Personality Factors and Glass Ceiling: A Study on it Professionals

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between the phenomena of glass ceiling and the Big five personality factors among Female IT professionals. The study was conducted on 100 female executives from different companies in the IT sector and the Correlation research design was used for the purpose. Purposive sampling was conducted and the sample consisted of females between 30-50 years of age with a minimum of 5 years of association with the organization. Newly recruited employees were kept beyond the purview of the study. The NEO-PI scale by Costa and McCrae (1988) and Glass Ceiling Questionnaire by Ayesha Zaheer (2008) were administered to collect the data. The results of the study revealed a positive correlation between the personality traits of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Conscientiousness and the perception of Glass Ceiling, indicating the fact that women high on these traits will also be high on their perception towards the glass ceiling phenomena. On the Contrary, the personality traits of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness were found to be negatively correlated with Glass Ceiling Perception stating the fact that women who score low on these traits have a low perception towards the glass ceiling phenomena. The study contributes in the field of women empowerment and brings into light the perception of female workforce towards the barriers faced by them in the corporate sector. Through this study the organizations will get a better understanding of women employees in the whole new light of personality traits.