Perceptions of organizational culture and women's advancement in organizations: A cross-cultural examination

This study is a cross-cultural examination of the relationship between organizational culture and women advancement to management in organizations. The source of data for this study was the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Project, a cross-cultural study of societal culture, organizational culture, and leadership. The results of this study indicate that aspects of organizational culture typically associated with women are related to women's progress. In organizations in which organization members reported shared values of high humane orientation and high gender equity, organization members also reported high percentages of women in management relative to other organizations in their society. In addition, organizational cultural practices that emphasized high humane orientation, high gender equity, high performance orientation, and low power distance were also related to reports of high percentages of women in management relative to societal norms. Results of regression analysis predicting the percentage of women in management from the dimensions of organizational culture indicated that gender equity practices and values emphasizing humane orientation contributed significantly to the prediction of the percentage of women in management. Organizational cultural practices related to gender equity were found to be the most important predictor of the percentage of women in management. This study adds to the literature on women's progress in organizations by further extending the focus from individual and structural characteristics to characteristics of organizational culture. The findings suggest that change agents focused on increasing opportunities for women in management should attend to organizational culture, particularly aspects of culture related to gender equity practices.