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What do women perceive about their attrition from business schools? The under-representation of women in academia is well documented and researchers are beginning to explore it in depth ([5] Benschop and Brouns, 2003; [7] Bilimoria et al. , 2008; [14] Fletcher, 2007; [21] Kaminski and Geisler, 2012; [22] Kjeldal et al. , 2005; [25] Linehan et al. , 2009; [27] Maranto and Griffin, 2011; [42] Xu, 2008b), though little research has been published about US business schools (for exceptions, see [15] Fotaki, 2011, 2013; [38] Weisenfeld and Robinson-Backmon, 2007). Across academic fields, these studies demonstrate that women are paid less, and promoted and tenured more slowly than their male counterparts. This may be especially problematic in managerialist organizational cultures ([14] Fletcher, 2007).
Substantial differences in academic disciplines may lead to misleading information, so [41] Xu (2008a) recommends discipline-specific models. For this reason, we took an inductive approach to study women who left a focal US Midwestern business school from 2000 to 2011 to explore attrition in this context. We were interested about whether the women's descriptions evoke a glass ceiling or a labyrinth ([13] Eagly and Carli, 2007). [13] Eagly and Carli (2007) liken women's career paths to leadership in business to a labyrinth, with walls all around, twists and turns, and a need for persistence. They suggest that this is more apt than the glass ceiling, as some women have risen to leadership levels. Could similar things be said about the career trajectories of women in business schools?
We began by considering [42] Xu's (2008b) two basic explanations for women's under-representation and slow progress in STEM fields: structural and gender socialization explanations.
Structural explanations
Structural obstacles include practices such as gender discrimination in hiring, salary, support or other rewards, promotion and tenure, and/or a hostile organizational culture or climate ([42] Xu, 2008b). [42] Xu (2008b) found women faculty in STEM fields were dissatisfied with research support, advancement opportunities, and free expression of ideas. Her findings implicate academic cultures that inequitably distribute professional rewards. Likewise, women's career expectations in business academia may be frustrated over time. [7] Bilimoria et al. (2008) found a leaky pipeline for female faculty in STEM fields, meaning that women do not attain higher academic positions. However, interventions to improve...