Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Adelaide
Abstract
Women are underrepresented in senior management ranks in South Australian local government. At the time of this research there were three women Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in this system of government. Women are underrepresented in senior management ranks generally across Australian organisations similar to the situation in comparable Western countries. This research reports on a survey of second and third level managers, both men and women, in South Australian local government in 2015 as to their intentions to apply for promotion at the next available opportunity using the Reasoned Action Approach developed and refined by Aijzen and Fishbein over the last three decades (Fishbein and Aijzen 2010). The research was conducted through the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning with funding support from the South Australian Local Government Association’s Research and Development Fund. Senior women in SA local government, as well as SA LGPro provided support through access to their mailing lists enabling this survey-based research to be carried out. The results show that men and women have similar beliefs structures when it comes to their intentions to apply for promotion in South Australian local government. This is a significant finding. Importantly, the only significant difference found in this survey was that women have more positive attitudes towards applying for promotion than men notwithstanding the current situation where less than 5% of CEOs in South Australian local government are women. From our literature review earlier qualitative research suggests that men and women hold different attitudes to their work life balance influencing their intentions to apply for promotion and seek a senior management career in their respective organisations and industries. This was not the case in response from managers surveyed in this research. The imbalance in the proportion of women and men in CEO positions in South Australian local government, we suggest, reflects earlier findings of the inherent bias towards men in the selection process for these positions. We have made structural and managerial recommendations, which we believe will address this imbalance overtime. Our recommendations are grouped around actions elected members, senior managers, the SA LGA, SA LGPro and the SA State Government can do to redress this imbalance in the South Australian Local Government workforce.Bradley Jorgensen, John Martin, and Melissa Nursey-Bray, Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning University of Adelaid
