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Disappearing women: Why do women leave senior roles in finance?

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  • Carolyn Neck

Abstract

If Finance companies are keen to increase the number of senior women, understanding why they leave is important. Interviews with 27 women provided deeper understanding of the organisational culture facing women working at senior levels in Finance, as well as insights into the decision to leave. Various cultural aspects can cause frustration – some relate to working in Finance in general, while some relate to issues impacting women. The decision to leave appears to be a combination of frustration, change and choice . Nearly every woman had frustration with her job, but this alone was rarely enough to trigger a decision to leave. This tended to be at a time when the woman was undergoing some form of change (in personal circumstances or seeking change in her life) at which time she considered her options. Choice was also important. It seems women have choice to leave a senior role and take a lower paying one, or one with more flexibility – or even not to work at all.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolyn Neck, 2015. "Disappearing women: Why do women leave senior roles in finance?," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 40(3), pages 488-510, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ausman:v:40:y:2015:i:3:p:488-510
    DOI: 10.1177/0312896215578014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:ilo:ilowps:344117 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dwyer, Sean & Richard, Orlando C. & Chadwick, Ken, 2003. "Gender diversity in management and firm performance: the influence of growth orientation and organizational culture," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(12), pages 1009-1019, December.
    3. Cristian L. Dezsö & David Gaddis Ross, 2012. "Does female representation in top management improve firm performance? A panel data investigation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(9), pages 1072-1089, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Chen, Xiaoyan & Ling, Xin & Smith, Tom & Zhu, Yushu, 2017. "Research in finance: A review of influential publications and a research agenda," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 188-199.
    2. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Chen, Xiaoyan & Ling, Xin & Smith, Tom & Zhu, Yushu, 2016. "Emerging trends in Asia-Pacific finance research: A review of recent influential publications and a research agenda," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 66-76.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Banking; choice; interviews; investment banking; organisational culture of finance organisations; senior women; women leaving senior roles in Finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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