Team up to rise up: Identifying and overcoming gendered career obstacles within Canadian investment firms.

Soutière, Stacy Marie

Team up to rise up: Identifying and overcoming gendered career obstacles within Canadian investment firms.

dc.contributor.advisor	Herremans, Irene
dc.contributor.advisor	Alonso, Natalya
dc.contributor.author	Soutière, Stacy Marie
dc.contributor.committeemember	Van de Biezenbos, Kristen
dc.date	2023-11
dc.date.accessioned	2023-05-05T15:56:11Z
dc.date.available	2023-05-05T15:56:11Z
dc.date.issued	2023-05-04
dc.description.abstract	This dissertation presents mixed-methods research that studies the conundrum of why Canadian bank-owned investment firms are failing to grow their numbers of female Investment Advisors (IAs), and how structured teaming within investment management could potentially provide support for career progression, particularly amongst women. First, qualitative exploratory interviews were conducted within one of Canada’s “Big 5” Canadian bank-owned investment firms (n=39) to accomplish the following: 1) understand the elements of organizational culture and the IA role itself that caused roadblocks for women and the factors that deter women from pursuing the role of IA; and 2) understand directly from both men and women what elements, features, and environments help them overcome barriers, advance their careers, and be successful in the role of IA. Barriers fell into three themes: mentorship, career self-efficacy, and work/life conflict, while structured teaming within investment management appeared to alleviate many of the pain-points identified. The second quantitative study investigates teaming’s impact on career advancement. Three hypotheses were tested using linear regression to analyze the results of responses gathered through questionnaires (N=162) distributed within the same firm. The results of the survey show preliminary support for the theory that structured teaming within investment management positively impacts mentorship for both males and females, and positively impacts work/life conflict to a stronger degree for females when moderated by gender. The two studies, when combined, suggest that structured teaming within investment management can provide a rich environment for conversion factors that lead to higher capability of becoming an IA, thus providing better opportunity for career advancement. Providing better opportunity for advancement can help more women become successful IAs and increase their numbers in the field of investment management.
dc.identifier.citation	Soutière, S. M. (2023). Team up to rise up: identifying and overcoming gendered career obstacles within Canadian investment firms (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/116165
dc.identifier.uri	https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/dspace/41010
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Investment Management
dc.subject	Women
dc.subject	Gender
dc.subject	Teams
dc.subject.classification	Education--Finance
dc.subject.classification	Sociology--Organizational
dc.subject.classification	Business Administration--Management
dc.title	Team up to rise up: Identifying and overcoming gendered career obstacles within Canadian investment firms.
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Business, Haskayne School of Business
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.