Glass ceiling

Abstract

The motivation of the present study is to investigate the association between perceived glass ceiling and career satisfaction among Indian managers. The study examined the impact of glass ceilings at the career satisfaction level of employees mediated by organization identification and organizational trust. The sample for the present study embraces 237 middle level managers representing organizations in Delhi/NCR. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were used. Results illustrate that a significant and negative relationship is found between glass ceiling and career satisfaction which implies that if employees feel that glass ceiling exists in the organization, their career satisfaction will be less. The results validate that the impact of glass ceiling decreases after introducing the mediating effects of trust and organizational identification on career satisfaction. The subsistence of the glass ceiling in the organizations will indirectly be fortified due to inadequacies in networking, mentoring, flexible working hours and family friendly initiatives. Therefore, modifying the human resource policies and practices and altering the organizational culture and attitudes of executives shall help organizations preserve their extremely able women workforce.

Keywords

career satisfaction gender glass ceiling mediation organizational identification organizational trust

Introduction

We always talk about women empowerment, but none works for it. In India, males have been brought up in a way that they believe that they are and only they should be the bread winner for the family and females are there only to take care of their home and kids, that is why there is so much of male dominance not only in India but in other countries as well. We are in 21st century but still a male candidate will give the job opportunity a second thought if he has female as his reporting manager, here male ego gives rise to the mentality ‘why to work under a female’ because they consider female as a weaker sex. And this thought process is not of novel it’s prevailing since ages. Likewise, females have also been instilled with these thoughts that they are made for household chores and taking care of kids, that is her only responsibility and she shall not think beyond that.

The term glass ceiling refers to the intangible barrier that is not visible but stops women in laddering up to senior levels at workplace. It is not that glass ceiling is the new problem; it has been there, always. Though the advancement in education and changing mindset of generation X have encouraged women to think differently and have given them the belief that they are equal to men in the race of life. Not only has this, but globalization, socio-economic conditions helped women to change their self-perception (Stedham and Yamamura, 2004). Nowadays women participation in the workforce has increased, they are experienced and ready enough to take up managerial roles but career path does not give them red carpet treatment. They still have to struggle to reach at top management role, they need to prove themselves and their dedication towards work harder than men, not only glass ceiling women need to combat other metaphors like ‘glass doors’, ‘glass elevators’, ‘glass cliffs’ and so on which means greater surveillance and exposition (Ryan and Haslam, 2005). In spite of professional eligibilities and enough opportunities, women employees are not appropriately pictured in higher corridors of organization (Pillai et al., 2011).

The discrimination against women in the workplace is encouraged and propagated through the gendering process. The present article is based on the gendering theory. ‘Relations between men and women are shaped by the roles, attitudes, ideas, practices and behaviors imbibed and internalized by them during the process of socialization termed gendering’ (Nelson et al., 2016: 33). Calas and Smircich (1997: 301) defines

gendering as social system is a process, produced and reproduced through relations of power among differently positioned members of society, including relations emerging from historical processes, dominant discourses and institutions and dominant epistemological conceptualizations, all of which become naturalized as ‘the way it is’.

Acker (1990: 146) illustrates that

to say that an organization is gendered means that advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control, action and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned through and in terms of a distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine. Gender is not an addition to ongoing processes, conceived as gender neutral. Rather, it is an integral part of those processes, which cannot be properly understood without an analysis of gender.

In this study, we have tried to find out the impact of glass ceilings at the career satisfaction level of women employees mediated by organization identification and organizational trust. Now, career satisfaction is a vague term and it has many aspects attached to it, it is not only about job satisfaction it is about the career path that one is moving on. It is about individual choices the person makes, it includes their options and priorities. It is about how positive the employee feels about his career development at the organization and the skills that he has learned and accumulated over the years (Seibert and Kraimer, 2001). Furthermore, we have taken organization identification and organizational trust as mediators in our study, which may lessen the impact of glass ceiling because the employee is able to identify his goals with the goals of the organization and may want to stay with organization. It is generally assumed that organization identification is the degree to which everyone’s identity in a group will be universally believed and shared (Kreiner and Ashforth, 2004). The members of the organization adhere to it when they assimilate the features that are connected with the organization into their self-concept, thus if women employees feel that the organization has same set of values and goals and may given enriched work profile in which they can get lots of new skills to learn and which in turn will enrich their qualifications and job profiles, they might overlook certain aspects in order to acquire new knowledge and expertise. Trust also plays a key role in lessening the effect of glass ceilings. Although employees do not have any authority to intervene in management’s decisions, they have this trust that organization will keep their benefit in mind and will make choices which will in best of employees interest. In these uncertain economic and social environment there is lot of job insecurity, female employees may fell victim to this more easily than men, hence when the organization is able to create that trust that their job is secure and they have good work profiles they feel like staying with the organizations and lower down their aspirations in terms of leadership roles.

Work–life balance happens to be an alarming affair in the current business environment. In the case of women employees, it has become all the more decisive, as they have to balance the demands of both personal and the professional lives. Noronha and Aithal (2017) illustrate that due to these demands subsistence of glass ceiling happens and acts as a barrier for women employees in their pursuance for top management positions. Furthermore, ‘Overall percentage representation of women in 100 best companies for female employees has gone up to 30.55% in year 2017 from 25.25% in 2016’ (Women Representation in India Inc, 2017), which makes it more essential to carry out research on impact of glass ceilings on their career satisfaction levels in Indian organizations. The present article contributes significantly to the general management, the reason being the glass ceiling is not restricted to one department or a particular industry but it prevails in all departments of organizations and across all the industries. Moreover, the glass ceiling is present all over the world as the factors that keep women away are the same, though their intensity may vary based on the nation or region. The study will examine the impact of glass ceilings at the career satisfaction level of employees mediated by organization identification and organizational trust in Indian context.

Theory and hypotheses

The present study constitutes of Glass Ceiling as an independent variable, Career Satisfaction as a dependent variable and Trust and Organizational Identification as mediating variables. Glass Ceiling is expected to relate negatively with Career Satisfaction directly and indirectly through the mediating effects of Trust and Organizational Identification. The research model of this study is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Relationship between the study variables.

The term glass ceiling concept evolved around 1980s due to caste system, racial inequalities and gender inequality. It can be described as the hindrance or obstacle which is transparent but yet so strong that it prohibits women and minorities from laddering up in the organization (Morrison and Von Glinow, 1990). Earlier the studies were being done about the situations that give rise to such obstacles (e.g. Blum et al., 1994; Powell and Butterfield, 1997; Tharenou et al., 1994), and researcher tried to find out the underlying probable sources (e.g. Ballenger, 2010; Boone et al., 2013; Rummel and Viggiana, 2011) and outcomes of such hurdles (e.g. Dostet et al., 2012; Rosin and Korabik, 1991). Researches on glass ceiling have mostly been anecdotal in nature; it is just some of the work that has theoretical background as well (Crocker and Major, 1989; Friedman and Davidson, 1999). Researchers have established that there are quite a few self-related issues that besiege the women’s managerial flexibility, family issues (Bombuwela et al., 2013) and motherhood in particular (Kargwell, 2008) have been considered to contribute to organizational glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is also connected to structural surroundings (Ballenger, 2010), without proper supervision and networking opportunity (Boone et al., 2013; Dimoivski et al., 2010; Sabat and Mishra, 2010) coming up as major challenges. Wage differentials, organizational hierarchy, time commitments and promotional opportunities limit the growth of the women to senior positions. Risper and Anesh (2013) argue that disrespect from males and apathy towards the multiple roles they manage is added on in concept of glass ceiling. In today’s era also there is a lot of male dominance everywhere, males feel themselves superior from females hence gender discrimination comes in play, and they do not feel commanded by women which lead to ego clashes.

Career Satisfaction

Career Satisfaction is a subjective dimension that focuses on employee’s view point and their level of satisfaction with their overall career goals inclusive of income, career path and learning new skills (Greenhaus et al., 1990). Career refers to the result of work-related experiences or results like income enhancement, status, promotions that are tangible observations (Seibert and Kraimer, 2001). Previous researches focused on career success and career satisfaction (Gattiker and Larwood, 1988), although such studies were consistent with the supremacy of hierarchical companies where career success was measured on the basis of promotions and ranks (Hall and Chandler, 2005). Today career is a broader term and is not confined to promotions or ranks but is generally considered as an extent to which a person feels satisfied with his professional accomplishments during the journey of life (Hall, 2002). Referring to this career can be explained as the psychologically positive work-related experiences accumulated over certain time period (Seibert and Kraimer, 2001).

Glass Ceiling and Career Satisfaction

Glass Ceiling has many outcomes, the major outcome as already discussed that women’s career growth stops at particular level and moving upward beyond that point becomes very difficult. It is not only about promotions but it is also associated with pay gaps. The gap is more for the females who have broken or close to breaking the glass ceiling (Morris, 2005), The Government Accountability Office, U.S. (GAO) data reveals that still females trail behind their male counterpart, full-time women managers are earning less in comparison to male managers in both 1995 and 2000 (Dingell and Maloney, 2002). Blau and Kahn (2000) reveals economic analysis showing the downfall in the wage gap and evidence that high wage ratio for junior women declines with age. Women at the top most management level face more hurdles than their male colleagues and junior female employees. Despite of working hard, doing the same work as their male counterparts, yet they have to face the pay cut, less authority, less opportunities for international mobility (Catalyst, 2003; Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995; Lyness and Thompson, 1997). Thus due to the existence of glass ceiling women do not get the chance to apply for certain job profiles, they need to compromise on compensation, equal pressure of family demands lead them lagging behind their male counterparts. Such inequalities at the workplace in turn give rise to glass ceilings and victimization and undoubtedly have negative effect on career satisfaction of women employees who are being treated unfairly. Inequality and its relationship with satisfaction and performance are mostly negative. It cannot be guaranteed that gender equality at work will lead to satisfaction as there are other variables which come into play.

H1: There is a negative and significant association between Glass ceiling and Career Satisfaction.

Organization Identification

From a long time, researchers have been applying social identity theory to workplace, Organization Identification is the more specific form of social identification, which define the level of membership of an employee in an organization (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Riketta, 2005; Van Dick, 2004). Haslam et al. (2003) argued that without organization identification it is not possible to have effective communication, no proper planning and leadership. Mael and Ashforth (1992) described organization identification as a feeling of togetherness or belongingness to the organization, where individual describes ‘him in terms of the organization of which one is a member’ (p. 104). The extent to which an employee feels himself a part of organization goals and values is very important for both the parties (Boros, 2008). It has been suggested that for any organization, identification plays a key role in effective functioning (Fuller et al., 2006). For an employee, organization identification produces the sense of identity and self-definition. This can prove to be an effective and cognitive bond between organization and individual, where they feel membership in the organization and this has positive impact on work environment and work behaviour within the organization. More is the degree of identification of an employee with the organization, more they will work in conformity with the organization goals (Dutton et al., 1994) and will feel like staying in the organization (Reade, 2001).

Organization Identification and Career Satisfaction

Explanation about the employee work behaviour, studies have looked at social identity theory (Walumbwa et al., 2011) which is the basis for the concept of organization identification. Employees use the identification as a way of assessing and categorizing the information in environment and locating themselves in the environment. In various studies, identification had been researched extensively as a measure of extent to which employee feels himself a part of organization (Ashforth and Mael, 1989), specifically how united the organization and his team is and how much trust is there among team members. Career Satisfaction is nowadays most important topic in studies related to organization behaviour. Extent of employee’s satisfaction with his career path may vary from organization to organization. Career satisfaction is the extent to which the employee adores and feels contentment with his career growth path, if the employee feels negative towards their jobs, it reflects that they are not happy and less satisfied with their jobs (Catt and Miller, 1991), hence low level of career satisfaction. Job satisfaction is about employees’ feeling of satisfaction with his work profile but career satisfaction is about their feelings regarding their entire career (Lounsbury et al., 2008; Sauer, 2009). If the employee is able to identify his goals with the goals of organization and feels the sense of unity with co-workers and belongingness with the organization and feels that the organization is supporting him in accomplishing his career goals, more happy and satisfied he will be leading to success of the organization and happiness of employees.

H2: There is a positive and significant association between Organizational Identification and Career Satisfaction.

Glass Ceiling and Organization Identification

Glass Ceiling, a term which came into light in 1980s caught the attention of researchers including Bell et al. (2002), Pichler et al. (2008), Hoobler et al. (2009), Dimovski et al. (2010a, 2010b), Adams and Funk (2012) and Al-Manasra (2013). The glass ceiling effect refers to the obstacles that hinder the growth of women employee and deprive them of achieving leadership positions in the organization (Smith and Crimes, 2007 as cited in Al-Manasra, 2013) is a form of gender bias (Bell et al., 2002). Despite of the discrimination, if the employee still feels connected to the organization and is comfortable with the work environment, have good peer relations, she might be able to identify his long-term goals in line with the organization’s goal. It is not only about the positions but female employees appreciate if the flexible work environment is given to them. Every individual incline to classify people in their vicinity and define the work environment as per those classification. Employees classify themselves also as the part of same organization, which in later stages motivate them to work for the interest of it (Foote, 1951). Working further on this dimension, Brown (1969) studied identification in organization and used Kelman’s (1958) procedure and considered organization identification as self-governing construct. As per this, individuals tend to establish relationships with one another, and this helps them in developing self-definition when they communicate with organization as well (Kelman, 1958). Lee (1971) considered belongingness and loyalty as the major constructs of his concept. Thus if female workforce feels the sense of belongingness, organization support, good work friends, flexible work environment and job security, their identification gets increased despite of the glass ceiling effect.

H3: There is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Organizational Identification.

Organizational Trust

Trust plays a pivotal role in organizations where employees are recommended to develop harmonious social relations to achieve results (Chan, 1997). Albeit trust among colleagues is an essential ingredient, it has not been studied extensively in reference to relationship between co-workers, rather there have been studies on Organizational Trust and Organization Success (Connell et al., 2003). Trust can also be considered as ability of the person to be able to have faith on another individual to accomplish the task without supervision (Mayer et al., 1995). These future-oriented expectations evolve through cognitive and affective information, thus trust has both emotional and affective basis (McAllister, 1995). The intellective side of trust is our evaluation of trustworthiness and firmness of the actions and attitude of others, whereas affective basis of trust is about emotional connection among individuals which leads to affective partnership and affirmation (Lewis and Weigert, 1985). Becker (1996) argues that sometimes even though we may not trust a person on cognitive basis but we still believe in them on non-cognitive basis.

Glass Ceiling and Trust

Studies in the area of business ethics have presumed Organizational Trust as a bridge between organizational theory and philosophical ethics (Hosmer, 1995). Cummings and Bromiley (1996: 303) define the importance of team trust as common belief among the group member who builds good faith to work in line with the group commitment and is genuine towards the guidelines discussed regarding same and does not try to take undue advantage even when the opportunity is available. Glass ceiling literature represents various insights and reasons that hinder career growth of women, some of them are attitude and behaviour related and some are structural that obstruct the career growth of women (Smith and Crimes, 2007; Pollard, 2007). Schein (1973) explains that some qualities that often reside in men are leadership, confidence, objectivity, ambition and so on. There are various organizational barriers for women, such as lack of crèches at office, networking issues and other domestic constraints. Glass ceilings arise due to lack of trust in abilities of female employees, their leadership skills and due to their multitasking, that is, managing home and office together. Organizations feel that they may not always be readily available; multitasking may reduce their focus on work which may not be beneficial for the organization. Therefore,

H4: There is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Trust.

Trust and Career Satisfaction

Career Satisfaction is majorly a matter of an executive weighing his or her career expectations with those being extended by his company, every person make these comparisons on regular basis and at certain stages of career such as job change, promotion, profile change and so on, and this leads to a decision regarding career satisfaction. Career Satisfaction as a benchmark for evaluating one’s whole career has researched as an important subjective factor for career conclusion. Gattiker and Larwood (1988) explained it as an impression of individual’s values and preferences for income level, challenging role, work environment, work friends, job security and that may have an impact on one’s assessment of his/her professional accomplishments. Employees who have organizational support and trust and good work relations feel happy, engaged and are more creative at work (Amabile and Kramer, 2011).

Organizational Trust comprises of factors like honesty, faith and earnestness that employees have towards each other within the organization where they are made embodied with behaviour (Arslan, 2009: 276). Trust has various aspects such as trust towards superiors, trust among peers and trust of employee towards organization system and policies as well (Çıtır and Kavi, 2010: 233). Organization factors that impact work satisfaction are work profile, growth path, relations with superiors and peers, work environment, job security, and so on (Arslan, 2009; Blomqwist and Stahle, 2000; Butler, 1991; Cook and Wall, 1980; Dinler, 2010; Lämsä and Pučėtaitė, 2006; Mayer et al., 1995; Mishra, 1996; Pillai et al., 1999; Samadov, 2006; Schoorman et al., 2007; Zarvandi and Zarvandi, 2012). There is a meaningful relation between Organizational Trust and Career Satisfaction. High job satisfaction level within organization and high organizational trust within the result of studies (Arslan, 2009; Blomqvist and Stahle, 2000; Perry and Mankin, 2007) possibly will support this opinion. It is also believed that high organizational trust is closely knitted with development of cooperation and company’s mission and in turn is related with career satisfaction as well.

H5: There is a positive and significant association between Trust and Career Satisfaction.

H6: The impact of glass ceiling decreases after introducing the mediating effects of Trust and Organizational Identification on Career Satisfaction.

Methodology

Sample and data collection

Data from middle level managers belonging to varied sectors of Delhi-NCR region of India was collected for the present study. Out of 300 questionnaires being sent, we received 237 complete questionnaires. The data were collected in two phases with a gap of approximately 1 month. In the first phase, data were collected for demographics, and predictor and criterion variables (glass ceiling and career satisfaction). In this second phase, data pertaining to the mediating variables (trust and organizational identification) were collected. Of all the respondents, 157 were males and 119 were females; 138 had graduate degrees, 124 had postgraduate degrees and the remaining 4 had ‘other’ degree. One hundred twenty-nine of them were married, 146 unmarried and the remaining 1 didn’t disclosed her identity. Statistical technique like correlation, reliability, factor analysis and mediator regression analysis were used to analyse the data. One of the limitations associated with the generalizability of the results when a non-random sampling technique is used, due to limitation of resources. Second significant limitation was paucity and unavailability of literature to determine the relationship between mediating variables (trust and organizational identification) and glass ceilings–career satisfaction relationship.

Procedure

All ethical considerations were made to protect the participants. The survey was voluntary and completely anonymous.

Assessment of the effects of common method variance

In order to overcome the problem of common method variance in our study which might have occurred due to self-reported measures by the same respondents, we used Harman’s one factor test as per the recommendation of Podsakoff et al. (2003). All the items were analysed using varimax rotation (Andersson and Bateman, 1997; Aulakh and Gencturk, 2000). The notion that more than 50% of the variance in single factor confirms the presence of common method variance was rooted out in our study as the first emerging factor explained only 34.56% and the remaining four factors together contributed to 65.44% of variance.

Measurements

Organizational Identification

Mael and Ashforth’s (1992) 6-item organizational identification scale was administered to determine follower’s organizational identification. Participants were asked to mark the statements ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Cronbach’s α was found to be 0.71.

Trust

Trust items from Schoorman and Ballinger (2006) was used for the present study. The scale ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Cronbach’s α was found to be 0.67, which is considered as a fair reliability (Hair et al., 2006).

Career Satisfaction scale

Career satisfaction was measured by the CSS (Greenhaus et al., 1990). Items like ‘I am satisfied with the success I have achieved in my career’ and ‘I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my overall career goals’ were the part of the study.

Glass Ceiling

The perception of glass ceiling is measured from scale developed and used by Jyoti et al. (2011). Five points Likert-type scale ranging from ‘Strongly Disagree = 1’ to ‘Strongly Agree = 5’ was used to measure the response. Statements like ‘Not easily promoted from lower to top positions’ and ‘Receive different salaries as men for the same job nature’ were the part of the study.

Analysis and results

Reliability and validity analysis

Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) suggestion for reliability values of 0.70 ad higher was taken into consideration to assess the inter-item consistency of for the present study. The results in Table 1 validate the internal consistency and reliability. Furthermore, construct validity was also taken into consideration for ascertaining whether the constructs differ from each other.

Table 1.

Convergent reliability of the measurement models.

Construct/indicator	Factor loadings
Organizational Identification	AVE = 0.719, CR = 0.935, α = 0.91
1. When someone criticizes the organization, it feels like a personal insult.	937
2. I am very interested in what others think about the organization.	930
3. I talk about this organization, I usually say ‘we’ rather than ‘they’.	890
4. This organization’s successes are my successes.	813
5. When someone praises this organization, it feels like a personal compliment.	805
6. If a story in the media criticized the organization, I would feel embarrassed.	641
Trust	AVE = 0.774, CR = 0.931, α = 0.82
1. Willing to let my supervisor have complete control over my future.	986
2. Feel comfortable being creative because my supervisor understands.	760
3. Supervisor keeps my interests in mind when making decisions.	912
4. Willing to let my supervisor have complete control.	846
Carrier Satisfaction	AVE = 0.791, CR = 0.949, α = 0.93
1. Satisfied with the success I have achieved in my career.	937
2. Satisfied with the progress towards meeting my overall career goals.	906
3. Satisfied with the progress made towards meeting my goals for income.	880
4. Satisfied with the progress towards meeting my goals for advancement.	778
5. Satisfied with the progress towards meeting goals for the development of new skills	937
Glass Ceiling	AVE = 0.799, CR = 0.940, α = 0.91
1. Receive different salaries as men for the same job nature.	833
2. Not easily promoted from lower to top positions.	915
3. Promotion percentage to higher positions is low as compared to men.	921
4. Denied to hold higher positions due to the limited leadership.	904

In order to assess the inter-item consistency, composite reliability is used using Cronbach’s α. We followed Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) suggestion of considering reliability coefficient values of 0.70 or higher than it. It can be observed from Table 1 that all the constructs used in the study has a good reliability and internal consistency. In order to ascertain that the scale items are measuring the theoretical construct, construct validity was tested. Test of construct validity requires testing of convergent validity as well as discriminant validity (Campbell and Fiske, 1959). We assessed convergent validity by observing the item loading and the loading of 0.7 indicates that about one-half of the item’s variance (the squared loading) can be attributed to the construct (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). If we observe Table 1, except one item having loading over 0.6, all other loadings were found to be above 0.7, thus indicating the statistical significance between the items and the constructs. In order to assess the discriminant validity, Fornell and Larcker’s (1981) suggestion of comparing the variance shared between the constructs with the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for each individual construct. Discriminant validity of a construct is considered as adequate when the AVE of each construct is greater than the correlation. AVE is represented diagonally in Table 2 and the correlations are represented in rows and columns and it can be observed from the results that AVE is found to be greater than the correlational values (Table 2). Hence, the results fully support the reliability and validity of the constructs used in the study.

Table 2.

Correlation and discriminant validity (N = 237).

Variables	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4
Trust	24.48	2.79	0.89
Career Satisfaction	14.60	5.28	0.78**	0.88
Organisational Identification	17.10	5.45	0.56**	0.76**	0.84
Glass Ceiling	11.73	4.41	−0.53**	−0.84**	−0.71**	0.87

Note: Diagonal elements are square root of AVE values. The bold and italic values depicts discriminant values.

**p < 0.01.

Table 2 explains the correlation and discriminant validity of the study variables. A significant and negative relationship is found between Glass Ceiling and Career Satisfaction (r = −.84, p < 0.01), thus validating our first hypothesis of the study that there is a significant and negative relationship between Glass Ceiling and Career Satisfaction. The second hypothesis of the study that there is a positive and significant association between Organizational Identification and Career Satisfaction is also validated by the result (r = 0.76, p < 0.01), respectively. Similarly, the third hypothesis of the study that there is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Organizational Identification is also validated by the result (r = −0.71, p < 0.01), respectively. A significant and negative correlation between Glass Ceiling and Trust (r = −0.53, p < 0.01) and a positive and significant correlation between Trust and Career Satisfaction (r = −0.78, p < 0.01) validates the fourth and fifth hypotheses of our study which states that there is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Trust and a positive and significant association between Trust and Career Satisfaction both are validated by the results.

Mediated regression analysis

The present study aims to find out the mediating role of trust on Glass Ceiling–Career Satisfaction relationship. Tables 3 and 4 found that there exists a negative relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling (β = −0.84, Adj R ² = 0.71, p < 0.01), thus fulfilling the first condition of mediation relationship.

Table 3.

Results of mediated regression analysis with Trust as a mediator.

Equation	Criterion variable	Predictor variable	β	Adj R ²	F
1	Career Satisfaction	Glass Ceiling	−0.84	0.71	567.71**
2	Trust	Glass Ceiling	−0.53	0.28	90.015**
3	Career Satisfaction	Trust	0.78	0.61	366.34**
4	Career Satisfaction	Glass Ceiling	−0.59	0.86	750.36**
	Trust	41

Note: N = 237.

**p < 0.01.

Table 4.

Results of mediated regression analysis with Organizational Identification as a mediator.

Equation	Criterion variable	Predictor variable	β	Adj R ²	F
1	Career Satisfaction	Glass Ceiling	−0.84	0.71	567.71**
2	Organizational Identification	Glass Ceiling	−0.71	0.50	239.26**
3	Career Satisfaction	Organizational Identification	0.76	0.57	318.28**
4	Career Satisfaction	Glass Ceiling	−0.61	0.76	369.79**
		Organizational Identification	0.32

Note: N = 237.

**p < 0.01.

Second condition of mediation was done after regressing Trust and Organizational Identification on Glass Ceiling. The negative β values in the equation (2) of Tables 3 and 4 show a decrease in Trust and Organizational Identification because of Glass Ceiling. The analysis of equation (2) satisfies the second condition of mediational analysis that the independent variable significantly affects the mediator (β = −0.53, Adj R ² = 0.28, p < 0.01; β = −0.71, Adj R ² = 0.50, p < 0.01).

The third mediation condition was tested by regressing Career Satisfaction on Trust and Organizational Identification. β coefficient was found to be positive and significant (β = 0.78, p < 0.01; β = 0.76, p < 0.01), thus satisfying the third condition of mediation that the mediator significantly affects the dependent variable.

In order to fulfil the fourth condition of mediation that the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable shrinks upon the addition of the mediator to the model, Career Satisfaction was regressed simultaneously on Glass Ceiling, Trust and Organizational Identification. The result in the fourth equation shows that in the presence of Trust and Organizational Identification, the relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling becomes weak. To test whether Trust and Organizational Identification mediates the relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling, the study compared β coefficients for Glass Ceiling for equation (1) (β = −0.84, p < 0.01) and equation (4) (β = −0.59, p < 0.01; β = −0.61, p < 0.01). The comparison between the two equations suggests that in the presence of Trust and Organizational Identification, the impact of Glass Ceiling on Career Satisfaction decreases to a great amount.

Discussion

A significant and negative relationship is found between Glass ceiling and Career Satisfaction (r = −0.84, p < 0.01), thus validating our first hypothesis of the study that there is a significant and negative relationship between Glass ceiling and Career Satisfaction. The second hypothesis of the study states that there is a positive and significant association between Organizational Identification and Career Satisfaction is also validated by the result (r = 0.76, p < 0.01), respectively. Similarly, the third hypothesis of the study states that there is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Organizational Identification is also validated by the result (r = −0.71, p < 0.01), respectively. A significant and negative correlation between Glass Ceiling and Trust (r = −0.53, p < 0.01) and a positive and significant correlation between Trust and Career Satisfaction (r = −0.78, p < 0.01) validates the fourth and fifth hypotheses of our study which states that there is a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Trust and a positive and significant association between Trust and Career Satisfaction both are validated by the results.

To validate the sixth hypothesis that the impact of Glass Ceiling decreases after introducing the mediating effects of Trust and Organizational Identification on Career Satisfaction, regression analysis series was administered as recommended by Baron and Kenney (1986). The present study aims to find out the mediating role of trust on Glass Ceiling–Career Satisfaction relationship. Tables 3 and 4 found that there exists a negative relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling (β = −0.84, Adj R ² = 0.71, p < 0.01), thus fulfilling the first condition of mediation relationship. Second condition of mediation was done after regressing Trust and Organizational Identification on Glass Ceiling. The negative β values in the equation (2) of Tables 3 and 4 show a decrease in Trust and Organizational Identification because of Glass Ceiling. The analysis of equation (2) satisfies the second condition of mediational analysis that the independent variable significantly affects the mediator (β = −0.53, Adj R ² = 0.28, p < 0.01; β = −0.71, Adj R ² = 0.50, p < 0.01). The third mediation condition was tested by regressing Career Satisfaction on Trust and Organizational Identification. β coefficient was found to be positive and significant (β = 0.78, p < 0.01; β = 0.76, p < 0.01), thus satisfying the third condition of mediation that the mediator significantly affects the dependent variable. In order to fulfil the fourth condition of mediation that the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable shrinks upon the addition of the mediator to the model, Career Satisfaction was regressed simultaneously on Glass Ceiling, Trust and Organizational Identification. The result in the fourth equation shows that in the presence of Trust and Organizational Identification, the relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling becomes weak. To test whether Trust and Organizational Identification mediates the relationship between Career Satisfaction and Glass Ceiling, the study compared β coefficients for Glass Ceiling for equation (1) (β = −0.84, p < 0.01) and equation (4) (β = −0.59, p < 0.01; β = −0.61, p < 0.01). The comparison between the two equations suggests that in the presence of Trust and Organizational Identification, the impact of Glass Ceiling on Career Satisfaction decreases to a great amount.

Managerial implications

The present study has profuse implications. As illustrated by the results of the study, a significant and negative relationship is found between Glass ceiling and Career Satisfaction which implies that if women employees feel that glass ceiling exists in the organization their career satisfaction will be less. Thus due to the existence of glass ceiling only women do not get the chance to apply for certain job profiles, they need to compromise on compensation, equal pressure of family demands lead them lagging behind their male counterparts. Such inequalities at the workplace in turn give rise to increased glass ceilings and victimization and undoubtedly will have negative effect on career satisfaction of women employees who are being treated unfairly. Inequality and its relationship with satisfaction and performance are mostly negative (Jake and Lee, 2010: 2). Another implication of the study is that there is a positive and significant association between Organizational Identification and Career Satisfaction. Therefore, if the employee is able to identify his goals with the goals of organization, feels the sense of unity with co-workers and belongingness with the organization and feels that the organization is supporting him in accomplishing his career goals, he will be committed to lead the organization to success. Furthermore, a negative and significant association between Glass Ceiling and Organizational Identification implies that even if the organization provides for the sense of belongingness, organization support, good work friends, flexible work environment and job security, but if glass ceiling exists, all these facets of organizational identification fail and female workforce will not be able identify their goals with that of the organization. The results of the study also depicted a significant and negative correlation between Glass Ceiling and Trust, implying that Glass ceilings in organizations arise due to lack of trust in abilities of female employees, their leadership skills and due to their multitasking, that is, managing home and office together. The reason being that organizations feel that they may not always be readily available; multitasking may reduce their focus on work which may not be beneficial for the organizations. The study also revealed that there exists a positive and significant correlation between Trust and Career Satisfaction, which means if a culture of trust is provided in the organization, its impact on career satisfaction will be positive and career satisfaction will increase. The results of the study also validate the impact of Glass Ceiling decreases after introducing the mediating effects of Trust and Organizational Identification on Career Satisfaction.

Furthermore, ILO (2002) illustrates that the subsistence of ‘old boy networks’ an informal male network as well tends to prohibit women from higher positions. These networks willingly keeps out women from these circles, whereas helps other men to progress by social interaction and other linked activities. Organizations and policy makers need to promote more accommodating networking meetings that comprise individuals of all the genders; all male assemblies that deliberately keep out women need to be disbanded. It becomes imperative in the light of the results of the present study that organizations create a culture of Trust. A culture of trust in the organization has a positive impact on career satisfaction. Furthermore, as validated by the results the impact of Glass Ceiling decreases after introducing Trust as a mediator. Organization Identification can prove to be an effective and cognitive bond between organization and individual, more is the degree of identification of an employee with the organization, more they will work in conformity with the organization goals (Dutton et al., 1994) and will feel like staying in the organization (Reade, 2001). Srivastava and Madan (2016: 12) illustrate that

employee engagement an imperative “pro-organization work attitude,” can too be obtained by developing employee organizational identification. The employees internalize organization’s accomplishment as their own accomplishment; hence, employees are most possibly to connect with their jobs with the intention of improving the reciprocative organizational and personal performance.

Thus, policy makers and organizations must foster organizational identification by highlighting the common goals, mission and unique culture of the organization while emphasizing the organization’s identity.

Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt (2001) (as cited in Sanchez-Hucles and Davis, 2010) emphasized, ‘Mentoring relationship can offer encouragement, acceptance and friendship, which are key to achieving corporate success’ (p. 172). It is essential for organizations to realize that mentoring, whether formal or informal, could lessen the perceptions of glass ceiling. Madan and Srivastava (2017: 380) propagate that ‘organizations need to make special efforts for providing mentoring opportunities to women and propagate the cross-gender mentoring relationships at various social events in the organization’. The reason being when women managers in higher levels communicate their experiences and viewpoints, this will not only boost other women employee’s diligence and skill development, inspiring them to aspire for higher positions, but will also help establish a support system in place. Wentling (2003) pointed out that the increased knowledge and skills and the professional development opportunities presented to women all through their careers is directly related to their advancement to higher management. Thus, organizations must aid women by keeping them conversant of all training and career development programmes and providing them access to these programmes across the organization, thereby building a culture that endorses and encourage the movement of women to the higher levels in their careers. Women employees as well take onus of their development and thus it is elementary to be an initiator and risk taker; by interacting cross functionally at work and participating in discussions and events, they will not only learn but also enhance their visibility. Therefore, modifying the human resource policies and practices and altering the organizational culture and attitudes of executives shall help organizations preserve their extremely able women workforce.

Social implications

A well planned and effective strategy to lessen the glass ceiling effect that women face in the organizations is to develop alertness about the work force diversity and equal employment opportunities in the society at the macro level and in the organization’s workforce on the micro level. Both the organizations and the individuals need to play a vital role to entirely eliminate any form of inequity and the existence of such a barrier like glass ceiling. One of the prime obstacles in the development of India as a country both economically and in general terms is glass ceiling. The question of ‘gender inequality’ is not only a ‘women’s issue’, but is indeed a ‘people’s issue’. The status of women in Indian society has experienced a huge transformation over the past decades from a mere homemaker to a vibrant multitasked professional. Indian women are increasingly becoming aware and are demanding greater equality in the workplace; in order to attain equality in the work environment the key aspect that needs to be considered is gender differences. India cannot afford to overlook the female representation in its workforce, particularly the senior positions, with women representing half of its population. Organizations need to implement gender-neutral policies, diversity and inclusion programmes, whereas the government can formulate and enforce laws to deal with gender differences. It is imperative to note that across countries and diverse cultures these gender differences between men and women may differ. But the present research will contribute by shedding light on the impact of glass ceilings at the career satisfaction level of women employees mediated by organization identification and organizational trust in Indian context.

Limitations and directions for future research

There is at all times some scope for further work no matter what vigorous work is being done, the same is true for the present study too. The first limitation is the dilemma associated with the generalizability of the results when a non-random sampling technique is used, due to limitation of resources. Second significant limitation was paucity and unavailability of literature to determine the relationship between mediating variables (trust and organizational identification) and glass ceilings–career satisfaction relationship. In spite of this limitation, the present study pioneered in attempting to study the relationship between study variables and effectively correlated the study variables. A comparative analysis between public and private sectors shall be undertaken to find out the impact of glass ceilings at the career satisfaction level of women employees mediated by Organization Identification and Organizational Trust. Future research shall embark on to comprehend the relationship between demographic variables, namely marital status, gender, education, income and so on, and the glass ceiling–career satisfaction relationship. Future research should assess the imperceptible blockades and impediments women face in different sectors like manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, and so on.

Conclusion

The present study lead the way in stabling a significant and negative relationship between Glass Ceiling and Career Satisfaction which implies that if women employees feel that glass ceiling exists in the organization their career satisfaction will be less. Furthermore, if the employee is able to identify his goals with the goals of organization and feels the sense of unity with co-workers and belongingness with the organization and feels that the organization is supporting him in accomplishing his career goals, more happy and satisfied he will be leading to success of the organization and happiness of employees. The study embarked that even if the organization provides for the sense of belongingness, organization support, good work friends, flexible work environment and job security, but if glass ceiling exists, all these facets of organizational identification fail and female workforce will not be able identify their goals with that of the organization. The study also depicted that Glass Ceilings in organizations arise due to lack of trust in abilities of female employees, their leadership skills and due to their multitasking i.e. managing home and office together. The study also revealed that if a culture of trust is provided in the organization, its impact on career satisfaction will be positive and career satisfaction will increase. Furthermore, the study also validated the impact of Glass Ceiling decreases after introducing the mediating effects of Trust and Organizational Identification on Career Satisfaction. Thus, it can be concluded that concrete efforts like networking, mentoring, flexible working hours and family friendly initiatives are required from the organizations to battle the glass ceiling effectively.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Shalini Srivastava

Poornima Madan

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