Right time to join? Organizational imprinting and women's careers in public service organizations

Rachel Ashworth, Sarah Maria Lysdal Krøtel and Anders R. Villadsen

Gender, Work and Organization, 2023, vol. 30, issue 3, 773-792

Abstract: Women across the economy continue to encounter difficulties in progressing their careers as occupational segregation and precarious conditions symbolized by the “glass ceiling” and “glass cliff” indicate. Theories of imprint‐organization fit indicate that organizational munificence at the time of appointment may be an important influence on individual careers. Prosperous conditions at the time of hire might generate confidence and capability, whilst scarcity may prompt resourcefulness and resilience. While these effects have been examined in small private firms, they have been relatively unexplored in the context of public service organizations. Moreover, there has been little attention to the study of organizational munificence in the context of women's careers. Drawing on the Integrated Database for Labor Market Research in Denmark, this study evaluates the impact of organizational munificence at appointment on subsequent financial career benefits for women in Danish public services. Results indicate that resource scarcity at the time of appointment is related to enhanced career outcomes, and that the influence of conditions at the outset of a woman's career is more pronounced for women with lower levels of experience and education. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12911

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:gender:v:30:y:2023:i:3:p:773-792

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0968-6673

Access Statistics for this article

Gender, Work and Organization is currently edited by David Knights, Deborah Kerfoot and Ida Sabelis

More articles in Gender, Work and Organization from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().