Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

There are many studies about women in the workplace, especially those in male-dominated fields, that identify confidence as a challenge. This paper investigates how women who work in the technology sector characterize themselves, and their efficacy, at different stages in their career. Eighteen qualitative life-history interviews are examined through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The contributions of this study are twofold. First, by centring women’s experiences and voices, this study goes beyond simply identifying confidence as an issue. In fact, the women participants describe a plethora of complex factors that impact their confidence, as well as ways they have attempted to rectify low confidence. Second, the novel empirical illustrations in this study yield opportunities for organizations to better themselves and become more inclusive.