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.

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