Leadership Best Practices for Female Executives in the Information Technology Industry
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Pepperdine University Pepperdine Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations 2017 Leadership best practices for female executives in the information technology industry Danielle Jenkins Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd Recommended Citation Jenkins, Danielle, "Leadership best practices for female executives in the information technology industry" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 847. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/847 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology LEADERSHIP BEST PRACTICES FOR FEMALE EXECUTIVES IN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership by Danielle Jenkins July, 2017 Farzin Madjidi, Ed.D. – Dissertation Chairperson This dissertation, written by Danielle Jenkins under the guidance of a Faculty Committee and approved by its members, has been submitted to and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION Doctoral Committee: Farzin Madjidi, Ed.D., Chairperson Lani Simpao Fraizer, Ed.D. Gabriella Miramontes, Ed.D. © Copyright by Danielle Jenkins (2017) All Rights Reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ viii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................. x VITA ................................................................................................................................ xii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Background ........................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................... 9 Purpose Statement .............................................................................................. 11 Research Questions ............................................................................................ 12 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................... 13 Limitations and Assumptions ............................................................................... 16 Definition of Terms .............................................................................................. 18 Summary ............................................................................................................. 22 Chapter 2: Literature Review .......................................................................................... 25 Leadership Theories ............................................................................................ 25 Gender and Leadership ....................................................................................... 31 Transformational Leadership ............................................................................... 34 Leadership and Diversity Theories ...................................................................... 37 Strategic Leadership ............................................................................................ 39 Role Congruity Theory ......................................................................................... 42 Gender and Gender Bias ..................................................................................... 44 Glass Ceiling ....................................................................................................... 48 Gender Barriers and Obstacles ........................................................................... 51 Women and the Leadership Gap ......................................................................... 56 Role of Education ................................................................................................ 58 Gender Equality and the Role of Culture ............................................................. 59 Gender Intelligence ............................................................................................. 61 Women in the IT Industry .................................................................................... 62 Women Contribution to Information Technology ................................................. 66 Information Technology and Organizational Culture ........................................... 68 Workplace Diversity ............................................................................................. 69 Page Gender Diversity in Information Technology ....................................................... 70 Technology Management and Diversity .............................................................. 72 Summary ............................................................................................................. 74 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology .............................................................. 76 Restatement of Research Questions ................................................................... 76 Nature of the Study .............................................................................................. 77 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 80 Research Design ................................................................................................. 83 Protection of Human Subjects ............................................................................. 91 Data Collection .................................................................................................... 92 Interview Techniques ........................................................................................... 94 Interview Protocol ................................................................................................ 95 Statement of Personal Bias ............................................................................... 102 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................... 102 Inter-rater Reliability and Validity ....................................................................... 104 Summary ........................................................................................................... 105 Chapter 4: Findings ...................................................................................................... 106 Participants ........................................................................................................ 107 Data Collection .................................................................................................. 111 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................... 114 Data Display ...................................................................................................... 115 Summary ........................................................................................................... 158 Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................ 161 Summary of the Study ....................................................................................... 162 Summary of Findings ......................................................................................... 163 Key Findings ...................................................................................................... 170 Implications of the Study ................................................................................... 171 Recommendations for Future Study .................................................................. 176 Researcher’s Observations ............................................................................... 182 Final Thoughts ................................................................................................... 183 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 185 APPENDIX A. Letter to Prospective Participants ......................................................... 228 APPENDIX B. Interview Recruitment Phone Script ...................................................... 229 APPENDIX C. Interview Recruitment E-mail Script ...................................................... 230 v Page APPENDIX D. IRB Site Permission .............................................................................. 231 APPENDIX E. IRB Site Permission .............................................................................