Purpose This study aims to explore whether women on boards strengthen internal control to enhance Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)-based sustainable disclosure performance (GRISP) in emerging markets. Women on boards refer to board gender diversity (BGD) or female directors Design/methodology/approach Multiple regression, instrumental variable and system Generalized Method of Moments methods, along with bootstrapping and Propensity Score Matching, were used to analyze a sample of Fijian listed entities. Findings Female board representation is positively associated with internal control and GRISP, as it strengthens governance mechanisms that translate inclusive leadership into improved outcomes. Originality/value This study examines the role of internal control in linking female board representation to GRISP within a New Institutional Economics (NIE) framework.
Purpose Drawing on theories of equity and organizational justice, this study aims to explore the relational and contextual determinants of perceived pay inequities among female employees. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes data from the Human Capital Corporate Panel (HCCP), a nationally representative survey-based panel dataset from Korea. The study uses approximately 11,000 employee-year observations from 2020 to 2022 to isolate the distinct, female-specific component of perceived pay unfairness, allowing us to evaluate its relationship with workplace relational features such as promotion fairness, communication openness and trust in top management. Findings The findings suggest that perceptions of pay inequities persist even after accounting for absolute pay disparities, thereby highlighting the unique impacts of relational HR practices. In addition, authors’ analysis identifies training investments and female representation in management as critical moderators of these perceptions among women. Originality/value While prior literature predominantly focuses on objective gender pay gaps, this study examines the organizational determinants of women’s perceived pay fairness. By integrating organizational justice and signaling perspectives, it reveals how procedural and relational workplace factors shape fairness perceptions and how HR investments moderate these effects by signaling organizational commitment to employee development and advancement opportunities.
Purpose Effective leadership during a prolonged crisis requires significant emotional and moral labour. Prior literature has examined gendered differences in leadership behaviour and performance during a crisis, yet less is known about how leaders experience gendered expectations during a prolonged crisis. This study therefore examines gender differences in middle-level leaders’ experiences during a protracted crisis in the Australian extractive industry. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a sequential qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 middle-level leaders in the Australian mining, oil and gas industry. The full data set was first analysed thematically to establish a broad account of leadership experiences. A purposive subsample of 15 participants, comprising 4 women and 11 men, was then selected for interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine how leaders made sense of prolonged crisis conditions. This two-stage approach enabled both contextual breadth and interpretive depth. Findings The findings of this study reveal convergence in structural demands, including heightened responsibility, uncertainty and cumulative strain. Divergence emerged in how these demands were internalised and managed. Several women leaders described relationally oriented sensemaking, heightened psychosocial vigilance and more porous boundaries. Several men leaders described system-focused risk, emotional restraint and compartmentalisation. These patterns are interpreted as contextually shaped tendencies rather than fixed gendered traits. Together, they produced distinct forms of strain, authority enactment and endurance. Originality/value The authors contribute to the Gender in Management literature by illustrating how gendered organisational norms shape leadership legitimacy, emotional labour and identity work during prolonged crisis conditions. This study presents a convergence–divergence conceptual framework that explains how shared crisis demands and gendered expectations can produce divergent leadership experiences in a male-dominated, high-risk industry.
Purpose This study aims to examine the financial resilience of rural and unemployed women, focusing on how exposure to economic shocks influences coping strategies and financial recovery. This study also examines institutional support as a contextual factor associated with women’s financial resilience amid structural and gender vulnerabilities. Design/methodology/approach Using a quantitative approach, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the relationships among economic shock exposure, coping strategies and financial resilience outcomes, including mediation effects. Findings The results of this study indicate that economic shocks significantly increase women’s reliance on informal coping strategies, which positively influence their financial resilience. These findings are consistent with an indirect association between economic shock exposure and financial resilience through coping strategies. However, limited financial awareness and inadequate institutional support constrain women’s recoveries. Originality/value This study contributes to the limited literature on rural women’s financial resilience in socioeconomically marginalized regions. Integrating resilience and coping theories within a gendered framework offers critical insights into how informal and institutional mechanisms interact to shape financial recovery and inform more inclusive and gender-sensitive policy interventions.
Purpose Throughout their careers, women face numerous inequalities along the path from the sticky floor to the glass ceiling. This study aims to examine historically how the macro-level dynamics (social, political and economic) that cause these inequalities are embedded in and reproduced through managerial practices within organisations. This research questions gender-based inequalities and power relations within the organisational context by examining the macro dynamics that influence each other. Design/methodology/approach Between 1929 and 2025, 455 news articles were obtained from a national newspaper regarding the obstacles women encounter in their career (from the sticky floor to the glass ceiling). Using the Gioia methodology, the study analysed the barriers women face in their careers by grouping similar themes and interpreting them through the lenses of social role theory (SRT) and feminist political economy (FPE). Findings The findings show that the obstacles women have faced in their careers for almost a century have been reinforced by macro dynamics. Although policies have been developed in every period to prevent discrimination, most of these remain symbolic and are not implemented. Consequently, both the sticky floor and glass ceiling mechanisms have been reproduced throughout historical periods. Originality/value An original contribution is made by drawing attention to the sticky floor and glass ceiling issues women encounter in their careers using archival data. By combining SRT with FPE, a novel theoretical integration is offered that explains, in a historically grounded manner, how gender inequalities in organisations are reproduced, normalised and legitimised over time.
