CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON FEMALES’
5.3 MAIN RESULTS OF THE STUDY
In accordance with the empirical objectives as formulated in Chapter 1 (§1.3.3), this section gives a summary of the main results of this study, as explained in Chapter 4 (§4.2, 4.3 and §4.4). The empirical objectives of this study were:
• Determine a demographic profile of females working in the business environment of South Africa.
• Determine the perceptions of females towards the glass ceiling in their current work or management level in the business environment of South Africa, with specific reference to denial, resignation, resilience and acceptance as factors that influence females’ perceptions.
• Determine the relationship between the factors that influence females’ perception of the glass ceiling within the South African business environment.
The first empirical objective was to determine a demographic profile of females working in the business environment of South Africa. This was accomplished by displaying the frequencies and percentages of each response (§4.2). Results showed the majority age group of respondents were between 30 and 39 years old, and they consisted mainly of females who were married with more than one child. The respondents’ top three options chosen regarding their qualification level revealed an almost even distribution between having: a bachelor’s degree, honours degree or master’s degree. The majority of respondents are in middle management positions. The majority of respondents indicated the number of years working at their current employer between four to 10 years, and the number of years in their current position recorded almost an even distribution either between one and three years, or between four and 10 years. The total years working were almost evenly distributed between the two highest options provided: 11 to 15 years, or more than 20 years working experience.
The second empirical objective was addressed in section 4.3: to determine South African females’
perception towards the glass ceiling within their current employment level, which was measured through the CPS factors identified (denial, resignation, resilience and acceptance). Scaled items were displayed according to each factor by: the descriptive statistics (§4.3.1.1-4.3.4.1), which revealed the frequencies and percentages of each item’s response; and the factor analysis (§4.3.1.2-4.3.4.2), which grouped the items according to the factor loadings of the extracted factors identified. The grouping for denial yielded two factors, namely opportunities for promotion and growth, and inequalities in promotion and growth (§4.3.1.2). Resignation was grouped into three factors, which were labelled as obstacles that dilute promotion options, internal reactions that impact management actions, and work-life balance of females (§4.3.2.2). Furthermore, resilience was grouped into four factors, namely organisational support towards career growth, effect of external support on female success, results of management practices by females, and contribution of nurturing skills on success (§4.3.3.2). Lastly, acceptance was grouped into two factors, labelled motivation towards work-life balance and motivation towards career growth (§4.3.4.2).
Reliability between the factors was confirmed by means of the Cronbach alphas; sampling adequacy, which was reported through the KMO; correlation of variables, which was indicated by the Bartlett’s test of sphericity; and eigenvalues, which reported a variance between factors.
Therefore, the statistics confirmed the CPS factors’ presence in confirmation with previous research studies and the literature reviewed.
In confirmation with previous research studies, this study found the presence of denial to be an optimistic view that females can grow their career in the midst of the glass ceiling (Smith et al., 2012:68; Balasubramanian & Lathabhavan, 2017:1131; Sing & Malhotra, 2017:866; Bayati &
Alavi, 2018:271; Askarian et al., 2020:41; Bush, 2020:56).
For resignation, the results of this study confirmed the results of previous research studies (Smith et al., 2012:72; Balasubramanian & Lathabhavan, 2017:1132; Sing & Malhotra, 2017:866; Bayati
& Alavi, 2018:271; Askarian et al., 2020:47; Bush, 2020:56), which stated that although factors contributing to resignation might be present, females still pursue opportunities that enable them to advance in their careers.
In the case of resilience (§4.3.3.2), the results of this study concurred with results from previous research undertaken by Smith et al. (2012:72), Balasubramanian and Lathabhavan (2017:72), Sing and Malhotra (2017:866), Bayati and Alavi (2018:271), Askarian et al. (2020:47) and Bush
(2020:56) that although females work harder to overcome the glass ceiling, they feel they are able to move forward in their careers in spite of the glass ceiling.
Lastly, measuring acceptance confirmed the results of previous research studies (Smith et al., 2012:72; Balasubramanian & Lathabhavan, 2017:1132; Sing & Malhotra, 2017:866; Bayati &
Alavi, 2018:271; Askarian et al., 2020:47; Bush, 2020:56) that females accept the glass ceiling in some instances and might rather pursue other goals than that of career advancement.
Novel to this study, the constructs (acceptance, denial, resilience and resignation) divided into further factors as evident from the factor analysis. This resulted in an improved and more accurate outcome of females’ perception of the glass ceiling in the South African business environment.
Furthermore, the amendments and the refinement to the original questionnaire resulted in the standardisation and validation of the amended questionnaire through the various statistical analyses conducted.
The third empirical objective was addressed in section 4.4, to verify the correlation between the CPS factors that influence females’ perception, measured through Spearman’s rank-order correlation analysis. This was portrayed through the p-values per factor. However, a seemingly small significance with regard to the p-value, motivated the use of the effect sizes to display the difference between the groups through Cohen’s d-value (§4.4.1-§4.4.5). The results indicated correlation between marital status and the CPS factors (§4.4.1), which is a novel finding of this study. Where the domestic partnerships indicated dominantly higher effect sizes with the other groups, this suggests that denial about inequality toward career growth is lower for females in domestic partnerships, and they accept inequality easier but still seek promotion and growth.
Domestic partners feel more resilient in terms of organisation support to grow their careers and with external support, and they also feel more acceptance with regard to motivation of career growth.
The results indicated a positive relationship between academic qualifications and the CPS factors (§4.4.2), which revealed a novel finding of this study. The significance revealed that the higher qualification levels females have, the lower their denial is toward growth and promotion opportunities or inequalities, and therefore they deny the inequalities less than females who are not as qualified. Females with doctoral degrees revealed less resignation towards obstacles of promotion. Ultimately, it was found that females with higher qualifications have a lower resignation than others and experience fewer obstacles towards promotion. These females with doctoral degrees can also confront and shatter the glass ceiling easier, while females with lower
qualifications have a high resignation and therefore accept the status quo of the glass ceiling as part of their life.
Females with bachelor’s degrees indicated resilience towards external support on their success;
consequently, they rely less on external support to be successful; and higher qualified females have higher resilience due to partaking in management practices and would likely shatter the glass ceiling easier. Females with a higher qualification level also indicated more acceptance with having to balance their work and family life responsibilities.
The results indicated a relationship between the management level and the CPS factors (§4.4.3).
Females in higher management levels demonstrate more denial of opportunities and inequalities for promotion and growth. Therefore, they are more likely to be optimistic that it is possible to get promoted and grow in their careers. Females in top management show higher resignation of internal factors that impact their actions compared to the perceptions of supervisors and entrepreneurs. Therefore, they may accept the factors easier because they acknowledge them and are aware of the fact that there is not an alternative option if they want to achieve career success. Females in middle management positions indicated less resignation towards their work- life balance than female entrepreneurs. Therefore, female entrepreneurs accept the difficulty in balancing their work and life responsibilities easier due to having more responsibilities, which force them to handle their given situation and not be deterred to pursue career growth. The females in higher management positions indicated more resilience towards organisational support for growth and towards the effect of external support on their success. Therefore, it is accepted that females in higher management positions do not depend on organisational or external support to succeed in their careers.
Females in top management positions and female entrepreneurs indicated more resilience with regard to the effect that external support has on their success; they also shared higher resilience than the other groups about the contribution of nurturing skills to their success. Therefore, they are of meaning that the nurturing skills that they demonstrate increase their career success.
Furthermore, females in office support positions have a higher acceptance of their work-life balance than females in middle management positions, perhaps due to the number of responsibilities they have and because they do not question the status quo.
A positive relationship between the demographic items and the CPS factors was found (§4.4.4), where females’ perception of opportunities for promotion and growth (denial) increased in relation to the number of years working at their current employer. Furthermore, females’ perception with regard to resilience increased by age, years working at their current employer, and by years’ work
experience. Additionally, females’ acceptance of motivation towards work-life balance increased in relation to their qualification level.
The results further revealed multiple positive correlations between the CPS factors as confirmed by Smith et al. (2012:72) (§4.4.5). However, several correlations also exist between the grouped factors of the CPS scale, which provide an in-depth look at the CPS factors. This implies a novel contribution of the study.
Denial correlated with the other factors (resilience, resignation and acceptance), but showed a negative correlation with resignation of internal reactions that impact management actions. This implies that if denial increases, then the resignation to internal reactions that impact management will decrease, and vice versa. While resignation of obstacles that dilute promotion options increases, so will females’ denial of opportunities to grow increase. Where females’ resilience through support from the organisation increases, their denial in terms of promotion and growth increases along with their resignation towards obstacles of promotion. Acceptance showed small significance with the other factors, but showed the same correlation between its factors, where females’ acceptance of work-life balance increases, so also does their acceptance of career growth.
The next section will explore what contribution these results make to the field of study.