The Advocacy Relationship in the Advancement of Female Accounting Professionals

Transcription

1 The Advocacy Relationship in the Advancement of Female Accounting Professionals Louise E. Single, PhD, CPA Associate Professor and Accounting Program Director St. Edward s University Austin, TX Phone: Fax: louise.single@gmail.com Stephen G. Donald, PhD Hale Centennial Professor in Economics University of Texas at Austin Austin TX, Phone: Stephen,g.donald@gmail.com

2 Abstract In spite of the fact that females make up at least 50% of the entry level accounting professionals, they occupy only 20% or less of the leadership positions in organizations. Among the barriers to advancement for women is a lack of access to career advocates or sponsors. The existing literature in the mentor/advocacy/sponsorship area has shown that women do not seek out such relationships as often as their male counterparts, nor are they offered the opportunity as frequently. Further, the characteristics of the relationships are different depending upon the gender of the advocate and the protégé so that it is not possible to simply advise females to follow the male model of how to be a successful protégé. The objective of this study is to understand what makes advocacy relationships work for female accounting professionals in terms of their professional advancement and aspirations. A survey methodology was employed and the sample consists of female accounting professionals from the United States and Canada. Regression analysis was used to examine the role of advocacy in advancement, the characteristics of successful advocacy relationships for females, and how advocacy relationships affect leadership aspirations. The results from the 1,505 respondents indicate that females who have experienced an advocacy relationship achieve greater advancement in terms of compensation, organizational level, and likelihood of promotion. Among the 65% of respondents who had an advocate, further analysis shows that gender of the advocate and qualitative characteristics of the advocacy relationship have an effect on advancement. Advocacy also has an effect on aspirations to leadership. 2

3 This study contributes to the existing literature by evaluating the advocacy relationship specifically in the accounting setting using validated measures from the literature, and adds an additional measure, the affinity between advocate and protégé. It is also the first study to examine the impact of advocacy on leadership aspirations of female accounting professionals. The results will be of interest to practitioners who seek to improve their advancement opportunities, and to organizations who wish to advance their pool of talented female accounting professionals. 3

4 According to a 2010 survey by the AICPA Women s Initiatives Executive Committee, females make up 50% of the new entrants to public accounting staff positions but only occupy about 20% of the leadership positions in public accounting and in the C-suite in business and industry (AICPA 2010, Hewlett et al. 2011). One barrier to female advancement is the relative lack of sponsorship made available and/or sought out by female professionals within their organizations (Hewlett 2011, Catalyst 2010). Sponsorship, hereafter called advocacy goes beyond the reflective, advice-giving activity that is often associated with the term mentoring. A sponsor, or advocate uses his or her political capital on behalf of a protégé in order to advance the protégé s position within the organization. Although many organizations offer formal programs designed to pair advocates and protégés, the research in accounting and other professional domains has shown that informal or naturally occurring mentoring relationships are most beneficial for advancement (Scandura and Viator 1994, Ragins and Cotton 1999). Although women are more likely to have mentors then men, they are less likely to have advocates (Ibarra, et al. 2010). An example of how advocacy in the accounting domain might make a difference for females comes from recent research looking at the disproportionate female representation at the director or non-equity partner level in public accounting firms. The studies found that the most important factors that distinguish between those who are promoted to owner positions vs. non-owner senior levels are leadership and practice development skills (Almer, et al. a, b). Both leadership skills and practice development skills are honed over the course of an individual s professional career. Successful practice development requires effective networking, and an advocate can provide access to key networks and guidance in navigating them. Leadership skills must be developed through experience and an advocate can insure that those 4

5 experiential opportunities are available. Further, part of the advocate s role is to push or challenge the protégé to take risks while also providing protection. Thus, a professional who has an advocate should have a better chance of improving their practice development and leadership skills than one who does not. The advocate is also in a position to insure that others in the organization are aware of the protégé s successes. This study uses a survey methodology to examine the experience of female accounting professionals with advocacy relationships by examining the relationships between having an advocate and the individuals professional advancement and career aspirations. It also explores the nature of participants advocacy relationships and how different types of relationships affect advancement. The research extends the literature by examining advocacy relationships across all areas of the accounting profession, adds a measure of advocate-protégé affinity to the set of relationship characteristics addressed in the Mentor Response Instrument, and addresses the impact of having had an advocate on females aspirations to leadership. The preliminary results from the 1,505 respondents indicate that females who have experienced an advocacy relationship achieve greater advancement in terms of compensation, organizational level, and likelihood of promotion. Among the 65% of respondents who had an advocate, further analysis shows that gender of the advocate and qualitative characteristics of the advocacy relationship have an effect on advancement. Advocacy also has an effect on aspirations to leadership. Research Questions and Methodology Scandura and Viator (1994) found that mentoring in the public accounting setting aided in professional development. Therenou s (2005) work, which looks at gender differences in the 5

6 mentoring relationship across a variety of business professions, indicates that mentor relationships are more beneficial to female protégés than male protégés. According to Hewlett, et al. (2011), women do not cultivate sponsorship relationships as effectively as do men and they underestimate the importance of having a sponsor. This study examines a group of female accounting professionals and is designed to address three major research questions. RQ 1: Do female accounting professionals who have had an advocate experience greater career advancement than those who have not? The survey asked participants if they have had a career advocate, defined as a higherranking professional who has played a proactive and committed role in helping you advance in your career (Theranou 2005, Kram 1985; Noe, Greenberger & Wang 2002; Ragins 1999; Scandura & Williams 2001). Respondents selected the number (0 to 5+) of advocates they can recall, and then were directed to consider their most influential advocate when answering the remaining questions about their advocacy relationship. The remainder of the survey was made up of three sets of questions, items asking about the nature and length of the advocacy relationship, questions about the respondents career progress and aspirations, and demographic questions. Those who indicated no advocate skipped to the career advancement, aspiration, and demographic questions. Research question 1 is examined by measuring the effect of having had an advocate on professional advancement measured as compensation level, number of promotions, current organizational level, and likelihood of future promotion, and length of time since most recent promotion (Ragins and Cotton 1999, Allen, et al. 2004, Theranou 2005). The control variables included employer category, length of accounting career, tenure with current employer, size of 6

7 current employer, educational level, professional credentials, time since last promotion, age, ethnicity, family structure and geographic location. RQ2: Does the nature of the advocacy relationship affect the amount of career advancement achieved? According to Kram s (1985) mentoring framework, the mentoring relationship can be divided into distinct categories. There are career mentoring functions which include activities that support the protégé s progress and psychosocial functions that support the protégé s selfesteem and sense of competency. Scandura (1992) added a role modeling category as well. Ragins and McFarlin s (1990) Mentor Role Instrument was used to elicit information about the characteristics of the support provided by the advocate in terms of career advocacy construct which includes sponsorship, coaching, protection, challenge, exposure; and the psychosocial construct which includes friendship, social interaction, parental role, counseling and acceptance. The scale measures the extent of agreement with a series of descriptive statements about the advocate on a 7-point Likert scale. Two additional sets of three questions were included. One set was designed to measure the similarity of the advocate and the protégé in terms of their family and personal circumstances. The second set included Scandura s (1992) role model items. Respondents were also asked whether their relationship started formally or informally and whether the protégé or the advocate initiated the relationship, if applicable. Two qualitative questions were included to elicit information about the aspect of the advocacy relationship that the protégé considered most important way in which the advocate helped with their advancement, and what stands out as something that could have improved the relationship. 7

8 The advocacy relationship section also included questions about the circumstances surrounding the start of the advocacy relationship including the relative position of the advocate when the relationship commenced (i.e. immediate supervisor, another senior person in the organization, someone outside the organization, etc.), the relative age of the advocate in relation to the respondent, the position of the respondent in the organization (public accounting, government, non-profit, academic, business and industry), the gender and ethnicity of the advocate, and the duration of the relationship. These items are called for by Dougherty and Dreher (2007, p. 78). Control variables included the length of time the respondent has been employed in the accounting profession, within their current organization, and the type of organization (government, not for profit, public accounting, business and industry, academia). Additional questions included employer size, the number of promotions earned and the length of time since the most recent promotion using Gattiker and Larwood s (1989) 5 point scale. Respondents were asked about their self-assessed likelihood of promotion in the next three and five years (Stout et al. 1988), current compensation level, current organizational role, and span of control of the respondent in terms of the number of professionals supervised directly or indirectly. RQ3: Does the existence of an advocacy relationship affect aspirations to leadership for female accounting professionals? This question arises from the research by the AICPA (2010) and Almer et al.(2011a,b) that shows that women are not advancing to top leadership positions in accounting in proportion to their overall representation in the profession and is called for in Ragins and Kram (2007).. Given findings such as Catalyst s (2010) that women do not maximize advocacy relationships to 8

9 the same degree as men, it is possible that having an advocate increases the perception that senior leadership is an attainable goal. Aspiration is measured by the level of the respondents ultimate career aspiration in terms of an organizational role within their desired employer type. Leadership positions held in outside organizations such as community and professional organizations provides another measure of leadership aspiration. All of the research questions include demographic control variables including age, ethnicity, full-time work tenure, marital and family status, country, educational level and number and type of professional certifications. Results The survey was distributed via several channels. solicitations were distributed by the American Women s Society of CPAs to their membership, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants to their female members, and members of the AICPA s Women s Initiatives Executive Committee (WIEC) to their networks. Survey links were also posted on the AICPA WIEC LinkedIn subgroup and in AICPA newsletters. A total of 1,505 individuals started the survey and 1,139 were completed. Sixty-five percent of the respondents reported having had at least one advocate. An advocate was defined in the following manner: An advocate (sometimes called a sponsor) is a higher-ranking professional who has played a proactive and committed role in helping you advance in your career. Of those who had an advocate, 27% reported one advocate, 23% reported two, 9% reported three, and 6% percent reported four or more. Effect of advocacy on advancement Regression analysis was used to assess the effect of having an advocate on advancement. The advancement of the protégé was measured in terms of compensation level, organizational 9

10 role level, number of promotions, likelihood of promotion in three and in five years, and time since most recent promotion. The explanatory variables included: presence of advocacy relationship (yes/no), type of employer (public accounting, corporation, nonprofit, government agency, academic institution), length of career, tenure in current organization, size of employer, educational level, professional credentials, age, gender, ethnicity, family structure, country of residence. The presence of an advocate was significant in all but the likelihood of promotion in 3 years. The regression results for compensation are summarized in Table 1. The presence of an advocacy relationship was significant in the remaining regressions except for the likelihood of promotion within 3 years. Characteristics of the advocate Eighty-eight percent of the protégés had advocates who were from within their organization; 51% of the protégés indicated that the advocate was their immediate supervisor. Sixty-one percent of the protégés had a male advocate, and the majority (67%) indicated that their advocate was older than they were. Ninety-one percent indicated a Caucasian advocate. Characteristics of the advocacy relationship Respondents were asked whether their organization had a formal mentoring program in place at the time that their advocacy relationship began. Although 69% answered in the affirmative, only 18% indicated that their advocates were assigned to them through a formal program. In terms of how the relationships started, 68% indicated that they seemed to have just evolved without intervention from the organization. Nine percent indicated that they initiated the relationship and another 9% indicated that the advocate initiated it. Most of the advocacy relationships (95%) lasted at least one year, with 31% percent indicating between one and three 10

11 years, 24% percent indicating between three and five years, and 26% percent indicating between five and ten years. Fifty-four percent stated that the relationship with their advocate is still ongoing. A total of 735 protégés responded to a 39 item scale designed to measure twelve distinct roles that the advocates play in the protégé s career development. Table 2 shows the means for the roles by gender of advocate. In the career development role, male advocates provide more sponsor type support than females. Sponsor support is characterized by helping the protégé attain desirable assignments and using his/her influence on the protégé s behalf. This finding indicates that in accounting environments male advocates provide more sponsorship support than do female advocates. On the other hand, female advocates provide more coaching type support which is characterized by helping the protégé learn about other parts of the organization, giving the protégé advice on how to attain recognition, helping the protégé to prioritize, and suggesting strategies for achieving career aspirations. More gender differences are apparent in the psychosocial support function. Female advocates and their female protégés are much more likely to socialize with one another outside of the workplace. This finding is consistent with the premise that cross-gender advocacy relationships are less likely to occur because of the possibility that frequent interaction between a senior male with a junior female could be misconstrued by others, or that the professionals involved fear that such interaction might actually lead to a personal relationship. Female advocates are also more likely to play a counseling role that is characterized by helping the protégé with personal as well as professional development. Male advocates play a more parental role and are perceived to be more accepting of the competency of the protégé. 11

12 The role model function is characterized by the following descriptors: serves as a role model for me, is someone I identify with, represents who I want to be. Female advocates appear to serve in this capacity to a greater degree than males. This is an important finding because of the relative disproportion of females in leadership positions. A dearth of role models for rising female professionals may create a cycle of female turnover fueled by the perception that only a select few females are able to rise to the top. Female advocates also score higher in terms of affinity with the protégé which is characterized by coming from a similar background, having similar family situations, and sharing similar hobbies and interests. The significance of this result supports the suggestion that advocates seek out protégés who look like me. A regression analysis approach was used to assess the relative effects of the different major categories of advocacy relationship types shown in Table 2 on the measures of advancement. For advancement measured as compensation level, the relationship types that are significant factors (p <.05) are affinity, career advocate, and psychosocial support. For current organizational level, only affinity (p <.01) and psychosocial support (p <.10) are significant. In both regressions, affinity has a negative impact on advancement. Only the presence of someone fulfilling the career advocate roles is significant (p <.05) for advancement in terms of time since last promotion. The career advocate roles are also important to the number of promotions and again affinity has a negative impact (p <.05). When advancement is measured as likelihood of promotion in either 3 or 5 years, career advocate relationship factors (p <.05) have a positive effect and psychosocial factors have a negative effect (p <.05). Role model is significant only in likelihood of promotion within 5 years. 12

13 Advocacy and aspirations to leadership Aspiration to leadership was measured in terms of the number of leadership roles that a respondent has experienced during her career, and the level of organizational role chosen as the ultimate career destination. Having an advocate is highly significant to the number of leadership roles (p <.01). For respondents in corporate and not for profit environments, advocacy is marginally significant in determining the level to which respondents aspire (p =.10). Among these two groups, 46% aspire to senior management, and 30% aspire to c-suite positions. In public accounting the advocacy effect is stronger (p <.05), and 39% indicated a desire to achieve partner status. An additional 15% chose more senior leadership roles as their ultimate career destination, such as Managing Partner or Director of a functional area. Only 4% aspire to National level leadership. The responses for academia have not yet been analyzed. Demographic data Fifty-four percent of the respondents resided in Canada, 44% in the United States, and 2% elsewhere, primarily Bermuda. Eighty-seven percent were Caucasian and the second largest ethnic group was Asian (9%). The respondents represented all areas of accounting practice including 44% from public accounting, 40% from the corporate sector, 6% from not for profits, 8% from government and 3% from academia. Forty-eight percent of respondents worked for large organizations (100 + professionals), with the remainder fairly evenly distributed over the smaller size categories. Tenure with current employer varied widely with between 12 and 19% in each of the first five categories and between 7 and 9% in each of the top three categories representing the longest tenure. Respondents ranged in age from 20 to 60 or older, with 3% in the 20 to 25 age group, and between 12 to 16% in each of the categories between 25 and

14 Preliminary conclusions The results support the conclusions of prior studies that show that advocacy has in impact on advancement, and that this impact also depends on the nature of the advocacy relationship. In addition, there are differences in the characteristics of the advocate-protégé relationship depending upon the gender of the advocate. The findings with regard to gender and type of role played by the advocate give some support to Hewlett s (2011) assertions regarding the importance of finding male advocates in the organization. The negative relationship between affinity, or degree of identification with the advocate, and advancement is interesting since female advocates were rated higher in terms of affinity, and will be subject to additional analysis. Several other items require additional analysis. Aspirations to leadership are clearly affected by advocacy relationships based on a preliminary analysis. Additional sensitivity analysis is needed to control for the respondents current level within the organization versus the level to which they aspire, since several chose my current level as their aspiration. In addition, the open-ended response items will be coded and analyzed. Of primary interest here are the responses to what was the most important way in which the advocate helped the protégé advance and what could have been done to improve the relationship. The findings of this research will be of interest to female accounting professionals as they consider how to improve their advancement opportunities. An understanding of the types of advocacy relationships that lead to advancement can help guide their search for an appropriate candidates to try to cultivate as potential advocates. Insight into other female professionals experiences can also help women to recognize and avoid pitfalls in their relationships with senior members of their organizations. 14

15 Table 1 Regression Analysis of Factors Related to Advancement Coef. Std. Err. t P> t Compensation Advocate Employer type** Career length Tenure in current job Employer size Educational level Chartered accountant CPA Other certifications Age Gender of protégé* Ethnicity of protégé** Family structure** Country of residence *The initial sample includes 28 male respondents. Future analysis will omit these responses. **Categorical variables with more than two levels. 15

16 Table 2 Means: Type of Advocate Role by Gender of Advocate Gender of Advocate Role Female (283) Male (451) Sig. Diff. Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Career Development: Sponsor F < M* Coach F>M** Protect ns Challenge ns Exposure ns Psychosocial: Friendship ns Social F>M**** Parent M>F*** Counseling F>M*** Acceptance M>F** Other: Role Model F>M**** Affinity F>M*** Significance levels: * p <.10, **p<.05, ***p<.01, ****p<

17 Table 3 Compensation Levels # Answer Response % 1 $0 - $25, % $25,001 - $50,000 $50,001 - $75,000 $75,001 - $100,000 $100,001 - $125,000 $125,001 - $150,000 $150,001 - $175,000 $175,001 - $200,000 $200,001 - $250,000 $250,001 - $300, % % % % % 62 6% 46 4% 42 4% 27 2% 11 $300, % Total 1, % 17

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