A number of practitioner surveys across a range of industries have cited the lack of senior female role models as a barrier to career progression. There is very little academic literature to explain this at a senior organizational level. An initial review of the extant role model literature led to the inclusion of two further related areas – organizational demographics, as a contextual factor affecting the availability of role models, and work identity development as a link between the lack of senior female role models and the lack of career progression. In seeking to answer the question of why and then how female role models are important for senior women, this study fills an identified gap in the comprehension of the concept of role models and their importance in the workplace. It addresses a need to understand both the key elements of the concept and the mechanism by which they come into play. The research uses qualitative methods, specifically in-depth semi-structured interviews. These were conducted with a senior group of 33 female directors from six global investment banks, in order to elicit their experiences of role models in demographically imbalanced work contexts. Analysis of interview data considered all three areas of role models, demographic context and work identity development. As the women forged their identities in the male-dominated context of global investment banks, what became clear was that who they are and have become was informed by the critical relationships they have had. Whilst clearly some of the women had found male role models with whom to develop these critical relationships, there were some identity issues, particular salient to women, which could not be addressed by men. Thus the findings demonstrated the utility of female role models. This thesis has a number of contributions to make on varying levels: On a conceptual level, this study adds to our understanding of the value of role models, particularly detailing the affective or symbolic value. It has added to the conceptualization of role models, detailing what were the core attributes of individuals chosen to be role models, who they were in relation to the women, how the women used them and why they were important. It has combined the three literature areas of role models, organizational demographics and work identity development in a way not previously done, and has shown empirically that they are related and explain each other. Organizational demographics affect the availability of role models. And it is suggested that the relatively new theory of relational identification is the mechanism that explicates how the presence of positive female role models is a key influence on women’s work identity development. It has clarified the value of role models in extreme gender demographic contexts, and how and why they are important to senior women’s professional development, thereby adding to the theory of role modelling. Practically, the study explains why women in surveys may have been citing the lack of female role models as such a prominent issue, and suggests what some of the issues are that organizations should pay heed to in trying to address this.

Research on bilingualism in a number of social science disciplines has reported an association between bilingualism, ethnic identity, and ethnic attitudes - causality has often been attributed to bilingualism. This research has been criticized on methodological grounds. There is a dearth of information concerning the relationship between bilingualism, ethnic identity, and ethnic attitudes in specific communities, regions, or societies since there have been very few studies of the social psychological aspects of bilingualism based on survey research methods. Yet another critique of previous research is that the theoretical framework in which reported findings have been couched has remained untested or that they have remained implicit. These theoretical underpinnings are explored and assessed. The data for the thesis came from a sample survey of greater Montreal conducted in 1973, from a survey of the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area conducted by the York Survey Research Center in late 1974 and early 1975, and from a secondary analysis of the Ethnic Relations Study, carried out for the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1965. The analytic methods used are crosstabulation and partial correlation. It was found in the analysis of all three surveys, which were carried out at different points in time and which used slightly different measures of the independent and dependent variable, that the association between bilingualism and ethnic identity is not strong, and that it varies from one mother tongue group to the other. This indicates that causality cannot be attributed to bilingualism. The analysis of the Ethnic Relations Study revealed that with intergroup contact and demographic context held constant, the relationship between bilingualism and ethnic identity is extremely weak. Bilinguals, it emerged, tend to identify with both language groups mainly where they are in contact with the other group and in contexts where the other group constitutes the demographic majority. With regard to the relationship between bilingualism and ethnic attitudes, it was found that there were weak associations between bilingualism and social distance, and bilingualism and ethnic prejudice. However, these all but disappeared when intergroup contact and demographic context were controlled. The theoretical debate, which has continued over the past several decades, concerning whether or not causality of these relationships can be attributed to bilingualism may still continue; however, the evidence presented in the dissertation indicates that' causality cannot be attributed to bilingualism. Further, unicausal social psychological theories attributing such findings to the effects of the internalization of a second linguistic system would seem to be manifestly inadequate. Future theoretical efforts in this area of research ought to be of the kind which span disciplinary boundaries, assume multicausality, and lend themselves to operationalization. It ·is suggested that group membership theory may provide a fruitful point of departure. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A number of practitioner surveys across a range of industries have cited the lack of senior female role models as a barrier to career progression. There is very little academic literature to explain this at a senior organizational level. An initial review of the extant role model literature led to the inclusion of two further related areas – organizational demographics, as a contextual factor affecting the availability of role models, and work identity development as a link between the lack of senior female role models and the lack of career progression. In seeking to answer the question of why and then how female role models are important for senior women, this study fills an identified gap in the comprehension of the concept of role models and their importance in the workplace. It addresses a need to understand both the key elements of the concept and the mechanism by which they come into play. The research uses qualitative methods, specifically in-depth semi-structured interviews. These were conducted with a senior group of 33 female directors from six global investment banks, in order to elicit their experiences of role models in demographically imbalanced work contexts. Analysis of interview data considered all three areas of role models, demographic context and work identity development. As the women forged their identities in the male-dominated context of global investment banks, what became clear was that who they are and have become was informed by the critical relationships they have had. Whilst clearly some of the women had found male role models with whom to develop these critical relationships, there were some identity issues, particular salient to women, which could not be addressed by men. Thus the findings demonstrated the utility of female role models. This thesis has a number of contributions to make on varying levels: On a conceptual level, this study adds to our understanding of the value of role models, particularly detailing the affective or symbolic value. It has added to the conceptualization of role models, detailing what were the core attributes of individuals chosen to be role models, who they were in relation to the women, how the women used them and why they were important. It has combined the three literature areas of role models, organizational demographics and work identity development in a way not previously done, and has shown empirically that they are related and explain each other. Organizational demographics affect the availability of role models. And it is suggested that the relatively new theory of relational identification is the mechanism that explicates how the presence of positive female role models is a key influence on women’s work identity development. It has clarified the value of role models in extreme gender demographic contexts, and how and why they are important to senior women’s professional development, thereby adding to the theory of role modelling. Practically, the study explains why women in surveys may have been citing the lack of female role models as such a prominent issue, and suggests what some of the issues are that organizations should pay heed to in trying to address this.