Organizational Support for Action Learning in South Korean Organizations

Cho, Yonjoo; Egan, Toby

doi:10.1002/hrdq.21154

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…In addition, performance evaluation and in-house global leadership programs greatly contributed to their advancement. Given research on organizational support for leadership, human resource practices, and working conditions (Carter et al, 2013;Cho and Egan, 2013;Kurtessis et al, 2017;Walsh, Fleming, & Enz, 2016), this study's findings have qualitatively confirmed the importance of organizational support for women CEOs' career success.…”

Section: Implications For Researchsupporting

confidence: 58%

“A woman CEO? You’d better think twice!”

Cho

Park

Han

et al. 2019

CDI

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) women leaders in South Korea (Korea) have overcome career challenges in the process of becoming CEOs. The two guiding questions for this study included: what career challenges have MNCs’ women leaders in Korea faced to become CEOs? How have they overcome their career challenges? Design/methodology/approach The authors used a basic qualitative research design, the goal of which is to understand how people make sense of their lives and experiences. Qualitative data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 15 women CEOs at MNCs in Korea to capture their lived experiences (challenges and strategies) in their careers. The authors used NVivo 11, a qualitative data analysis software, to analyze the interview data. Findings From data analysis, the authors identified five themes including: becoming a CEO, key success factors, MNC culture, career challenges and career development strategies. The authors found that in the process of becoming CEOs, 15 women leaders faced career challenges that are largely generated by traditional culture, work stress and work–life balance. The authors also found that the women leaders became CEOs through diverse on-the-job experiences (e.g. marketing and sales) and positions (e.g. managers, senior managers and regional directors) with organizational support (e.g. supervisor support). Research limitations/implications Given research on organizational support for leadership, human resource practices and working conditions, this study’s findings have qualitatively confirmed the importance of organizational support for women CEOs’ career success. For theory building in women in leadership, the authors suggest that researchers investigate the complex process of becoming women CEOs, including their early experiences in their career in tandem with family background, organizational climate and national culture. Practical implications The study findings on women CEOs’ career strategies can be used as a reference for women in the leadership pipeline who aspire to take leadership positions in organizations. A lack of role models or mentors for women leaders is one of the reasons why women give up on their career. Learning career strategies (e.g. global development programs, mentoring and networks) that women CEOs have employed to overcome their career challenges can help women in the leadership pipeline from their early career on. Originality/value The authors found that both internal and external factors combined were instrumental in the women CEOs’ career success. What stood out from this study was that the women’s desirable personality attributes might not have materialized without the MNC culture that has been supportive for these women. The women CEOs shared their company’s values and philosophy that is based on gender equality, received supervisor support that is crucial for their career success, experienced diverse jobs and positions along the way and were recognized for their work ethic. Given research on women leaders conducted largely in western contexts, this qualitative study on the lived experiences of women CEOs in MNCs contributes to emerging non-western research by capturing the importance of culture that is uniquely Korean.

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Section: Implications For Researchsupporting

confidence: 58%

“A woman CEO? You’d better think twice!”

Cho

Park

Han

et al. 2019

CDI

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“…As a result, I became the youngest team leader in the company. This female executive's testimonial implies the importance of organizational support, particularly supervisor support, on employee learning and performance (Cho and Egan, 2013).…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

How do South Korean female executives’ definitions of career success differ from those of male executives?

Cho

Park

Han

et al. 2017

EJTD

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Sturges, 1999). Men's objective career success is defined by verifiable attainments (e.g., promotions), while women's subjective career success is defined by internal criteria (e.g., worklife balance). Women's careers are considerably more complicated than men's due to barriers imposed by gendered social contexts, so women experience competing priorities for their time and attention across career stages (Mainiero and Sullivan, 2005; O'Neil et al., 2008). However, we are unsure if the study findings are applicable to a different context. Problem Statement Research on career success in a South Korean (Korean, hereafter) context presented similar findings to the western literature: men aim for more objective career success and women for subjective career success. Kim's (2004) study of Korean women employees in a large bank showed that for women, intrinsic aspects were more important determinants of career success than objective measures. In a survey of 260 Korean workers, Kim and Cha (2014) presented 11 dimensions that Korean workers defined as career success including: learning/experience,

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“…In Volume 24 of HRDQ, Cho and Egan (), as well as Li, Gray, and Lockwood () presented innovative studies of workplace learning. Dachner, Saxten, Noe, and Keeton () described a novel approach to needs assessment in a rapidly changing environment.…”

Section: Conclusion and Insights For Authors Submitting To Hrdqmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Resource Development ≠ Human Resource Management: So What Is It?

Werner

2014

Human Resource Dev Quarterly

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This editorial describes the fields of human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD), including brief histories of both areas. Distinctions between the fields are made, as well as overlap between them. Ideas are presented concerning ways that manuscripts submitted to this journal can be best positioned for successful outcomes. A framework from Mankin () is used to depict overlap between organizational strategy and structure, organizational culture, HRM, and HRD. As these topics converge in greater alignment, the need for and centrality of strong HRD principles and practices should increase.

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Organizational Support for Action Learning in South Korean Organizations

Cited by 14 publications

References 74 publications

“A woman CEO? You’d better think twice!”

“A woman CEO? You’d better think twice!”

How do South Korean female executives’ definitions of career success differ from those of male executives?

Human Resource Development ≠ Human Resource Management: So What Is It?

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