Increasing Gender Diversity in Higher Education Leadership: The Role of Executive Search Firms

Simonetta Manfredi, Kate Clayton-Hathway and Emily Cousens
Additional contact information
Simonetta Manfredi: Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Kate Clayton-Hathway: Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Emily Cousens: Oxford Brookes University Business School, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK

Social Sciences, 2019, vol. 8, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Women are under-represented in leadership roles in United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Existing scholarship focuses on institutional barriers, which include cognitive bias and entrenched homosocial cultures, rather than external factors such as the use of executive search firms (ESFs) in recruitment and selection. Recent research indicates that the use of ESFs is increasing for senior HEI appointments. This analysis offers insights on these firms’ involvement from a gender equality perspective, based on the results from a study that used a ‘virtuous circle’ approach to research and knowledge exchange. The requirement for HEIs to pay ‘due regard’ to equality considerations under the Public Sector Equality Duty provides a framework for analysis. This paper provides new insights on the dynamics within recruitment processes when ESFs are involved and on how a legislative approach can leverage better equality outcomes.

Keywords: gender; executive search; higher education; equality duty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/6/168/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/8/6/168/ (text/html)

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:gam:jscscx:v:8:y:2019:i:6:p:168-:d:236410

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().