1. Running head: MOTIVATION AND SELF-PROMOTION OF WOMEN 1
Assessment of Motivation on Self-promotion behavior of Female Leadership
Kim Li Yong
Submitted under the supervision of Dr. Paul R. Sackett, Dr. Eugene Borgida, and David
Hellstrom to the University Honors Program at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Summa cum laude, in
Psychology
5/6/15

2. MOTIVATION AND SELF-PROMOTION OF WOMEN 2
Abstract
This paper provides a qualitative and quantitative review on the lack of female leadership at an
executive level. The issue was explored on many levels: organizational, social and cognitive, to
provide an integrated perspective. Research has found that women do not self-promote as much
as men due to a myriad of social reasons, which hurts their chances for promotion. The purpose
of this study is to utilize motivation and education to increase self-promotion of female
employees. Two groups of participants (n=41) completed a situational judgment test that
measures self-promotion after watching a fifteen minute TedTalk video. The independent
variable, motivation, was presented only in the experimental group where the topic of the video
was on increasing female leadership. The control group was assigned a topic unrelated to gender
issues. Consistent with the hypothesis, the experimental group displayed significantly higher
self-promotion behaviors than the control group. I concluded the paper by discussing the
implications of the results, i.e. the importance of education and organizational support, followed
by future directions for the issue.
 To read the entire Thesis, please email me at yongx024@gmail.com for more details.

3. MOTIVATION AND SELF-PROMOTION OF WOMEN 3
Assessment of Motivation on Self-promotion behavior of Female Leadership
In 1972, Katherine Graham became the first and only female Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) to join ranks with the other 499 men in the Fortune 500 organizations. Today, Barbara
Rentler is the most recent female CEO promoted to the list, joining 23 others. From Graham to
Rentler, 43 years have passed and yet women continue to hold only 4.8% of the higher up
leadership positions (Catalyst, 2015). Moreover, it was announced that this 4.8% marks the
highest record of women running United States’ largest companies (Fairchild, 2014). Expanding
this onto the Fortune 1000 companies, there are only 27 more female CEOs with the addition of
500 companies, rounding it up to total of 51 women. The Catalyst 2013 data of executive
positions within Fortune 500 shows only 14.6% of women. In 2014, a mere 19.2% of women
occupy Fortune 500 board seats.
Similarly in other sectors within United States, women never occupied more than 20% of
the top leadership positions. These numbers can be seen in the financial, health, law,
engineering, education and entertainment industries (Warner, 2014). The statistics are similar in
Politics as well. Women currently represent only 19.4% of the Congress; 24.2% of State
Legislature, 18.4% as Mayors and 23.6% of Statewide Executives. Perhaps the current highest
percentage of women leadership belonged in the US Supreme Court, where there are three
females out of seven Justices. However, it is also important to highlight that there have been only
four women out of the 100 Justices in the history ever to be appointed. Finally, there are no
females that have ever hold presidency in the United States.
Reflecting at all these statistics, it certainly raises the question why female leadership is
so sparse? This is especially so when women account for 50.7% of the labor participation in the
latest update (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). On one hand, many would most certainly agree

4. MOTIVATION AND SELF-PROMOTION OF WOMEN 4
that women have overcome many institutional barriers since the second wave of feminism. The
first wave of feminism saw tremendous success in the 1800s; where women were given access to
basic legal rights, which subsequently cement the start of the path towards gender equality.
These include the right to vote, the right to own legal properties and the right for education. In
short, women are now protected by the law to be independent from men. Continuing this, the
second wave feminism focused on refining and introducing new laws to eliminate gender
discriminations outside of homes. These include the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), successful
implementation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Title IX of the Education
Amendments Act of 1972. It is also essential to recognize that the second wave feminism
occurred post World War 2. This was the period where we saw a significant increase in female
participation in the workforce to boost economy due to the absence of men fighting the war
(History.com, 2010). Finally, this era also sees women fighting for laws to protect them against
violence, including sexual assault and domestic abuse.
Despite all the efforts, the fight towards parity between the two genders is far from over.
Several decades later, women today still experience discriminations, much of it in the workforce.
As reinforced earlier, this group experiences the glass ceiling effect, where advancement of
career from mid-level management becomes increasingly challenging due to gender and age.
Looking at the trend over the years, it has been determined that women leadership advancement
plateaued since 2002 (Sandberg, 2013). So why has female leadership stagnated over the years?
There are three different possibilities to speculate this phenomenon. Foremost, it is speculated
that women on average truly have no place in the leadership role. Some have argued that women
lack the qualities of a leader, rather than the lack of opportunities (Catalyst, 2005). On the other
hand, it could be that lack of female leadership stems from social discrimination, which has little

5. MOTIVATION AND SELF-PROMOTION OF WOMEN 5
to no correlation to work performance or biology. Finally, there are women who show great
potential to leaders but lack the drive to pursue the positions. These women do not see leadership
as attractive as men do, as success and likability are negatively correlated for women (Schein,
2001; Fels, 2004). On top of leadership disparities, women also face gender wage gap, lack of
equal opportunities for employment and sexual harassment (Matlin, 2010).
I believe that the lack of female leadership stems from discriminations over the
assumption that women are not made to be leaders. If it were true that gender gap persists due to
social reasons, active motivation can be used to reverse this learned behavior and mentality. This
study contributes to workplace psychology as it provides both a qualitative and quantitative
review of the issue at hand. A body of literatures will be studied, dissecting the roots of the
problem, its effects, consequences and plausible strategies to implement change. Previous
researches have all supported the fact that the glass ceiling effect cannot be based on a single
level, but rather be thought as a ‘labyrinth’ (Kochanowski, 2010; Eagly & Carli, 2007; Growe &
Montmogery, 1999). Therefore, the paper will draw from a variety of perspectives on the
different systems that impact this issue in order to come up with sustainable strategies (Senge,
1990). Foremost, I will look into this topic mainly through the lens of Industrial-Organizational
(IO) Psychology. Next, I will dissect both the social and cognitive themes that underlie the
causes of this issue. Although a substantial amount of studies have well looked into the cause-
and-effects of the issue, there is a lack of research focusing on interventions to address the
problem. Thus, this study contributes to the issue by providing possible strategies to overcome
the system.