Examining the Underrepresentation of Women Leadership within the Securities Brokerage Industry

In this study gender stereotyping is defined as assigning a specific characteristic or trait to an individual based solely on gender. An individual is expected to exhibit behavior according to what is customarily expected of their gender. The perception of gender stereotypical beliefs was explored to determine if it is contributing to the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership within the securities brokerage industry in the United States. To examine the differences in stereotypical beliefs among men and women regarding women in leadership, participants were asked to complete the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) consisting of 21 Likert-type survey statements. Statements 1-21 were intended to examine participants' attitude towards women in leadership in support of Research Question 1: To what extent do male and female Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA) registered representatives differ in perceived gender stereotypical beliefs regarding women in leadership? Survey statements 1-9 were considered ability constructs and were intended to examine participants' perception of women's ability to serve in leadership in support of Research Question 2: To what extent do male and female FINRA registered representatives differ in perceiving that women have the ability to serve in senior leadership in United States securities brokerage firms? Survey statements 10-15 were intended to examine participants' perceived acceptance of women in leadership in support of Research Question 3: To what extent do male and female FINRA registered representatives differ in perceived acceptance of women serving in senior leadership roles in United States securities brokerage firms? The responses of female participants and the responses of male participants were analyzed for similarities and differences using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to support or deny the hypotheses for the research questions. The results from the analysis indicated that gender was a significant factor related to stereotypical beliefs regarding women in leadership. Males exhibited a more prominent existence of stereotypical beliefs, with the null hypothesis being rejected in all three research questions. The results of this study should benefit females in the financial services industry by providing insight into the reasons women are underrepresented in leadership so that initiatives can be established to explicitly address the problem of gender stereotyping and more effectively promote women in leadership in the U.S. securities brokerage industry. In addition, the study will contribute to the academic knowledge in the area of corporate leadership by providing the data necessary for a better understanding of the impact gender imbalance in leadership has on organizational success.