To be a female leader, be authentic. : A qualitative comparative study with the purpose of exploring, identifying and creating a greater understanding of how females construct their identity as leaders within male-dominated small and medium enterprises in Sweden and the Netherlands.

Sammanfattning

This study has had the purpose to explore, identify and develop a greater understanding of how females construct their identity as leaders. The focus of this study has been on eight female leaders with sufficient profession, knowledge and experience within male-dominated small and medium enterprises in Sweden and the Netherlands, where a comparison has been made between them. A qualitative study has been conducted where the focus has been on the abductive research approach. Together with this, semi-structured interviews have been used in order to arrive at the final research result. With careful consideration of research methods, ethical aspects, research quality and other essential aspects within the research, the study may thus be classified as credible with a high degree of validity. Nevertheless, the result of the study may not be generalized for the entire population, but since the selected participants are considered to possess sufficient knowledge and profession, their perceptions are considered essential and trustworthy in the research of female leadership and identity. After the collection of theoretical and empirical material regarding the notions of female leadership and identity, the results showed that aspects such as characteristics, adaptation, culture and obstacles within male-dominated industries had an (conscious and/or unconscious) influence on how the females construct their identity as leaders. The empirical results showed that a lot of aspects differ individually, and not nationality. In addition, we hope that this research will contribute to further interest in examining female leadership and identity. We believe that if a leader is aware of aspects that might influence the leadership and consequently, the identity, it might create a better leadership in general which may have an essential impact on the individual herself, the organization and the society overall.