engaged in
frequent feedback conversations. I appreciated the candid feedback, so I always knew what I was
doing well and what I needed to work on.”
P17 reflected on a time when she informed the CIO of her organization of a questionable
business deal. She was concerned about the technical viability of a potential acquisition, did
some additional research, and shared her findings with the CIO. The company followed through
with the acquisition and put P17 in charge of the technical integration to address the issues she
uncovered in her initial investigation. P17’s experience indicates she worked in an environment
where she felt it was safe to express her thoughts. P17 described this behavior as managing up
and believes this technique has served her well in her career. P7 shared the same sentiment and
talked about her experience working in an environment where opposition was respected, and
people did not take it personally. The participants valued open communication in their workplace
54

and felt supportive leaders created a safe space to share their thoughts and receive feedback to
enhance their development.
One participant described a negative experience with a former manager and how that
experience did not help her advance in her career. P3 shared her perception of working for an
unsupportive manager and believes the relationship held her back from advancement
opportunities. She provided narratives of how working in an environment that did not support
her career development. She felt she got to a certain level in the organization and was not being
developed to go any further. During performance conversations, she would outline her skills,
experience, and accomplishments and ask, “Show me where I am different from my peers. What
am I missing? And what do I need to do to be considered for the next level?” P3 expressed her
career aspirations with her manager but year after year did not get the support from him to
develop and advance to a senior-level position. P3 eventually got promoted to VP at that
company but felt her men colleagues moved up the leader ladder faster than her. Even when she
moved into the VP position, she did not feel her senior leaders valued her and eventually decided
to leave the organization. P3 said, “I am now working for a supportive leader who values my
capabilities and has great trust and confidence in me.” P3’s experience indicates the importance
of fostering a supportive relationship with one’s manager.
Supportive management and creating an environment where women feel challenged and
supported are examples of how the participants described how their managers helped their career
development in the IT industry. The supportive leaders in this study recognized what needed to
be altered in the organizational environment for women to thrive. The supportive leaders
engaged in conversations about the women’s career aspirations, provided feedback to help the
women become more self-aware, and exposed them to opportunities to advance in their careers.
55

Most women in the study mentioned having a supportive manager as a significant enabler which
helped the participants develop essential skills, gain confidence in their abilities to take on more
responsibilities and received feedback on what they needed to work on to advance in their
careers. Having supportive leaders in the organization is an important factor that contributed to
women leaders’ career advancement in the IT industry. Besides support by the manager, access
to engaging work was repeatedly described as a crucial factor to advancing to a leadership
position in IT.
Capability-Building Initiatives
Another organizational factor that contributed to the advancement of the participants was
engaging in skill building and gaining access to critical work assignments. Ten women leaders
expressed desires to work on challenging technical and business problems. Awareness of
opportunities enabled participants to stretch themselves and work on critical business
assignments that helped them develop the skills and confidence to advance to senior leadership
positions. P11 said the people in her organization told her about really great problems that
needed to be solved. Knowing about these problems allowed P11 access to the engaging work
she was seeking in her career. She could leverage her capabilities to support the organization in a
meaningful way. P1 shared that early in her career, she worked for someone who believed in her
and gave her good assignments from the very beginning. P4 had a unique experience; she had the
opportunity to work with an industry consortia early in her career. An industry consortia is a
group of two or more individuals, companies, or governments that work together to achieve a
common objective (Sabra et al., 2010). In her situation, she was working in a specific part of the
industry to create operating standards. P4 elaborated,
56

Being part of the industry consortia allowed me to learn and network with other people. I
didn’t see that at the time; I thought it was more collaboration and helping to promote the
industry and helping to position the industry for growth. But in retrospect, looking back,
you know, I think that being part of that group greatly influenced my career path.
P4’s quote indicates the system she was part of provided exposure to industry knowledge and
connected her to influential industry people who advanced her career. P5 shared she had a
significant exposure opportunity when she worked with two technical leaders, stating, “They
actually let me sit in on a lot of conversations with all the tech business leads around the agency,
so I got to hear those conversations, and learn how to connect business problems to technical
solutions.” P17 shared an experience that she felt was significant to her career advancement. P17
elaborated,
I had an opportunity to participate in a strategic reset for the company. It was a 10-person
task force responsible for charting the company’s new strategic plan for the next 5 years.
So that was a huge opportunity. I think being able to interact with the board of directors
of a publicly traded company and engage in intense dialogue about the future of the
organization was definitely a pivotal moment, not just because I learned tremendously,
both from the people that were in that group, but also from, the CEO and the board
members, especially learning how those interactions happen. I learned more in those 6
months than any book or training could teach me.
P17’s quote indicates someone in the organization believed in her strategic capabilities and
allowed her to engage and learn from other transformational leaders. P9 commented on what she
believed enabled her to advance in her career:
Given that you do your job well, go above and beyond, and are always willing to accept
57

stretch assignments helps you get noticed. Always willing to do the task at hand and see
how the work connects to a larger organization initiative. Your work speaks for itself.
That got me noticed and enabled me to thrive in this industry.
P7 shared a similar sentiment and talked about working in an environment where she believed
her talent was recognized and rewarded. She stated, “I think at the end of the day, I got noticed
because I am competent and deliver on successful projects.” Overwhelmingly, the women
described their willingness to work hard and produce good work to advance their careers.
Participants talked about personal examples of how engaging in stretch assignments, solving
business problems, and working on critical projects contributed toward developing their
expertise to take on more responsibilities and advance in their careers. The next factor refers to
benefits that can occur when senior leadership positions are held by more women.
Role Model Visibility
Nine participants in the study mentioned the importance of visibly seeing women role
models in the IT industry to broaden their understanding of navigating their careers. The
participants were asked to describe how they discovered the women role models and how they
influenced their career advancement. P12 said she would seek women who demonstrated some
element of what she wanted out of life. She said, “I want to have a loving family and a career
that excites and challenges me.” She was determined to find a successful, working-mother
technologist. P12 reached out to women technologists who were moms and asked them how they
juggled dual responsibilities. P12 said she observed women leaders in her workplace and
engaged them in conversation to understand their experiences of managing a technical team,
while raising a family. P12 said one of her role models became one of her closest friends and
would often solicit advice and share her struggles as a working mom. P12 said those
58

conversations influenced her self-efficacy to believe she could be a mom and a wife and lead a
successful technical team.
P9 shared a similar sentiment that she would often look for women in senior leadership
positions to hear their stories, which helped her persevere and adopt the strategies she learned
from other successful women leaders to advance in her career. P9 said, “I would watch women
leaders in meetings and make mental notes of how they spoke up and presented themselves.”
P8 commented on how she would look for successful women leaders in the organization
to learn from them to help her develop her leadership skills:
I would observe women leaders I respected and watch how they presented themselves in
meetings or handled difficult situations. I need to speak up more in meetings and be
confident in making decisions, so I would reflect on what they were doing that I could
learn from and then try different things to build my confidence to be an effective leader.
The participants mentioned the importance of seeing women leaders model what a leader needs
to demonstrate to be successful in the IT industry. A combination of silently observing and
listening to success stories helped the women understand how to navigate their careers in the IT
industry.
Supportive Relationships
Participants believed another organizational factor influencing their career advancement
was supportive relationships in the workplace. Colleagues were mentioned as supportive and
vouching for the women’s capabilities, when others doubted their abilities to perform. P5 shared
her perspective on the value of having supportive relationships throughout her career. She stated,
I think the things that really enabled me to get to the level where I am today are the folks
that believed in me, and they were the ones that vouch for my reputation, my worth, my
59

value that I’ve provided in the past, and it is the relationships that I have built over many,
many years. Going from one organization to another, a lot of those opportunities were
enabled through the relationships I had built.
Participants spoke about legitimacy in the workplace, and P5 expressed her frustration
about her technical competencies being questioned by her coworkers. She explained her
experience of relying on a colleague’s support to prove her credibility:
There was a situation where I leveraged a colleague to enable me to do my job. There
was an issue with a system and there was some debate on not being able to fix the system
onsite. I knew exactly what the problem was, I wanted to go and fix it. They all were
conjecturing. Nobody was listening to me. And so, in that case, my friend stepped up and
said, look, she examined the system and knows exactly how to fix the problem. Finally,
they were willing to let me try to fix the system. So, in that situation, having that support
was great. But it made me mad because what I said should have been enough. What is
that saying about my abilities and influence over a team?
P5’s example indicates she needed a man colleague to vouch for her so others could see she is a
capable engineer and can perform her job successfully. She said this situation was frustrating
because she is a competent engineer and should not have to have a man colleague advocate for
her to perform her job. P5 admitted those incidents occurred less and less as she advanced in her
career and established her credibility in the industry. The supportive partner was a colleague,
which demonstrates even though they were peers, the man still held positional power to convince
the leaders to let her fix the technical system, supporting the notion women need people beyond
direct managers to support their career success.
60

P16 recalled similar experiences and talked about having supportive relationships
throughout her career. She said, “I was lucky to have men who would stick up for me, tell me I
didn’t deserve to be treated in a certain way, and coach me to advocate for myself.” P16 shared
situations when men colleagues would tell stakeholders she was the expert in the room and they
should be going to her for information on the project. P14 believed she had men and women
supporters throughout her career. She expressed concern that some environments were more
competitive than supportive and said, “I had to navigate the system to find the right group of
people to surround myself with to be able to advance in my career.” P7 shared the same
sentiment and expressed the importance of building relationships with men and women in the
industry. By building meaningful relationships with colleagues across the organizations, the
participants experienced a sense of belonging and believed leaders and coworkers valued their
contributions and encouraged their input. When leaders and coworkers expressed interest in the
thoughts and opinions of women in IT, they created a safe space for women to contribute to the
discussion. The woman in this study believed fostering personal relationships throughout their
careers was critical to their advancement in the IT industry.
Foster an Environment of Continuous Learning
In addition to supportive relationships, another organizational factor contributing to the
development and advancement of women in IT was an environment where women could
continuously learn and enhance their skills. Nine participants believed their organization
provided a space to ask questions, admit mistakes, share wild ideas, learn from others, and
engage in formal learning activities. P12’s strategy to advance in her career was to continuously
push herself to improve, through formal education by obtaining an advanced degree in
engineering, attending technical workshops, learning about new software and systems on the job,
61

modeling the behavior of others or meeting with people to soak up information, some of which
her organization offered or allowed her the time and financial support to pursue professional
development. P10 shared how she made a career change due to her organization supporting her
curiosity and desire to expand her skill set:
I was in a nontechnical role working with engineers and supporting a government agency.
I would continuously ask questions about the systems and why things work a certain way
and how they can be improved, what did it do, and how can I make it better. I am wildly
curious, and my colleagues graciously would feed my curiosity and engage in teachable
moments to help me understand the systems I was supporting.
P10 believed those conversations allowed her to network with people who knew about technical
topics and knew she was interested in learning about technology. She would then be considered
for projects because the project leads knew she was interested in the technical work and in
expanding her knowledge and skills. The organizational environment allowed P10 to expand her
skillset to make a career shift, leading her to a director position in cyber security.
Interview participants discussed their experiences with organization leaders fostering an
environment of continuous learning. P5 participated in a 4-year technical program designed to
develop her technical skills. P5 said, “The organization training program helped me gain the
skills in cyber security to pivot my career to pursue positions in cyber security.” She felt the
training program was a unique experience that enabled her career advancement. P13 said she was
identified as a high-potential talent throughout her career and believed she was given a lot of
exciting leadership opportunities. She stated, “Investments were made in me and still are made in
me today to help me grow as a leader, to feed the curiosity that I bring to the table, and to allow
me the opportunity to reach my potential.” P14 had a similar experience and said, “I was selected
62

for an executive development program at my organization that brought in phenomenal thought
leaders and I gained exposure to the C-suite leaders.” P14 went on to say, “I am not quite sure
how I was selected, maybe because I shared my career aspirations or someone thought I was
high-potential.” P14’s quote indicates her organization has practices in place to offer
development opportunities but may not have a transparent process for aspiring leaders to know
how to access the opportunities.
P6 contributed to her career success by continuously improving and could develop
through on-the-job training and formal education programs. P6 took advantage of training
opportunities sponsored by her organization:
I think whether it’s conducting research or attending training, I took advantage of training
opportunities at my organization, whatever it was that they were offering, I would engage
in the learning opportunity. I think conferences are important because you see other
customers’ trends when you talk to people. I hate to say this, but I am really glad that I
have my education, but I don’t think my education is what made me successful. I think
learning on the job, learning from others, and attending conferences and technical
training has helped me be successful.
P16 was fortunate to work with a software engineering manager who took the time to
teach her about the operating systems in the organization. She said, “I approach my work
environment like an anthropologist, eager to learn and connect with people.” P16 believed
people like talking about themselves and attributes her success to observing others perform
complex work and engaging in on the job training activities.
Overall, 15 participants attributed their career success to embracing a learning mindset
and working in organizations that invest in their development and foster an environment of
63

continuous learning. The participants mentioned learning examples consisting of a combination
of interpersonal and technical training contributed toward developing their knowledge, skills,
and expertise to help them stay relevant as they took on more responsibilities. Gaining exposure
to learning experiences was a mixture of inquiring about learning and opportunities presented by
leaders, peers, and HR or learning and development professionals.
The participants’ insights demonstrate that varying sources of support enabled them to
successfully navigate the IT industry to achieve their current leadership position. Access to
supportive leaders and colleagues, engaging work, visibly seeing women role models, and
learning opportunities enabled the participants to develop and advance in their careers. The study
further discovered the challenges the women needed to overcome to advance in their careers.
Overcoming Challenges
After reflecting on the supportive organizational factors that, from the interviewees’
perspectives, had enabled them to reach senior leadership positions in IT, the interviewees shared
the challenges they had to overcome. These organizational factors are relevant to working in the
IT industry and the process of reaching a senior leadership position. The participants were asked,
“What challenges or obstacles did you face in reaching the senior leadership position in IT, and
how did you overcome those challenges?” The participants’ answers revealed two themes that
concern them: (a) work-life balance, (b) lack of access to informal networks in a man-dominated
environment. These challenges are discussed further in the following subsections. If
organizations hope to see more women in senior leadership positions in the IT industry, they
need to be aware of these challenges.
64

Work-Life Balance
The research revealed a common theme of women in IT managing long work hours,
unpredictable travel, availability to handle critical incidents, and family responsibilities. The
respondents were asked to elaborate on how they overcame work-life challenges to achieve their
leadership positions. More than half of the interviewees claimed their organizations provided
flexibility at various career stages, which helped them manage the demands of work and family.
Leaders who actively promoted workplace flexibility were perceived to positively influence
workplace practices in the IT culture. Interviewees discussed their experiences with employers
when navigating workplace flexibility. Some women worked for leaders who provided
accommodations at different career stages. Other women made personal choices to take less
demanding roles to achieve work-life balance. P13 shared her perspective on choosing the proper
position and the right leader to support her needs of being a mother of two and striving to
achieve a senior leadership role:
I am a single mom of a 2 year old and a 3 year old. I am not where I can work 12 or 14
hours a day like I used to. I chose this opportunity because I knew my boss and I were
former peers, and I trusted him. I also chose machine learning in that particular role
because nobody would call me at 2:00 am because a critical transaction did not go
through or a system was down. … I needed a role that did not require extensive travel.
All of those factors helped me decide to leave my former organization to take this
opportunity. Taking roles that do not require extensive travel, relocating, and being on
call for critical incidents will become key inputs into my decision-making until the kids
are a little older, where they understand.
65

P2 shared similar sentiments and talked about the challenges she faced with starting a family and
its impact on her career. She said she was laid off the day before she was set to go on maternity
leave with her first child. She eventually found a new job and was laid off again, 3 months after
her second child was born. She said that when her kids were between the ages of one and eight,
she felt she had to pause her career growth. She never voluntarily left the workforce but chose
roles that did not require travel and, ideally, to work remotely. P2 said, “The most demanding
challenge was managing dual responsibilities and being good at both.” P2 continued to share the
sacrifices she made in her career to achieve work-life balance. P2 claimed, “I believe I should
have risen in my career faster but starting a family impacted my ability to travel, relocate and
sustain the long work hours.” P2’s examples indicate she needed to make sacrifices in her career
to achieve work-life balance. Thirteen participants with dual responsibilities expressed the
difficulties of taking care of children and dealing with the job’s relentless demands.
P8 recalled a time where she struggled to balance the demands of work and raising a
family:
I don’t think I was necessarily treated differently because I was a mom, but I do believe I
was looked at differently because I couldn’t stay for a 5 o’clock meeting or travel
because of my family obligations. I felt the guilt of not being able to do it all.
Most women expressed the need for organizational and leadership support to manage the
demands at work and home. P1 said she worked for a manager who let her work part-time when
she was experiencing challenges with her kids during their adolescent years. She elaborated, “If I
had not been given the opportunity for flexibility in my job at times, I would not have made it in
this career.” She expressed the importance of asking for what you need and working for people
willing to provide flexibility when she needed it the most. P1’s quote indicates she worked in a
66

supportive environment where she felt it was safe to express her work-life needs. Her manager
supported her by working 30 hours a week and did not take away her management position,
which she thought was fantastic. She said he narrowed her scope a little, which allowed her to
stay on the path to a senior leadership position. P1 became CTO and contributed some of her
success to the leader, who provided workplace flexibility. While the interview participants
shared diverse perspectives relating to their work-life experiences, each participant’s experience
demonstrates that the combination of personal choice and system support influenced their career
advancement. Some participants shared that their organization provided autonomy over how they
accomplished their jobs. One participant pointed out that she was given workplace flexibility
without giving up her manager position. Participants believed that workplace flexibility was a
critical factor enabling them to control how they accomplish their jobs at different stages of their
careers.
Lack of Access to Informal Networks in a Man-Dominated Environment
Fourteen participants stated the inability to participate in informal networks was a
challenge that impacted their career advancement. P15 stated, “Usually, women are not invited to
events that cater to the male gender, such as golf or baseball spring training." P15 felt her
organization “was a little bit of a boy’s network.” She said, “They would plan trips to Florida to
attend spring training and play golf.” She believed the environment was less collegial, and the
women were not invited to those events because they did not have the same interest. She said,
“That part is harder to break through because a stronger male environment is present.”
P17 recalled a similar experience and said, “Everyone was so nice to me, and I was
growing in my role. I was getting promoted, but I did not realize there were so many informal
events I was not being invited to.” She added,
67

It is disheartening when it is a beautiful Friday afternoon, and you cannot find anyone,
and then you happen to look at the calendar, and it has some weirdly named meeting like
strategic planning. And you know all four senior leaders are in some strategic planning
meeting at the golf course. At times, I would call them on it and say, what is this strategy
meeting on Friday? And they would say, oh, do not be upset. We are just playing golf,
and we know you do not like to play golf.
P17 noted the social exclusion incidents were not isolated events. She said, “It has happened in
every place that I have been a leader for the last 20 years.” Not having access to informal
networks was a difficult challenge the women leaders faced along their career journey in the IT
industry.
Working in a man-dominated environment was another common theme identified by the
participants about the difficulties faced in advancing their careers in the IT industry. Ten
participants stated they were often the only woman or one of few women in a workgroup. P13
said, “I am often the only woman and woman of color at the table.” P2 shared an observation she
made early in her career. She was one of two engineers on her software engineering team, and all
the managers on that team were men. She noticed there were more women on the product
management and project management teams. At that stage of her career, she decided to move
over to the product management team because she felt there was more willingness to mentor and
develop women on that team. At the time of the interview, she was a VP of product management
and had several engineers in her reporting structure. P2’s career move to a product management
team highlights decisions women make in their careers to seek an environment where they see
other women and observe supportive workplace behaviors.
68

Another difficulty frequently mentioned by the interviewees was working in an
environment that they felt was unequitable. Working in an equitable environment means women
experience fairness and have equitable access to education, resources, and other societal benefits
(Bopaiah, 2021). P10 shared her perspective of working in a man-dominated environment where
she believed she was looked over for a promotion:
There was a position that I applied for internally, and I was far more qualified than a male
colleague who got the job. This person was part of what I will call the old boys club.
They all grew up together and came up through the ranks. I would say that it is still a
challenge that the c-suite leaders are all men. So, I don’t feel 100% supported here
because it is so male centric.
P5 shared a similar sentiment of not experiencing fairness in her work environment:
Even though I was at a senior level, as a woman, as a minority, I was on a team of 12
other guys, like, my strengths are different from their strengths. My strengths are
probably less valued than their strengths. So, I think I fell towards the bottom when it
came to compensation, time, ranking, and other benefits. And that is when I knew I had
to go find something else because I was like, I did not think I could continue competing
in their space.
Participants described how they felt working in a man-dominated environment and believed they
needed to assimilate and adapt their behavior to navigate their careers in IT. P11 recalled when
she left an organization because she did not feel it was an inclusive environment:
My biggest challenge was working in a place where I couldn’t be myself and where I was
really candidly told not to be myself. It was exhausting to work in that environment. I
didn’t realize the mental exhaustion until I finally left that organization and went to work
69

for an organization that valued me for who I am. I got a lot of mindshare back by not
having to worry about masking who I am every day. I also believe organizations are not
actually walking the walk; they are interested in creating an environment where women
can thrive, but they are not actively changing the workplace environment. They put a
bunch of money behind a campaign but are not moving the needle.
Two other women revealed how they assimilated into the workplace and would adapt their
behaviors to not call attention to themselves. P13 described herself as very passionate and how
her passion would be misconstrued as anger. She said she has adapted her style to fit into the
company culture. P16 said she was fortunate to work with another woman colleague who had
been in the department for several years. Her advice was never to wear a skirt, not wear too
much makeup, or do anything that would make your colleagues think you are vulnerable. P16
said she wears her hair in a bun and no makeup, as to not to bring attention to her women’s traits.
Unfortunately, she said people had told her to put her deliverables in pink, so they knew which
ones were hers. P16 added, “Those are the statements that annoyed me.”
As P16 reflected on the different workplace environments that influenced her career
decisions, she highlighted that her current employer actively recognizes the contributions of
women in tech. P16 shared,
My company just did a feature on LinkedIn recognizing different women in technology
across the organization. The organization publicly recognized the accomplishments of
different women. I feel like I landed in an organization that values diversity and will
actually amplify the accomplishments of women in the workplace. I really like that. I
now look at organizations differently to see how they amplify the voices of women and
other marginalized groups.
70

P16’s quote indicates she found an organization that values inclusion and implements practices
that demonstrate the organization is creating an inclusive environment.
P4 shared her experience working with the industry consortia and how that experience
helped her expand her network. She said, “Being part of the industry consortia allowed me to
network with influential people in the industry, which resulted in future career opportunities.”
Similar to P4, P14 engaged other networking groups, and those experiences connected her to
people that helped her advance in her career. P14 recalled,
I jumped feet first into the women in tech business resource group, where I got to know
our female CTO. I feel like the WIT group created exposure opportunities to influential
leaders in the organization which helped me navigate my career.
Working in a man-dominated environment is a difficult challenge that women leaders face in
their careers in the IT industry. Some women shared their organization provided a platform for
networking, which helped them in their career advancement. Even though some women were
excluded from informal social events, they overcame this challenge by participating in other
networking groups in the organization and gaining access to influential leaders who could
elevate their careers.
Summary of Findings for Research Question 1
Research Question 1 focused on how WIT leaders perceive the organizational factors that
influenced their beliefs and behaviors as they navigate their careers in the IT industry. The
findings unearthed organizational factors that hindered or enabled their career advancement
experiences. The findings for RQ1 suggest supportive leaders recognize what needs to be altered
in the organizational system for women to thrive. The women leaders in this study revealed how
important it was for their advancement to have supportive, encouraging managers who had
71

confidence in their abilities and supported them with challenging roles. Supportive leaders
engage in career development conversations, provide feedback to help WIT become more self-
aware of their strengths and opportunities, and connect WIT to resources and opportunities to
advance in their careers. Most women mentioned access to critical assignments as a significant
enabler their employers offered, which helped them prove their ability and accelerate into
leadership positions. Additionally, most participants highlighted how they believed their
advancement to leadership positions was enabled by their employers, creating an environment
where they felt comfortable learning from others or engaging in professional development
initiatives.
Unpacking each finding for RQ1 revealed organizational factors that either inhibited or
facilitated the advancement of women in IT leadership. A deeper analysis of the findings
revealed organizational barriers continue to exist for women in IT. The most often cited barriers
by the participants included work-life balance and lack of access to informal networks in a man-
dominated environment. While barriers to career advancement continue to exist, the women in
the study thought they could navigate the organizational environment to overcome the obstacles
and thrive in the IT industry.
Research Question 2: How Did Mentorship, Sponsorship, and Allyship Influence Their
Career in the IT Industry?
The second research question sought to explore the perceptions of WIT leadership as they
experienced mentorship, sponsorship, or allyship throughout their careers. Questions included
• Who were the people who were particularly helpful in your professional development
and advancement?
• In what ways did that relationship influence where you are today?
72

Additional questions were constructed to gather insightful responses to understand how
mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship influenced their career in the IT industry. Participants
were asked to elaborate on a mentor’s role in developing the skills necessary for advancing in
their careers. They were asked to reflect on how a sponsor influenced their career opportunities
in the IT industry and how they experienced allyship in their career journey. Responses to the
interview questions were analyzed to understand how the participants experienced each
supportive relationship.
Women Leaders Who Engage in Supportive Relationships Can Better Navigate Their
Career in the IT Industry
Interview participants provided insight about support and its influence on their ability to
advance in the IT industry. All participants recognized the need for supportive relationships such
as mentors, sponsors, and allies to help or facilitate advancement in the IT industry. For this
study, a mentor is defined as someone who relates well to a less-experienced employee and
facilitates their professional development by providing advice and sharing knowledge with the
desired outcome to develop the mentee in their given field (Ayyala et al., 2019; Hewlett et al.,
2014). A sponsor is an experienced senior person who actively advocates for the advancement of
someone, often by providing exposure and engagement with senior leaders (Cummings et al.,
2011; Griffeth et al., 2021). A sponsor can speak to the person’s work performance and is willing
to advocate for their advancement and growth (Cummings et al., 2011; Griffeth et al., 2021). The
desired outcome for a sponsor relationship is to stand up for someone on their behalf, promote
the person for promising opportunities, and provide access to information, resources, and people
in power. An ally is someone aware of aspects of their identities and holds more power and
influence than aspects of others’ identities. An ally uses their advantaged position to advocate for
73

people in less advantaged positions. The interview data provided a deeper understanding of how
women describe their various support relationships throughout their careers. Table 4 categorizes
the 17 participants’ understanding of how mentors, sponsors, or allies played a role in their
career advancement.
The participants believed women technology leaders needed to find a supportive working
environment where their bosses, other leaders and colleagues were their mentors, sponsors, and
allies, supporting their professional development. The participants were asked to elaborate on the
support system they encountered throughout their career journeys and how those relationships
influenced their career development. In addition, the participants were asked how those
relationships showed up for them and whether they saw them as a mentor, sponsor, or ally. The
study found supportive relationships were essential for the interviewees to reach their leadership
positions. The following subsections describe how mentors, sponsors, and allies influenced the
interviewees’ career advancement in the IT industry.
Mentors
Fifteen of the 17 participants stated they had at least one mentor who supported them
during their technology careers. When the participants described the relationships that influenced
their career development, they often used the term mentor to describe the supportive relationship.
The participants were asked to elaborate on the mentor’s behaviors that supported them at
different career stages. As noted in Table 2, the participants believed mentoring serves the WIT
leader’s professional development by providing advice, listening, teaching or sharing knowledge,
and providing feedback to support their professional development.

74

Table 2
Participants’ Experiences of Having a Mentor, Sponsors, or Ally
Mentor Sponsor Ally
P1 I had lots of mentors. To
me, they were, what I
needed at the time, or
what I needed for a
specific opportunity.
Someone to help develop
the skills that I didn’t
necessarily have.
I worked for two CIOs
that gave me great
assignments and kept me
informed of career
opportunities or moved
me into new positions.
I worked for an amazing
woman who would point
out the things that women
had accomplished, or
when they were being
spoken over, she would
redirect the conversation
to highlight the point the
woman made to make sure
her voice was heard.
P2 My former CTO had a big
influence on my career.
He understood my
capabilities and what I
brought to the table and
would advocate for me.
I had a peer who was a
colleague at my last job,
and she saw how I was
being treated by my boss
and would often speak up
for me; she had a big
influence in my life.
P3 I have had several mentors
throughout my career and
feel they were people I
could turn to for advice,
get honest feedback, or
learn something new.

P4

This guy, he actually went
into the CEOs office, and
he threw down something
that was a design
document that I had
written and said, just look
at this, this is the kind of
work that the company
needs to be doing, for our
products, and he just
totally advocated for me

P5 I would meet with
different mentors
depending on what I
needed to develop in my
career.

My boss knew I wanted to
move into a more
technical role, and he
made a few calls, and just
like that, I got a new
assignment.
On multiple occasions, I
have had allies who were
more my friends who
vouch for my technical
capabilities.
75

Mentor Sponsor Ally
P6 I turned to a mentor to
bounce ideas off of. My
mentors are great thought
partners

Sometimes I would feel
like an outsider because I
am the only woman in a
place surrounded by men.
Occasionally, a peer
would make sure my voice
was heard.
P7 Mentors guide me on how
to act in my current role.
They share their
experience to influence
my development.
This person positioned my
role as important to the
organization, which made
it easier to gain buy-in
from critical stakeholders.

I would occasionally have
people stick up for me.
For example, I would be
in a meeting trying to
make a point and other
people would support my
position.
P8 I was matched with a
mentor as part of a formal
leadership program. They
shared their success story
with me and allowed me
to ask them questions
about their career journey.
One of my male leaders
was a sponsor for me. He
was my biggest
cheerleader and would
often tell people about my
capabilities and tell me I
was going to be the CIO
one day.

P9 I would say my two first
bosses were such great
mentors, and to this day, I
recall the things they
taught me and pass the
knowledge onto the
people I manage and
mentor.
She definitely was a
sponsor for me and
wanted to give me the
visibility and the
opportunity to take on
more responsibility and
eventually moved me up
to a director.

P10 One of my mentors would
guide me on the types of
roles I should pursue to
advance in my career. I
would leverage the
mentorship to talk about
should I do it, I always
had three or four mentors,
and I still have them to
this day to talk about
career moves.

76

Mentor Sponsor Ally
P11 He remains a mentor to
me today; before I take
any role, I run it by him.
He asks the questions of
me, Is this really what I
want to be doing is, you
know, do you want to
work for that company,
and hold me true to the
intent of my the brand that
I have in my head, helping
me to kind of evolve?
What does that brand look
like as I grow through my
career? He was an
incredible find on my
journey.
I have had people use their
place of privilege to open
doors for me.
P12 He gave me unique, high
visibility projects that
enabled me to move into
higher-level positions in
the government.

P13 I keep a group of a
personal board of directors
that I consider my
mentors. They give me
feedback and coach me
through difficult situations
One of my leaders took
me under her wing and
gave me responsibilities
that would accelerate my
career. She also asked me
what I wanted to do and
created the connections
for me to pursue
opportunities in the
company. She treated me
like a free agent and said
choose where you want to
go.
I attracted some very
powerful people that paid
attention to me, and would
pound the table when I
wasn’t in the room.

P14 I have had mentors share
their career experiences,
give me great advice and
coach me to overcome
roadblocks.
I felt like I was hitting the
ceiling in my career; and
out of the blue, a former
manager calls me to tell
me about an opportunity at
his new company. I was
grateful for the call and
glad he opened a new door
for me.

77

Mentor Sponsor Ally
P15 It tended to be like, as
things came up or I faced
certain challenges, I
wanted to bounce a
situation off somebody. I
would reach out to my
mentor to say, Hey, have
you dealt with this kind of
situation before? Can you
walk me through how you
might think about it? Or
can you walk me through
some options that I might
need help with? It was
like, you know, very
intermittent, but also
regular enough, over the
years.
They went to my boss to
tell him how I was treated.
They were not necessarily
my friends. They were
other colleagues in the
meeting. And I was like,
wow, that is just super
powerful that. They were
willing to go to bat for me.
And so that is how I see
that the ally ship is being
able to stand up for
somebody else when you
might not even realize that
it needs to be done.

P16 I do believe that anchoring
myself at the right level
with the right sponsor has
been the only way that
I’ve been able to get
through obstacles.

P17 It was just about, you
know, having people that I
trusted to bounce off ideas
about what I want to do
next and what I am
interested in doing next. It
is always nice to have
someone you trust as a
sounding board.
I had an opportunity to
participate in a strategic
reset, and someone tossed
my name out there to
grant me that
opportunity.” I am not
sure who picked me, but
somebody noticed me.

P13 described her mentor’s help in making a pivotal career decision. Her mentor
encouraged her to leave her job to pursue a position in a smaller, more innovative organization.
The mentor told her, “The career move will transform my career, and it will be a valuable
investment in my development.” P13 said, “My mentor was exactly right. It was the best thing I
78

did in my career.” P13 said that career move positioned her for her current role as a senior
director in a much larger organization.
Other participants described their mentor relationship as an ongoing relationship where
mentors would check in with them monthly to see how they were doing. P15 described her
experience of organically connecting with a long-term mentor:
I have found that in terms of mentoring, The mentors that I have been assigned or
mentees that I get assigned to, there is not that kind of chemistry in the relationship. And
because there is not that chemistry, then there is less benefit on both sides. The mentoring
really needs to be a much more organic relationship. The mentor relationships that
evolved organically for me started as connecting with people who I admired or expressed
interest in their expertise. I would reach out to those folks when I wanted to bounce a
situation off of somebody, like my mentor. I would ask, have you dealt with this kind of
situation before? Can you walk me through how you might think about it? Or can you
walk me through some options that I can consider? And so it was very intermittent, but
also regular enough, throughout the years.
P15 said she had kept in touch with one mentor for about 15 years. She believed the mentor
relationship has evolved into a friendship. The mentor checks in with her periodically to see how
she is doing, asks her about her current challenges and how she is feeling about the work. P15
believes her mentor really cares about her and wants to see her succeed.
Interviews revealed the importance of having access to mentors throughout the WIT
leader’s career. P13 stated, “A mentor gives you real feedback and coaches you through
adversity. I keep a group of a personal board of directors that I consider my mentors.” P10
shared a similar sentiment, “One of my mentors would guide me on the types of roles I should
79

pursue to advance in my career. … I always had three or four mentors, and I still have them to
talk about career moves.” Participants described the advice, knowledge, and feedback they
received as valuable in managing their careers. The term mentor was used often to describe a
supportive relationship. The mentors were identified as either a supportive boss, peer, leader in
or outside the organization. Most mentor relationships evolved organically or through a mutual
connection. Four participants said they connected with a mentor through a formal mentor
program. Having mentors throughout their careers was a critical factor that enabled the
participants to develop in their careers in the IT industry.
Sponsor
The participants described their experiences engaging in different types of relationships
to advance their careers. Only a few women used the term sponsor when describing a supportive
relationship. P16 shared, “I do believe that anchoring myself at the right level with the right
sponsor has been the only way that I have been able to get through obstacles and advance in my
career.” Even though the participants did not use the term sponsor, the results of the data analysis
found that managers and other senior leaders engaged in sponsor-like behaviors to support the
advancement of the participants in their career journey. The sponsor-like behaviors included
advocating, generating opportunities, amplifying the voice of others, negotiating on their behalf,
and making influential connections. P6 remembered how an executive leader influenced her
career development:
The CIO had an incredible influence on my career, and he gave me visibility into things
that I would not have had visibility into. He included me in things. He took me under his
wing, and he saw something in me, that was beyond the work that I was producing, he
started bringing me into conversations about other technical projects. He would call me
80

out in meetings and ask me to share my thoughts on things. So, I think having that person
in a similar role to what you want, willing to expose you to circumstances that you may
not have visibility into, is just so critical.
This situation demonstrates an example of how a senior leader with positional power provides
visibility and access to opportunities. P7 emphasized the importance of having advocates and
believed she had several throughout her career. P7 described how a leader continued to endorse
her capabilities and connect her with critical stakeholders across the organization:
When I moved into one of the roles that leadership wanted me to take, my manager was
my biggest advocate. He gave me the lay of the land; here’s the org chart, and here are
the people you need to connect with early on. I will introduce you. So, he positioned me
to feel comfortable navigating the organization and endorsed my role with other
leadership teams. He positioned my role as important to the organization.
These examples indicate sponsorship comes in different forms, and a sponsor can be a manager,
senior leader, or mentor with positional power. P1 highlighted the importance of organizations
embracing sponsorship to support the development of women:
Early in my career, I worked for an organization that had a very supportive culture where
you were encouraged to help people, it was a culture where all boats rise when you help
others. And so, whether it was helping somebody with their coding or leadership
challenge, people were encouraged to support one another. I benefited in that
environment and believed my manager intentionally exposed me to great opportunities.
Mentors can act as sponsors by reviewing opportunities and offering high-profile assignments to
mentees. The key difference between a mentor and sponsor is a sponsor is in a position of power
to advocate for the career advancement of the mentee.
81

Ally
Participants did not explicitly use the term ally when describing the behaviors of an ally.
The participants spoke about having workplace advocates who would vouch for their credentials,
create equitable practices, and act in support of them during challenging situations. Allies can
form different support relationships, such as peers, colleagues, bosses, or senior leaders.
Participants were asked to describe an example of how allyship has played a role for them or
how they experienced allyship in their career. P15 recalled an experience when she was standing
in for her boss during a stakeholder meeting:
There was a situation where my boss was gone, and I was acting for him during a
meeting. Another senior leader in the meeting started grilling me on certain things and
telling me we could not move forward with certain deliverables. He even told me I could
not ask people from his team to work on my cross-collaborative projects. I accepted the
situation and shrugged it off. Then, later on other people in the meeting came up to me
and said he did not talk to you the same way he would have talked to your boss. I was
like, well, I am a different person. I also found out, other people in the meeting went to
my boss when he returned and told him how this other leader treated me. And so that is
allyship. Seeing a situation unfurling and they are not the ones affected by it, they are
then using their voice to stand up for me or for the situation.
P13 remembered how her sponsor crafted a plan to create a more equitable pay practice. P13’s
manager inadvertently left a salary spreadsheet on the printer, revealing some pay inequities. P13
went to her mentor, whom she also referred to as her sponsor, to tell her about the salary
spreadsheet. P13’s sponsor said, “Listen, you do not want to ruffle any feathers. I will go to the
vice president of human resources to let her know what is happening.” The VP of HR developed
82

a pay equity index and said they were spot-checking for salary parity across various departments.
P13 said, “My team happened to be the first department to get checked, and the pay inequity was
rectified.” This situation demonstrates how allies, who can also be mentors or sponsors, can
remove barriers, so women in tech can experience equitable outcomes.
P5 shared several examples of men colleagues who vouched for her credentials as an
engineer so others could acknowledge her contribution and technical expertise. The men
colleagues acted as allies and spoke up on behalf of P5 because they perceived bias in the
workplace. P5 described the men as team members who made her feel respected and valued by
advocating and speaking up on her behalf. P1 believes allyship and sponsorship run parallel to
one another, with the distinction being that the support relationship makes a difference relative to
the person’s underrepresented status. Mentors and sponsors can act as allies by using their
advantaged position to advocate for women in less advantaged positions. The difference between
mentorship and allyship is that mentorship is often initiated by the mentee seeking guidance or
knowledge. Allyship is initiated by the person in the advantaged position.
Summary of Findings for Research Question 2
Research Question 2 focused on how WIT leadership perceived the roles of mentor,
sponsor, and ally and how each role influenced their career in the IT industry. The findings
presented for RQ2 suggested that supportive relationships facilitated development conversations
and influenced the participant’s advancement in the IT industry. The participants believed
engaging in supportive relationships was critical to career development and advancement and
took different forms at different career stages. In some cases, participants described the
supportive relationship as someone who acts as a mentor, sponsor, and ally and knows how to
leverage each role to support the career development of women in IT.
83

Summary
This chapter provided an overview of the findings that supported the two research
questions for this study. The purpose of the qualitative study was to gain insight into the
organizational factors and support relationships that helped or hindered the advancement of
women in IT leadership. The participants’ narratives highlighted the WIT leaders’ experiences
that shaped their self-concept to navigate their careers in the IT industry successfully.
Overcoming challenges such as work-life balance, informal networks, and working in a man-
dominated environment can impact a woman’s self-concept, which forms one’s sense of self-
efficacy; however, social support from role models, mentors, and peer relationships can preserve
and enhance a woman’s self-concept.
The findings revealed participants leveraged various sources of social support to
overcome challenges and advance their careers. The research also revealed different types of
supportive relationships the women engaged in at different career stages to reach their current
leadership position. A summary of themes and subthemes for the two research questions can be
seen on Table 3.

84

Table 3
Summary Table of Research Questions, Findings (Themes) and Subthemes
Research Questions Themes Subthemes
RQ1: What organizational
factors influenced the
beliefs and behaviors of
female leaders in IT?

1. Sources of support

2. Overcoming challenges

1.1 Supportive leadership
1.2 Access to stimulating
work
1.3 Role model visibility
1.4 Success partners
1.5 Learning opportunities

2.1 Work-life balance
2.2 Informal networks
2.3 Male-dominated
environment
RQ2: How did
mentorship,
sponsorship, and
allyship influence their
career in the IT
industry?
3. Women leaders who
engage in supportive
relationships can better
navigate their Careers in
the IT industry.

85

Chapter Five: Recommendations
This study aimed to examine the organizational factors influencing the beliefs and
behaviors of women leaders in the IT industry and how they leveraged supportive relationships
to obtain their leadership positions. This study draws from the workplace experiences and
insights of women leaders who have successfully advanced to senior leadership positions. The
study focused on organizational factors that are enablers or barriers to the advancement of
women to leadership positions from the perspective of women leaders in IT. This study used
Bandura’s SCT to understand the participants’ individual experiences and organizational factors
influencing the behaviors of IT women leaders throughout their career journey. The following
research questions guided the study.
1. What organizational factors influenced the beliefs and behaviors of women leaders in
IT?
2. How did mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship influence their career in the IT
industry?
This chapter discusses recommendations to support the findings identified in Chapter 4. The
following recommendations are rooted in scholarly literature and are centered on the theoretical
framework for this study. This chapter includes a discussion of the findings, recommendations
for practice, limitations and delimitations, recommendations for future research, and the study’s
conclusion.
Discussion of Findings
This section discusses findings from the research questions derived from the thoughtful
responses from each participant. Bandura’s SCT guided the findings and themes of the two
86

research questions. Overall, each finding directly supported the literature review and aligned
with Bandura’s (1989) SCT. Based on the findings, SCT influences women’s career
advancement in the IT industry. SCT was applied to understand the participants’ individual
experiences and the organizational factors influencing the behaviors of the women leaders.
According to SCT, people learn new behaviors through behavioral modeling, observation, and
participation (Wingreen & Blanton, 2007). Through the influence of self-efficacy, SCT regulates
behavior, effort, and persistence over extended periods (Bandura, 1997). The mechanism through
which behaviors are acquired and maintained over time is through modeling others, where
individuals learn new skills through experience and vicarious participant observation (Wood &
Bandura, 1989).
Through SCT, this study found the belief that organizational factors influenced the
behaviors of women to succeed in the IT industry. Two aspects of SCT are especially relevant to
this study:
• The women’s cognitive, social, and behavioral competencies are developed through
modeling others.
• Cultivating women’s beliefs in their capabilities helps them use their talents
effectively to advance their careers (Bandura, 1988).
In this study, the organizational factors influence the women leaders’ thinking, which impacts
their behavior affecting their environment. Women in the IT industry have the most success in
advancing their careers when they identify sources of support in the workplace, develop
productive working relationships, and overcome gender bias. Table 4 summarizes the study
findings and links to the theoretical framework.
87

Table 4
Overview of Discussion of Themes and Links to Theoretical Framework
Research Questions Themes Link to theoretical framework
RQ1: What organizational
factors influenced the
beliefs and behaviors of
female leaders in IT?

1. Sources of support

2. Overcoming
challenges

SCT proposed that environmental
(e.g., supportive leader, role
models), personal factors (e.g.,
female, leader, engineer), and
behavioral influences (e.g.,
performance at work, work
ethic) interact with each other
reciprocally over time.

Self-efficacy regulates behavior,
effort, and persistence over
extended periods.

RQ2: How did
mentorship,
sponsorship, and
allyship influence their
career in the IT
industry?
3. Women leaders
who engage in
supportive
relationships can
better navigate their
careers in the IT
industry.
The social systems that surround
the participants affected their
perceived value of workplace
relationships and their influence
on their career advancement.

Sources of Support
The first finding revealed all participants experienced some form of support throughout
their career trajectories. Participants mentioned several sources of social support as helpful
throughout their careers. From the five sources of support findings in the study, four were found
that directly supported the literature review. Supportive leaders, role models, and learning
opportunities will be discussed in this section. Supportive relationships will be discussed in the
RQ2 section.
88

Supportive Leaders
Similar to other studies (e.g., Appelbaum et al., 2011; Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018), a
vital role mentioned by participants was the manager, whose support was described in different
ways. Most interviewees described their manager’s faith in their abilities, some stressed their
manager’s desire to expose them to critical assignments, and some viewed their manager as a
mentor and advocate. Cimirotic et al. (2017) examined the enabling factors contributing to the
advancement of women in leadership positions. The study found leadership support was highly
stressed by the participants, which indicates the importance of a supportive manager for some
women to advance in their careers. Holzblatt and Marsden (2018) affirmed one critical factor
that characterized the ascent to senior leadership in IT was being encouraged by trusted
managers to take on new opportunities while supporting them along the way.
Appelbaum et al. (2011) found 78% of women respondents believed they received
constructive feedback from their manager through timely developmental conversations. The
findings in the literature are consistent with the interviewees’ insights. Several interviewees
found that their manager influenced their belief in their capabilities to advance to a senior
leadership position in IT.
Role Models
The participants reported having had role models as they pursued their current leadership
positions. Conversely, Wentling and Thomas (2009) found female role models and mentors were
challenging to find in IT because more men work in the industry than women do. Holtzblatt and
Marsden (2018) examined female role models as an enabling factor for women to advance and
found that women described the need for female role models to influence their work experience
89

and their belief in succeeding in a male-dominated industry. Walsh et al. (2016) highlighted the
benefits that can accrue when women are visible in senior leadership positions. Respondents
commented greater representation of women in senior leadership positions enables low-level
professionals to understand what a successful career path looks like and model their career paths
similarly (Walsh et al., 2016). Bandura (1989) postulated people assess their capabilities
compared to others. Women seeing other women succeed through sustained effort raises their
belief in their capabilities to succeed in that environment.
Continuous Learning Opportunities
The participants leveraged learning opportunities to advance their skills and develop their
careers. Kohl and Prikladnicki (2021) asserted women in IT need access to professional
development opportunities, such as training and high-profile assignments, to advance in their
careers. The participants in this study shared their appreciation for learning opportunities in their
respective organizations. They reported having positive interactions and support from their
colleagues and managers, fostering an environment of continuous learning. Several participants
attribute their success to observing others performing complex work and engaging in teachable
moments. As highlighted in the literature, people learn new competencies through modeling
others and vicarious participant observation, all constructs of SCT (Wood & Bandura, 1989).
Overcoming Challenges
Self-efficacy regulates behavior, effort, and persistence over extended periods (Wood &
Bandura, 1989). Additionally, self-efficacy is the belief that one can succeed even in facing
challenges and how one responds in a particular situation. The participants identified two
90

common challenges they encountered throughout their careers work-life balance and lack of
access to informal networks in a man-dominated environment.
Work-Life Balance
The findings in the literature are consistent with the interviewees’ insights. The study
results show work-life balance and working hours, in particular, pose difficulties for women
leaders in the IT industry. Although most women in this study stated that they had flexible work
schedules, the majority reported that the demands of the job often required being on call to
manage critical incidents. Such periods of high time demand may be typical for certain types of
technical positions and management positions in IT. Therefore, they pose specific challenges for
women trying to reach senior leadership roles. Thirteen participants expressed the need for
personal and organizational support systems to manage the demands at home and work. In line
with Orser et al. (2012), women with dual responsibilities in IT expressed the challenges of
taking care of children and the elderly while dealing with the relentless demands of the job.
Respondents emphasized that organizations can benefit if they provide women in IT with greater
institutional support, especially during the years when they are assuming greater work
responsibilities while simultaneously managing the demands of raising a family. Respondents
suggested one overarching strategy by which organizations can provide this support:
Organizations can provide women autonomy and control over how they accomplish their jobs.
Most women in this study expressed that they were granted flexibility when they needed it the
most.
91

Lack of Access to Informal Networks in a Man-Dominated Environment
According to McGee (2018), IT organizational culture can be viewed as exclusive and
man dominated. Armstrong et al. (2018) found women are often excluded from critical networks
and key decision-makers. Fourteen participants stated that the inability to participate in informal
networks was a challenge that impacted their career advancement. A few participants referred to
their organization as a boy’s network. The participants expressed they are often the only woman
or one of a few women in a workgroup. Not having access to informal networks was a difficult
challenge the women leaders faced along their career journey. Wentling and Thomas (2009)
found workplace culture and environment played a positive role in the career development of
women in IT. In their study, women participants believed that building close relationships with
colleagues benefited them in their career advancement (Wentling & Thomas, 2009). In this
study, even though these women expressed frustration with not being included in some social
events, they persisted by building meaningful relationships with managers and colleagues to gain
access to influential people that can support their career advancement. These findings are
consistent with the literature on the strategies women leverage to succeed in a man-dominated
environment.
Supportive Relationships
The second research question sought to explore the perceptions of women in IT
leadership as they experienced mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship throughout their careers.
Developing supportive relationships were central to many women’s responses to help or
facilitate advancement in the IT industry. The interviews showed that mentoring serves the WIT
leader’s professional development by providing advice, listening, teaching or sharing knowledge,
92

and providing feedback to support their career advancement. Several studies have concluded that
mentoring positively affects women’s advancement in the IT industry (Ahuja, 2002; Cimirotic et
al., 2017; Hewlett et al., 2014; McGee, 2018). Mentoring can also be linked to the positive
influence of a supportive manager and colleague if they also act as a mentor. Participants from
this study believed women technology leaders needed to find supportive working relationships
where their manager, other leaders, and colleagues were their mentors, sponsors, and allies,
supporting their professional development and, in some cases, advancing their careers.
Ibarra et al. (2010) suggested one reason women are underrepresented in senior
leadership is because they are overmentored and undersponsored, impacting opportunities to
advance in their careers. Participants often described the relationships that influenced their career
development as a mentor relationship rather than a sponsor. Only a few interviewees used the
term sponsor when describing a supportive relationship. Even though the participants did not use
the term sponsor, the results of the data analysis found that managers and other senior leaders
engaged in sponsor-like behaviors to support the advancement of the women in the study.
Consistent with the research, there is a lack of definition of the terms, particularly of mentoring
and the newer concepts of sponsoring and being allies. Helm et al. (2016) highlighted a
difference in the terms however claimed there is often a progression to sponsorship that starts
with mentoring. While the same person may be a mentor, sponsor, or ally, they are frequently
different people because of the difference in the relationships and what is needed in different
stages of a career journey.
In Bandura’s (1986) reciprocal determination, personal factors and environmental
influences all operate interactively as determinants of each other. The supportive relationships of
93

a mentor, sponsor or ally bidirectional influence women’s behavior in IT to make career
decisions. Social cognitive theory offers a framework for how organizations can view how
leaders and coworkers influence women’s behaviors in IT and the impact those relationships
have on their career advancement. The framework can provide the inspiration for organizations
wishing to reexamine how to build a support system to enable more women to reach senior
leadership positions in the IT industry.
Recommendations for Practice
This section includes recommendations based on the study’s findings and the literature to
address organizational factors that can enhance the IT industry environment to enable more
women to advance in their careers. The recommendations are directed to HR professionals and
IT leaders. Human resources professionals and IT leaders need to understand the current system
holding women back from ascending into senior leadership positions and design an
organizational system where women can thrive and advance in their careers. The first
recommendation focuses on career development through a mentor relationship. A mentor
relationship intends to support women in IT in overcoming barriers and developing
professionally. The second recommendation seeks to engage leaders in elevating women through
public and private endorsements and providing access to professional development opportunities.
The final recommendation focuses on refining leadership development practices to support the
career advancement of women leaders. All three recommendations seek to bridge the gender gap
in senior leadership in the IT industry.
94

Recommendation 1: Implement Mentor Programs and Encourage Experience Sharing
The first recommendation from this study was to implement mentor programs and
encourage experience sharing among women leaders The study revealed participants engaged in
informal and formal mentor programs throughout their career journeys. In line with the literature
on the value of mentor relationships, participants described the advice, knowledge sharing, and
feedback they received from mentors as a critical factor in managing their careers. Scholars
suggest mentoring adds a people-centered approach to capacity building and is potentially a
method to overcome barriers women face along the path to leadership (Carter et al., 2020).
Mentoring is a dyadic relationship that serves a mentee’s professional development through
career support and psychological support (Hewlett et al., 2014; Trauth et al., 2009). Mentorship
has significantly impacted a mentee’s personal development and career satisfaction (Ayyala et
al., 2019; Hewlett et al., 2014). A mentor provides strategies and advice on navigating the IT
industry to increase the mentee’s confidence (Hewlett et al., 2014). Mentorship is more
longitudinal, addressing one’s overall career development (Ayyala et al., 2019). Mentorship
forms at a mentee’s request or because of a formal mentoring program, and a mentor can exist at
any level of the organization (Hewlett et al., 2014).
In HR development, mentoring can take on two constructs: (a) career development and
(b) organizational development (Hezlett & Gibson, 2005). As an organizational development
strategy, mentoring can help companies identify biases in their culture and work environment
and develop processes and cultural change to mitigate them (Hezlett & Gibson, 2005). As a
career strategy, mentoring can impact a mentee’s professional development through career
support and psychological support (Hewlett et al., 2014; Trauth et al., 2009). A mentor provides
95

strategies and advice on navigating their career or personal development (Ayyala et al., 2019;
Hewlett et al., 2014). Several participants discussed having multiple mentors throughout their
career to talk about career decisions.
Formal and informal mentoring programs allow women to develop skills and enhance
their knowledge to elevate to the next level (Groves, 2021). The goal of a mentoring program
would be to connect women with mentors to enhance their self-efficacy to help them overcome
barriers to achieve their professional career goals (Groves, 2021; Helms et al., 2016).
Successful mentorship programs allow women access to resources and professional
development to advance their careers (Groves, 2021). Murray et al. (2012) studied women
seeking promotion to leadership positions engaging in informal and formal mentoring programs.
The study found a positive relationship between women who engaged in informal or formal
mentoring relationships, to an increase in leadership advancement. The women in the study took
risks, applied for promotions, and advanced in the company at a higher rate than before
implementing the mentoring program. Helms et al. (2016) studied a formal mentoring program at
a regional Rotary Club. The women participants were identified for their leadership in business
and nonprofit organizations in the community. The study found benefits to the organization and
the individual. Helms et al. found organizational-level mentoring benefits that improve
organizational performance and suggest individuals experience improved job satisfaction and
learning. Additionally, the study found mentoring may give organizations a competitive
advantage. To ensure formal mentoring programs are successful, organizations should identify
metrics that align with the organization’s overall goals (Minton-Eversole, 2010), for example,
increasing the number of women and people of color in leadership positions or, more broadly,
96

creating a more inclusive culture. Depending on the goal, an organization should define critical
metrics to measure the success of the mentor program. The following section identifies the
different types of mentor programs organizations can implement to allow women to develop
skills and enhance their knowledge to elevate to the next level.
Organizations can support and implement formal and informal mentoring programs that
provide encouragement and foster self-advocacy in women to help overcome career barriers and
thrive professionally (Groves, 2021). Connecting with a mentor can be difficult, according to
Mackey (2018). Women can leverage their manager as a mentor and seek out people who have
knowledge or experience that can enhance their skill set. Organizations can encourage informal
gatherings that can lead to networking and mentorship opportunities.
Hewlett et al. (2008) emphasized the importance of developing formal mentoring
programs and highlighted Microsoft’s mentoring program as a good example of a program that
matches pairs of senior women executives with small groups of junior women to help them
develop a career strategy to accelerate their career. Formal mentoring programs can match
people by gender, interest, skill set, or another predetermined trait. Organizations need to provide
training on how to engage in a mentor relationship. Finally, organizations should implement a
process to monitor the career advancement of the mentees in the program to track the mentoring
program’s impact on the mentee’s advancement in their careers.
One program that organizations should consider is the Women Circles program design.
Dwivedi and Mukherjee (2021) recommended establishing “sisterhood” or “lean in” women
circles to create a support system for working women professionals to engage in experience
sharing conversations. Organizations can develop and form employee resource groups, such as
97

WIT, which serve the women population in the technology industry. Scholars have found WIT
groups and women’s circles create a space for women to discuss the latest technological
developments, participate in training, and invite senior women professionals to address topics
and discuss their career experiences. This study found women appreciate hearing the stories of
the success and challenges of women who have advanced in their careers. The women’s circles
create opportunities for women to share experiences in a group mentoring framework.
Proper mentoring programs have the potential to help to advance women in the
workplace. With more women in senior leadership positions acting as role models, other women
may be inspired to pursue their own leadership journey. Through access to supportive
relationships, women can advance into the positions they aspire to occupy.
Recommendation 2: Foster and Support Advocates
Moving beyond mentorship, organizations should identify and reward powerful
advocates who are skilled at developing women leaders. These advocates should be recognized
for their best practice efforts in endorsing and elevating women leaders. Furthermore, these
advocates should be encouraged to enlist other executives to adopt sponsor practices. Several
participants believed they had advocates in the workplace who exposed them to high-profile
opportunities and endorsed their capabilities to other leaders in the organization. A sponsor is
someone who has power and can help by exerting their power to support the advancement of
women in IT. Scholars have found sponsorship, the act of advocating for talented individuals, is
critical for the advancement of women in man-dominated industries (Perry & Parikh, 2019).
Sponsorship provides public and private endorsements and advocacy for prominent
stretch assignments or job promotions, enabling career advancement and access to senior leaders
(Hewlett et al., 2014). A sponsor goes beyond giving general career feedback and advice; a
98

sponsor can propel someone to the next level by proactively creating visibility and promoting the
person for promising opportunities (Cummings et al., 2011). Additionally, sponsors put forth
their resources and power to advocate for a person who would otherwise not have access to the
necessary resources, such as leadership development and access to high-visibility projects that
contribute to advancement (Griffeth et al., 2021). Eighty-six percent of women participating in a
Kellogg School of Management Executive Education Program reported a sponsor, rather than a
mentor, was instrumental in their career advancement (RHR International, 2015). Griffeth et al.
(2021) suggested men advance to senior leadership positions faster than women do because they
engage in informal networks that allow a sponsor relationship to emerge.
An organization that has made expectations of sponsorship clear through a formal
program is Deutsche Bank (Cummings et al., 2011). Deutsche Bank has paired high-performing
women from all business units globally with executive team members to improve the gender
balance at senior levels and increase the pipeline of women eligible for the most senior positions
in the firm. The program provides high-potential women with heightened visibility and contact
with influential leaders. Metrics were built into the program to track the progress toward
advancing women into senior leadership positions. Forty-five percent of women participating in
the program have advanced to new roles. Organizations like financial services firms and
academic medicine have formally implemented sponsorship programs.
Ayala et al. (2019) conducted a qualitative study with Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine faculty engaged in sponsorship relationships. The study found that sponsorship, in
addition to mentorship, is critical for successful career advancement. Additionally, in line with
the literature on mentorship versus sponsorship (Griffith et al., 2021), participants viewed
mentorship as especially important for early career development. Sponsorship is critical when
there are fewer opportunities to advance to high-level positions. The support of an influential
99

sponsor can generate opportunities and make connections for women in IT, which can lead to
career advancement.
Recommendation 3: Refine Leadership Development Practices to Support the Career
Advancement of Women Leaders
The third recommendation is to refine leadership development practices that support the
career advancement of women leaders in the IT industry. Women in IT are more likely to
advance their careers when organizations invest in professional development and support
systems designed to meet the unique needs of women in IT (Burke & Simmons, 2020; Wentling
& Thomas, 2009). In 2017, Women in Communication and Technology surveyed over 8,000
members to learn about barriers to career advancement, organizational climate, and successful
strategies that women in IT leveraged to advance their careers. The study revealed women are
not being identified and developed for advancement opportunities. Furthermore, participants
were asked to choose the top five barriers they believed were inhibiting their career
advancement. Lack of development and advancement opportunities were selected most often.
This study found that women with supportive leadership can successfully navigate the IT
industry to advance to their current leadership position. Organizations that identify high potential
women and provide equitable leadership development programs, demonstrate a commitment to
invest in women’s career development is a top priority (Beeson & Valerio, 2012; Elliott, 2017;
Wentling & Thomas, 2009).
Eleven of the 17 participants in this study experienced work settings where they were
encouraged to engage in development conversations and participate in professional development
activities such as learning from others, stretch assignments, and formal training. Organizations
100

that advocate and encourage their departments and work units to embrace a learning and growth
philosophy can begin to provide an organizational response to the problem of underrepresented
women in senior leadership positions in the IT industry. Workplaces that make it a practice to
identify and develop women talent from in the organization can increase leadership diversity
through their succession practices. Organizations can institute succession planning practices that
directly address gender bias and promote equality in defining career potential and development
planning (Beeson & Valerio,2016).
Human resources and senior leaders can implement the following practices that may
break down barriers so that every woman in IT has opportunities to develop and advance in their
career. Human resources have four levers to create an equitable leadership development strategy
to support the advancement of WIT: (a) build a culture of employee development, (b) create an
equitable succession planning process, (c) train on intentional development, and (d) harness the
power of data.
Build a Culture of Employee Development
Cultivating an environment where relational learning is valued and women are inclined to
openly share their strengths and weaknesses with others for personal and organizational growth
requires strategic action from HR and senior leadership (Kegan et al., 2014). Human resources
practitioners can present the business case for more equitable representation at senior levels and
educate leaders on the importance of intentional development for women to ascend in an
organization. Organizations can create learning and development opportunities and make them
available to men and women so that women can have equal access to the skills necessary to
advance (Allen et al., 2016). For a culture of employee development to succeed, HR must partner
101

effectively with executive leaders to ensure that support of intentional development initiatives is
highly visible, including budgetary support and recognition of the importance of formal
mentoring, access to critical assignments, coaching, and sponsorship programs. Human resources
practitioners must also develop processes and systems that support developmental cultures and
reinforce the desired behaviors to achieve equitable outcomes. Performance management
practices must be altered and monitored to encourage ongoing coaching and feedback
conversations to foster a culture of employee development.
Create an Equitable Succession Planning Process
Human resources should facilitate an in-depth group discussion of candidates for senior-
level leadership positions to ensure more women are represented in future leadership positions
(Beeson & Valerio, 2016). Wichert (2012) suggested conducting ongoing readiness assessments
with women as part of their annual reviews to understand whether a high-visibility assignment
that may not have been possible for women in the past due to personal responsibilities may now
have become a possibility due to a change in their personal circumstances. Human resources, in
partnership with IT leadership, should create a transparent promotion process to include the
criteria one needs to develop to aspire to an IT senior leader position. Additionally, HR should
work with senior leaders to create individual development plans for high-potential women
identified in the succession planning process. Development plans for women should include
stretch-assignments designed to promote career advancement.
Harness the Power of Data
Accountability using benchmarking and monitoring are cornerstones in establishing
equitable and standardized career development practices. HR practitioners and leaders can use
102

data to inform every touchpoint of creating a more equitable employee development strategy. A
key component of accountability is collecting, tracking, monitoring, and reporting hiring and
promotion data. HR must establish criteria to evaluate progress in creating a more equitable
workplace. HR should monitor the proportion of women considered for senior leadership
positions in addition to monitoring the women promoted to senior leadership positions. Lastly,
the review of the literature cited the practice of annual diversity, inclusion, and equity
transparency reports critical to demonstrate progress toward advancing women in senior
leadership positions (Beeson & Valerio, 2016).
Train on Intentional Development
Organizations should provide managers training on intentionally developing aspiring
leaders. HR practitioners can design a training program on the various types of development
support, such as mentoring, coaching, career development, and sponsoring. Inadequate
supervisor-supervisee relations are widely discussed in the literature. Wentling and Thomas
(2009) found workplace cultures that provided participants with training and development
programs, resources, mentoring, and challenging work opportunities benefited them the most in
their career development. Several respondents emphasized the importance of a supportive
manager to discuss career goals and gain access to professional development opportunities.
Women feel efficacious when leaders are engaged in their development. Managers need training
on the activities involved in intentional development.
Human resources professionals and IT leaders should identify several resources managers
and women in IT can use to engage in ongoing development conversations. This
recommendation would require training on how to set development goals and how to use
103

development plans. Additionally, HR professionals must provide managers with tools to reduce
bias, such as empirically validated behaviorally anchored performance rating scales for
evaluating employee performance (Annabi & Lebovitz, 2017). Wichert (2012) suggested
educating managers about potential bias against appointing women to certain projects or roles
can help increase access to these career enhancing experiences.
In addition to the three proposed recommendations, organizations should have policies
and practices that support diversity, equity, and inclusion. Without the organizational alignment
and policy support the solutions will occur as events and the organization may not reap the
intended benefits (Bopaiah, 2021). All of these actions can help to facilitate women’s career
progression. To bridge the gender gap in IT senior leadership, there needs to be a commitment
from executive leadership to see what needs to change in the system and put organizational
practices in place to support the advancement of women (Bopaiah, 2021; Cimirotic et al., 2017;
Holtzblatt & Marsden, 2018; McGee, 2018).
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations and delimitations existed in this research study. Limitations are the potential
weaknesses of the study outside researcher’s control and could impact the validity and reliability
of the study (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). The scope of this study is limited to specific women
who met certain demographic criteria. All the participants worked in the United States, which
may limit understanding the experiences of women working in other countries. Another
limitation was that the participants did not represent all types of computing and technology
leadership positions. The sample population may not be representative of the larger technology
industry. In addition, the participants worked in 12 different organizations ranging from financial
104

institutions to e-commerce organizations. The differences in organizational culture and belief
systems may have impacted the consistency of interviews.
The interview questions were tested with other doctoral students to check for question
clarity; however, the participants may not have fully understood the interview questions or may
have felt uncomfortable answering the questions during the interviews. The participants may
have been concerned about anonymity which could have impacted how they answered the
questions to ensure their responses did not reveal information about themselves or their
organization. To ensure the participants were honest in their responses, the researcher
emphasized the importance of securing information gathered through interviews to ensure
confidentiality. Additionally, the study relied on women leaders’ recall of their experiences with
mentors, sponsors, and managers and a retrospective appraisal of the organizational factors that
influenced their career advancement. Retrieval of past information may impact the accuracy of
data, especially considering some women have been in leadership roles for an extended period.
Delimitations refer to the boundaries of the study based on the researcher’s decision on
what to include and exclude to make the study more manageable and relevant to the problem of
practice (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). In this study, I chose a problem of practice specific to
women in the IT industry, limiting both the scope of gender and industry for data collection.
Choosing the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership positions in the IT industry
imposed additional limits by not considering other problems of practice. The researcher further
delimited the research by selecting a qualitative semistructured interview approach. The research
questions were designed to align to Bandura’s SCT, which limits types of interview questions to
people, environment and behaviors all influencing each other (Bandura, 1989).
105

Recommendations for Future Research
This study provides insightful thoughts of women leaders in the IT industry. Future
research could address the limitations presented in this study. The findings in this study
examined women working in IT departments. Further qualitative studies can be done to compare
careers and promotional patterns between men and women in the IT departments. The
participants in the current study were predominantly White. Future research should look at a
more representative cross section of women and explore the impact of intersectionality on career
advancement in the IT industry.
Many participants stated having a manager who supported, challenged, and encouraged
them throughout their careers contributed to their advancement in the IT industry. Additional
research should explore the influence of the manager relationship on women’s career
advancement in IT. In this study, participants were asked to describe the type of supportive
relationships that influenced their career advancement. The participants often referred to the
supportive individual as a mentor or supportive boss. Future research should examine the
behaviors of the supportive individuals and how they create the environment for women to thrive
in the IT industry.
This study explored the perceptions of women in IT leadership, as they experienced
mentorship, sponsorship, and allyship throughout their careers. Based on the current practices
used to develop the workforce, mentoring remains a topic of discussion for human resources and
organizational development professionals; however, sponsorship must be included in future
research to explore the difficulties faced by women who aspire to hold senior leadership roles.
Future research can explore the supportive relationships and compare sponsored women leaders
in organizations with nonsponsored women leaders and the impact on their career advancement.
106

Finally, it will be essential to study organizations committed to advancing women in
senior leadership positions and document successful programs and policies that have proven to
make a difference in the advancement of women in IT leadership. Researchers should also
consider doing a series of case studies on supervisor and woman dyads to understand how these
groups worked together to overcome barriers and support the advancement of women in IT.
There needs to be more research on the organizational factors that influence the beliefs and
behaviors of women leaders in IT.
Conclusion
By studying the experiences of senior women leaders in IT and analyzing the qualitative
data, the study highlights the organizational factors that significantly contribute to women’s
advancement in the industry. When the women examined the factors at play, as they advanced in
their careers, the majority talked about having supportive relationships to overcome difficulties
and amplify their achievements. While these women believed many individual factors influenced
their success, they equally appreciated their current and past organizations’ roles in developing
them for leadership positions. The organizational factors these women leveraged were only
sometimes in the form of HR policies and initiatives. Some factors were elements of the
organizational culture, such as support from senior leadership, managers, and informal learning
opportunities.
This study's findings underscore the importance of recognizing the organizational factors
that hinder and facilitate the advancement of women in IT. The findings suggest respondents
exhibit tremendous self-agency to address challenges and succeed in the IT workplace; however,
an undue burden is placed on women to change their behavior to assimilate into a men-
dominated environment. Attention must be shifted to the organization’s responsibility to create
107

an equitable environment. There must be a combination of interventions to support women in
their career growth and organizational practices to advance more women into senior leadership
positions in IT. This study’s approach included recommendations that are within an
organization’s power to address. To address the problem of a lack of women leaders in senior
positions in IT, organizational leaders need to understand the current system holding women
back from ascending into senior leadership positions and design an organizational system where
women can thrive and advance in their careers. As organizations create their strategic plan, they
should pay special attention to the responsibilities of their leaders in creating an equitable
environment, for example, examining criteria for critical assignments in the organization that
have historically been training grounds for senior executives. To achieve sustainable change,
there needs to be an inclusive organizational culture that builds on and values differences.
This study of senior women in IT contributes to the existing literature on women’s career
advancement to senior leadership positions. Women in IT can benefit from this study to
understand how the participants leveraged organizational factors to advance to senior leadership
positions. Organizations can also benefit from understanding the factors that create an enabling
culture for more women in leadership positions. In summary, individual and organizational
factors all interact to determine the progress of women in IT leadership. This suggests that a
combination of multiple integrated actions, generated and supported in collaboration by
individuals and groups across a range of private and public sector organizations, may be
efficacious in addressing the issues impacting women’s career advancement in IT. Creating
awareness of what needs to be altered in the system is an important endeavor to help create an
equitable IT industry.
108

109

References
Adams, S. M., & Weiss, J. W. (2011). Gendered paths to technology leadership. New
Technology, Work and Employment, 26(3), 222-237.
Allen, T. D., French, K. A., & Poteet, M. L. (2016). Women and career advancement: Issues and
opportunities. Organizational Dynamics, 45(3), 206-216.
Ahuja, M. K. (2002). Women in the information technology profession: A literature review,
synthesis and research agenda. European Journal of Information Systems, 11(1), 20–34.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3084179.3084182
Anderson, M. J., Gilmour, N., & Castro, M. (2013). Women in Technology: Leaders of
tomorrow. Evolved People Media, LLC, and Accenture.
https://www.empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2015/12/women-in-
technology-leaders-of-tomorrow?lang=en
Anicha, C. L., Burnett, A., & Bilen-Green, C. (2015). Men faculty gender-equity advocates: A
qualitative analysis of theory and praxis. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 23(1), 21-43.
Annabi, H., & Lebovitz, S. (2018). Improving the retention of women in the IT workforce: An
investigation of gender diversity interventions in the USA. Information Systems Journal,
28(6), 1049–1081. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12182
Appelbaum, S. H., Asham, N., & Argheyd, K. (2011). Is the glass ceiling cracked in information
technology? A qualitative analysis: Part 1. Industrial and Commercial Training, 43(6),
354–361. https://doi.org/10.1108/00197851111160487
Armstrong, D. J., Nelms, J. E., Riemenschneider, C. K., & Reid, M. F. (2012). Revisiting the
barriers facing women in information systems. Journal of Computer Information Systems,
53(2), 65-74.
110

Armstrong, D. J., Riemenschneider, C. K., & Giddens, L. G. (2018). The advancement and
persistence of women in the information technology profession: An extension of Ahuja’s
gendered theory of IT career stages. Information Systems Journal, 28(6), 1082–1124.
https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12185
Ashcraft, C., & Blithe, S. (2009). NCWIT Scorecard. National Center for Women & Information
Technology (NCWIT). https://www.issuelab.org/resources/18105/18105.pdf
Ashcraft, C., McLain, B., & Eger, E. (2016). Women in tech: The facts. Colorado, CO, USA:
National Center for Women & Technology (NCWIT).
Ayyala, M. S., Skarupski, K., Bodurtha, J. N., González-Fernández, M., Ishii, L. E., Fivush, B.,
& Levine, R. B. (2019a). Mentorship is not enough. Academic Medicine, 94(1). 94–100
https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000002398
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.
Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191
Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory. Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology, 4(3), 359–373. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1986.4.3.359
Bandura, A. (1988). Organisational applications of social cognitive theory. Australian Journal of
Management, 13(2), 275–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/031289628801300210
Bandura, A. (1989). Regulation of cognitive processes through perceived self-efficacy.
Developmental Psychology, 25(5), 729–735. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.5.729
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W.H. Freeman.
Beeson, J., & Valerio, A. M. (2012). The executive leadership imperative: A new perspective on
how companies and executives can accelerate the development of women leaders.
Business Horizons, 55(5), 417-425.
111

Bhattacharya, S., Mohapatra, S., & Bhattacharya, S. (2018). Women advancing to leadership
positions: A qualitative study of women leaders in IT and ITES sector in India. South
Asian Journal of Human Resources Management, 5(2), 150–172.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2322093718782756
Bopaiah, M. (2021). Equity: How to design organizations where everyone thrives. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.
Burke, P. R., & Simmons, K. (2020). Beating the odds: Winning strategies of women in STEM.
Center for Creative Leadership.
Caprara, G. V., Pastorelli, C., Regalia, C., Scabini, E., & Bandura, A. (2005). Impact of
adolescents' filial self‐efficacy on quality of family functioning and satisfaction. Journal
of Research on Adolescence, 15(1), 71–97. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-
7795.2005.00087.x
Carter, A. D., Sims, C., & Moore de Peralta, M. D. (2020). Blazing the trail: A qualitative case
study of mentoring in a gender equity leadership development program. Journal of
Business Diversity, 20(2).
Catalyst. (2015). Women in male-dominated industries and occupations.
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-male-dominated-industries-and occupations
Cimirotic, R., Duller, V., Feldbauer-Durstmüller, B., Gärtner, B., & Hiebl, M. R. W. (2017).
Enabling factors that contribute to women reaching leadership positions in business
organizations: The case of management accountants. Management Research Review,
40(2), 165–194. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-10-2014-0233
Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed
methods approaches. Sage Publications.
112

Dwivedi, P., & Mukherjee, S. (2021). Women information technology professionals: Digital
sisterhood. Sociological Bulletin, 70(3), 349–365.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229211014665
Elliot, A. J., Dweck, C. S., & Yeager, D. S. (2017). Handbook of competence and motivation:
Theory and application (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Ensmenger, N. L. (2012). The computer boys take over: Computers, programmers, and the
politics of technical expertise. Mit Press.
Ferry, K. (2019). Korn Ferry analysis of largest US companies shows percentage of women in C-
suite roles inches up from previous year.
Foust-Cummings, H., Sabattini, L., & Carter, N. (2008). Women in technology: Maximizing
talent, minimizing barriers. Catalyst.
Griffeth, L. L., Malik, R. F., Charas, S., & Randall, N. (2021). Sponsorship: An intervention to
accelerate women’s career velocity. IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 15(3), 7–22.
https://www.iupindia.in/307/ijss.asp
Groves, T. (2021). Establishing mentoring programs for the advancement of women in the
workplace. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 33(3),
66–69. https://doi.org/10.1002/nha3.20342
Gürer, D. (2002). Women in computing history. ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, 34(2), 116-120.
Hammerman, R., & Russell, A. L. (2015). Ada's Legacy: Cultures of Computing from the
Victorian to the Digital Age. Morgan & Claypool.
Helms, M. M., Arfken, D. E., & Bellar, S. (2016). The importance of mentoring and sponsorship
in women’s career development. SAM Advanced Management Journal, 81(3), 4–16.
https://samnational.org/sam-advanced-management-journal/
113

Hewlett, S. A., Sherbin, L., Dieudonne, F., Fargnoli, C., & Fredman, C. (2014). Athena factor
2.0: Accelerating female talent in science, engineering & technology. Center for Talent
Innovation2014.
Hezlett, S. A., & Gibson, S. K. (2005). Mentoring and human resource development: Where we
are and where we need to go. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 7(4).
https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422305279
Holtzblatt, K., & Marsden, N. (2018, June). Retaining women in technology. 2018 IEEE
International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation (ICE/ITMC).
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/8423590/proceeding
Hunt, V., Layton, D, and Prince, S. (2015). Diversity Matters. New York, NY: McKinsey &
Company.
Ibarra, H., Carter, N. M., & Silva, C. (2010). Why men still get more promotions than women.
Harvard Business Review, 88(9), 80–85. https://hbr.org/2010/09/why-men-still-get-more-
promotions-than-women
Jauhar, J., & Lau, V. (2018). The “glass ceiling” and women’s career advancement to top
management: The moderating effect of social support. Global Business and Management
Research, 10(1), 163–178. http://www.gbmrjournal.com/
Johnson, V. L., Kiser, A., & Kappelman, L. (2020). Women in IT management: Significant gains
and continuing challenges. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 60(3).
https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2018.1463576
Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (1996). Social cognitive approach to career development: An
overview. The career development quarterly, 44(4), 310-321
Light, J. S. (1999). When computers were women. Technology and culture, 40(3), 455-483.
114

Kegan, R., Lahey, L., Fleming, A., & Miller, M. (2014). Making business personal. Harvard
Business Review, 92(4), 44–52. https://hbr.org/2014/04/making-business-personal
Kirton, G., & Robertson, M. (2018). Sustaining and advancing IT careers: Women’s experiences
in a UK-based IT company. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 27(2), 157–
169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2018.01.001
Kohl, K., & Prikladnicki, R. (2021). Challenges Women in Software Engineering Leadership
Roles Face: A Qualitative Study. arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.13982.
Mackey, Z. (2018). Women in leadership: Finding and leveraging allies and mentors. Retrieved
August, 22, 2021.
Madsen, S. R., Townsend, A., & Scribner, R. T. (2020). Strategies that male allies use to
advance women in the workplace. The Journal of Men’s Studies, 28(3), 239-259.
McGee, K. (2018). The influence of gender, and race/ethnicity on advancement in information
technology (IT). Information and Organization, 28(1), 1-36.
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and
implementation. (4 th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mindell, D. A. (2008). Digital Apollo. Human and Machine in Spaceflight. Cambridge, Mass.
Murray, N., Tremaine, M., & Fountaine, S. (2012). Breaking through the glass ceiling in the
ivory tower. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 14(2).
https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422312436418
National Center for Women & Information Technology. (2014). NCWIT scorecard: A report on
the status of women in information technology. Retrieved from
http://www.ncwit.org/scorecard
115

Northouse, P. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Orser, B., Riding, A., & Stanley, J. (2012). Perceived career challenges and response strategies
of women in the advanced technology sector. Entrepreneurship & Regional
Development, 24(1-2), 73-93.
Perry, R. E., & Parikh, J. R. (2019). Sponsorship: a proven strategy for promoting career
advancement and diversity in radiology. Journal of the American College of Radiology,
16(8), 1102-1107.
RHR International (2015), Unpublished Report on Northwestern University Executive MBA
Program Participants, RHR International LLP, Chicago, IL.
Sabra, W., Dietz, D., Tjahjasari, D. and Zeng, A.-P. (2010), Biosystems analysis and engineering
of microbial consortia for industrial biotechnology. Engineering in Life Sciences, 10(5),
407–421. https://doi.org/10.1002/elsc.201000111
Taneja, S., Pryor, M. G., & Oyler, J. (2012). Empowerment and gender equality: The retention
and promotion of women in the workforce. The Journal of Business Diversity, 12(3), 43–
53. http://www.na-businesspress.com/JBD/taneja_abstract.html
Thomas, A., Dougherty, J., Strand, S., Nayar, A., & Janani, M. (2016). Decoding diversity: the
financial and economic returns to diversity in tech. In Intel Corporation; Dalberg Global
Development Advisors.
Trauth, E. M. (2002). Odd girl out: an individual differences perspective on women in the IT
profession. Information Technology & People.
Trauth, E. M., Quesenberry, J. L., & Huang, H. (2009). Retaining women in the US IT
workforce: Theorizing the influence of organizational factors. European Journal of
Information Systems, 18(5), 476–497. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2009.31
116

Varma, R. (2018). U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: Underrepresentation of Women and
Minorities. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(5), 692–697.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764218768847
Walsh, K., Fleming, S. S., & Enz, C. A. (2016). Give and you shall receive: Investing in the
careers of women professionals. Career Development International, 21(2), 193–211.
https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-04-2015-0059
Wichert, I. (2012): Women Leaders’ Career Advancement: A Three-Level Framework. IBM.
Wilson, N. L., Dance, T., Pei, W., Sanders, R. S., & Ulrich, A. C. (2021). Learning, experiences,
and actions towards advancing gender equity in engineering as aspiring men's allyship
group. The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, 99(10), 2124-2137.
Wingreen, S. C., & Blanton, J. E. (2007). A social cognitive interpretation of person‐
organization fitting: The maintenance and development of professional technical
competency. Human Resource Management, 46(4), 631–650.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20185
Wentling, R., & Thomas, S. (2009). Workplace culture that hinders and assists the career
development of women in information technology. Information Technology, Learning &
Performance Journal, 25(1). https://www.learntechlib.org/j/ISSN-1535-1556/
Wood, R., & Bandura, A. (1989). Social cognitive theory of organizational management.
Academy of management Review, 14(3), 361–384.
https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1989.4279067

117

Appendix A: Interview Questions
Women in Technology Leadership Interview Questions
Research Questions
RQ1: What organizational factors influenced the beliefs and behaviors of female leaders in IT?
RQ2 How did mentorship, sponsorship and allyship influence their career in the IT industry?
Section 1. Individual and Organizational Factors
The goal of this section: Ask the participant about factors that contributed to and created
barriers to their career advancement.
1. What enabled you to obtain your senior-level position in the IT industry?
2. What do you believe are the factors that contributed most to your career success in the IT
industry?
3. What education, training and/or personal qualities supported your rise to executive
leadership in IT?
4. What challenges or obstacles did you face in reaching the senior-level leadership position
in IT, and how did you overcome those challenges?
5. Based on your perceptions and experiences, please describe any additional strategies that
you believe female IT professionals can use to advance into senior-level leadership
positions.
6. Based on your perceptions and experiences, what career development opportunities or
talent development practices contributed to your success as a senior leader?
7. Based on your perceptions and experiences as a female leader in the IT industry, please
describe any organizational changes, if any, you feel are necessary to promote the
advancement of more women into senior-level leadership IT positions?
Section 2. Allyship/Mentorship/Sponsorship
The goal of this section: Understand the influences of allyship, mentorship and sponsorship
on the advancement of women leaders.
8. Who were the people who were particularly helpful in your professional development and
advancement? In what ways did that relationship influence where you are today?
9. Can you share how allyship has played a role for you or how you have experienced
allyship in your career?
118

10. Describe the role that a mentor has played in developing your skills necessary for
advancing into the next level of management?
11. Describe how a sponsor has influenced your career opportunities in the IT industry.

119

Appendix B: Recruitment Email
Dear [Potential Participant’s Name],
I would like to interview you for my doctoral dissertation research study on senior leadership
women in information technology because you are a leader in the field. I am especially interested
in learning about the opportunities and barriers to advancement you encountered, and how you
responded to them.
Your participation would involve a confidential virtual interview with me, lasting about 45 to 60
minutes. I would be asking you about your professional experiences as you have moved through
your career. Your responses would be combined with those of other women in my study and
analyzed together to ensure confidentiality; under no circumstance would I ever identify you or
disclose information that might identify you in reports of my research.
Your participation would be voluntary, and you would be free to opt out of any question or to
stop the interview at any time. It is my hope that this study will provide insights to women
aspiring to leadership in the field, as well as to inform efforts to increase gender diversity in
technology leadership.This research also will contribute to the body of knowledge on women and
leadership, and filling the gap of existing literature regarding women and leadership in the
information technology industry.
I have attached an information sheet for your reference. If you have any questions about this
study, please contact me or the faculty sponsor.
If you are willing to consider assisting me in my study, please let me know by reply email,
whitejul@usc.edu, and I will contact you to set up a time to connect for an interview.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration!
Sincerely,
Julie White
Doctoral Candidate - Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California

120

Appendix C: IRB Approval
INFORMATION SHEET FOR EXEMPT RESEARCH
STUDY TITLE: Women in Information Technology Senior Leadership: Incremental Progress
and Continuing Challenges
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Julie White
FACULTY ADVISOR: Kimberly Hirabayashi, PhD

You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This document
explains information about this study. You should ask questions about anything that is unclear to
you.
PURPOSE
The purpose of my study is to explore the career advancement experiences of women leaders in
the information technology industry. This purpose will be achieved by identifying successes and
challenges that female senior-level leaders have experienced while progressing in their role as a
leader. The results of the research are intended to provide insight to women aspiring to such roles
and to organizations seeking to put systems in place to retain, develop and advance women in
information technology.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
The interview participants will include women who hold a senior-level leadership position in
information technology. Examples of a senior-level position include but are not limited to Chief
121

Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, Vice President, Sr. Director or Director of
Technology. Participants will be asked to engage in a confidential virtual interview, lasting about
60 minutes. Participants will be asked about their professional and personal experiences as they
moved through their career. Individual responses will be combined with those of other women in
my study and analyzed together to ensure confidentiality; under no circumstance would I ever
identify you or disclose information that might identify you in my research reports.
PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
Although your participation will not result in compensation, other than my thanks, or tangible
benefits to you, you will contribute to our knowledge about women in information technology
and leadership. You may enjoy sharing your journey and provide insights to women who aspire
to advance within the information technology industry. I hope, too, that this study may encourage
organizational change to support women in their professional endeavors.
CONFIDENTIALITY
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

Your participation is confidential. If you choose to participate, I will ask you questions about
your professional experiences and your journey to becoming a leader in information technology.
The information you provide will be combined with data from other study participants and
analyzed together to ensure confidentiality; under no circumstance would I ever identify you or
disclose information that might identify you in my research reports. Your name and the
122

organization at which you are employed will be removed from your interview data and my notes,
as will any other information that might identify you. You will not be identified in any reports of
this study, such as my dissertation.
INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
Julie White is the Principal Investigator for this study, and the University of Southern California
faculty advisor is Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi, PhD. If you have any questions about this study,
please contact Julie White (whitejul@usc.edu) or Dr. Kimberly Hirabayashi (hirabaya@usc.edu).
IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.

Abstract (if available)

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Women Chief Information Officers (CIOs): how did they make it?

PDF

Intersectional equity in higher education leadership: leveraging social capital for success

PDF

Gender role beliefs of male senior leaders in retail and the impact on women’s advancement

PDF

Unpredicted but not unexpected: developing prepared health and human services crisis leaders

PDF

The underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) leadership positions

PDF

COVID-19 pandemic: the impact on the Napa Valley wine industry workers

PDF

Gender-based leadership barriers: an exploratory study of the underrepresentation of women of color in technology

PDF

The first-time manager journey: a study to inform a smoother leadership transition

PDF

Toxic leadership and U.S. Army special forces: a qualitative, phenomenological Study

PDF

Job satisfaction and retention of women clergy

PDF

Double jeopardy: the influence of prevalent race and gender bias on women of color executive leadership promotions

PDF

A case Study of gender gaps in the legal profession

PDF

Understanding burnout in non-denominational clergy: a social cognitive approach

PDF

The lack of Black women in higher education executive leadership in four-year colleges and universities

PDF

Leadership development and Black pentecostal pastors: understanding the supports needed to enhance their leadership development and ministry effectiveness

PDF

The experience of Eritrean refugee women in addressing their mental health needs

PDF

The underrepresentation of Asian American Pacific Islanders serving in the senior and executive leadership ranks in the U.S. Navy SEALs

PDF

Fostering leadership resilience: examining the influence of social networks on female administrators’ capacity to lead in times of crisis or organizational change

PDF

Understanding queer leadership in corporate America

PDF

A path to K-12 educational equity: the practice of adaptive leadership, culture, and mindset

Asset Metadata

Creator White, Julie Theresa (author)

Core Title Women in information technology senior leadership: incremental progress and continuing challenges

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Degree Conferral Date 2022-12

Publication Date 01/19/2023

Defense Date 01/05/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Barriers,information technology,leadership,OAI-PMH Harvest,support,Women

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Hirabayashi, Kimberly (committee chair), Muraszewski, Alison (committee member), Ott, Maria (committee member)

Creator Email whitejul@usc.edu,whitejules8@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC25413

Unique identifier UC25413

Identifier etd-WhiteJulie-11421.pdf (filename)

Legacy Identifier etd-WhiteJulie-11421

Document Type Dissertation

Format theses (aat)

Rights White, Julie Theresa

Internet Media Type application/pdf

Type texts

Source 20230120-usctheses-batch-1002 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu