Browsing by Author "González Pérez, Susana"

Companies are vital agents in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. One key role that businesses can play in achieving the 5th Sustainable Development Goal on gender equality is implementing training programs for their women executives so they can reach top corporate leadership positions. In this paper, we test the effectiveness of an Authentic Leadership Development (ALD) program for women executives. By interviewing 32 participants from this ALD program and building on authentic leadership theory, we find that this program lifts women participants’ self-efficacy perception, as well as their self-resolution to take control of their careers. The driver for both results is a reflective thinking process elicited during the program that leads women to abandon the stereotype of a low status role and lack of self-direction over time. Through the relational authenticity developed during the program, women participants develop leadership styles that are more congenial with their gender group, yet highly accepted by the in-group leader members, which enhances their social capital. After the program, the women participants flourished as authentic leaders, were able to activate and foster their self-esteem and social capital, and enhanced their agency in career advancement, increasing their likelihood of breaking the glass ceiling.

This study explores the realm of authentic leadership theory to examine how female teenagers can enhance relational authenticity and develop authentic leadership skills through a specialized program. Employing multigroup Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we assess the impact of this leadership intervention on female teenagers, comparing pre- and postintervention results. Additionally, we contrasted the outcomes of program participants with those of same-aged, nonparticipating students from similar backgrounds. The analysis revealed a significant increase in the scores for the four constructs of authentic leadership among the program’s participants. Notably, their academic grades also improved post-intervention. Focusing on high school females aged 16 years and above, the study addresses a critical age for developing selfperception of competence and confidence. The persistent underrepresentation of females in leadership roles underscores the necessity for early interventions like this one. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how a leadership program can positively influence the development of authentic leadership skills among participants, while also observing enhancements in academic achievement following this particular intervention.

En el actual entorno económico mundial organismos como la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) o el Banco Mundial reconocen el emprendimiento de nuevos negocios como un motor de crecimiento indiscutible y a los mecanismos financieros para ponerlo en práctica como determinantes. La literatura económica desde hace tiempo viene estudiando los procesos de emprendimiento desde diferentes perspectivas; aunque no tanto atendiendo al género de quien toma la iniciativa empresarial y a las singularidades de esta circunstancia, ya que hay situaciones que pueden llegar a condicionar la puesta en marcha de negocios por mujeres como el menor acceso a la financiación bancaria frente a sus homólogos masculinos, lo que puede justificar una menor actividad emprendedora. En ámbitos específicos como el emprendimiento social, donde el componente del lucro se ajusta con la dimensión social y medioambiental del proyecto, se pone de manifiesto esta situación. El presente artículo se centra en la demanda de financiación por parte de las emprendedoras a partir de tres bloques de análisis. En el primero, se estudian las necesidades de recursos financieros de las emprendedoras frente a los emprendedores con el propósito de establecer si hay diferencias relevantes, contrastando si las primeras precisan menos financiación que los segundos a la hora de llevar a cabo iniciativas empresariales. En el siguiente bloque, se analizan las fuentes de financiación principal declaradas por las emprendedoras de 69 países en la encuesta del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), identificando varios clústeres relevantes con resultados diversos. Esto último hace posible, para terminar, contrastar empíricamente las diferencias en las fuentes principales expresadas por hombres y mujeres para financiar sus negocios.

Women are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers, and this poses new challenges at the dawn of the era of digital transformation. The goal of the present study is to demonstrate how female role models influence girls’ preferences for STEM studies. This paper evaluates a role-model intervention in which female volunteers working in STEM go into schools to talk to girls about their careers. The study was conducted with 304 girls, from 12 years old (sixth primary grade) to 16 years old (fourth secondary grade), both before and after the role-model sessions. An adaptation of the expectancy–value theory of achievement motivation is used to test the extent to which this role-model intervention improves girls’ beliefs that they can be successful in STEM fields and increases their likelihood of choosing a STEM career. The results of multigroup structural equation modeling analysis show that on average, the role-model intervention has a positive and significant effect on mathematics enjoyment, importance attached to math, expectations of success in math, and girls’ aspirations in STEM, and a negative effect on gender stereotypes. Additionally, the female role-model sessions significantly increase the positive impact of expectations of success on STEM choices. Finally, the moderation role of the counterstereotypical content of the role-model sessions is tested. The results show that the higher the counterstereotypical character of the sessions, the higher the relationship between expectations of success in math and the choice of STEM. These results are discussed regarding their implications for long-term STEM engagement.

Women are still underrepresented in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). One of the possible drivers behind this gender gap in the labour market is the female dropout from STEM education. The causes of the gender differences in the persistence of pursuing STEM studies have been explained by multiple factors related to interest and resolution in this type of career. The goal of the present research is to study the Engineering persistence gender gap in higher education by exploring the main factors underlying the leakage in the pipeline of Engineering fields. Our study reports the results of 34 qualitative in-depth interviews where internal barriers, stereotypes and external obstacles are assessed by women who have left their university degrees, compared with men who have withdrawn and women who have persisted. Results from the content analysis suggest that the undermining of persistence in Engineering fields is related to factors such as the chilly and hostile environment in classes or the workload from an excessively demanding curriculum. Other factors affecting women’s withdrawal are the lack of role models and the perceived incongruity between the female gender role and STEM roles in society, leading to a weakening of female students’ self-efficacy and eroding their sense of belongingness, even making them consider dropping out of their Engineering degree. These findings provide information for the design of future STEM interventions aimed to enhance women’s persistence in STEM university studies.

La escasez de mujeres líderes en el campo científico supone excluir la perspectiva femenina de la ciencia, fomentando que se creen y desarrollen soluciones dirigidas y orientadas por hombres, lo que provoca que la sociedad se vea privada del punto de vista y los aportes de la mitad de la población. Ante esta nueva situación, la pregunta que surge es cómo afectará este nuevo paradigma a la diversidad, y más específicamente a las diferencias de género en el ámbito laboral, dada la escasez de vocaciones de las mujeres en estas disciplinas. Este problema ha cobrado relevancia en los últimos tiempos, porque en los procesos de transformación digital en los que están inmersas muchas empresas, este tipo de perfil profesional está cobrando cada vez más relevancia. La creciente demanda de profesionales en estas áreas contrasta con la escasez de candidatas femeninas con estudios STEM, lo que acaba convirtiéndose en un problema especialmente notorio en los niveles más altos de las organizaciones, donde prácticamente todos los consejeros con este perfil son hombres (Carnevale et al., 2011). Si bien existe una creciente literatura sobre estos temas, sin embargo, algunos aspectos relacionados con la efectividad de las medidas que están tomando las organizaciones públicas y privadas para minimizar esta infrarrepresentación de las mujeres en STEM permanecen casi inexplorados. Esta tesis doctoral pretende contribuir al conocimiento científico y la literatura académica mediante el análisis de algunos temas relativamente inexplorados que pueden ayudar a comprender y reducir la escasa presencia de mujeres en las profesiones STEM.

The study of Entrepreneurship Framework Conditions (EFC) has found that training and education have, among other things, a positive effect on overcoming barriers when starting your own firm. Our research can be placed in this line, but with an added specificity, since it is focused firstly on women and secondly on the digital economy. Thus, we have studied the situation of women entrepreneurs in the digital economy in Spain, asking them about their personal traits, the characteristics of their ventures and the barriers they encountered. We have studied the effect of EFCs on overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship, with a special focus on training and entrepreneurship education. In addition, the effect of self-efficacy perception (the conviction of having the necessary skills to start a business) on overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship has been factored in. After the implementation of a Structural Equation Model (SEM), we show that training helps female entrepreneurs in the digital economy to overcome barriers to entrepreneurship, especially after the mediation of their self-efficacy perception, which is increased by specific entrepreneurial training. We can conclude that policy recommendations to counteract the gender gap in entrepreneurship with specific training should be promoted, specifically in such a strategic sector as the digital economy