Managerial Career Choices: Evidence from South Australian Local Government

There are structural and individual factors that contribute to and compound the current and continuing under-representation of women in leadership and senior management positions. We explore these factors by investigating the beliefs and intentions of male and female senior managers with respect to applying for promotion to executive level in local government organisations in South Australia. Survey data from 148 senior managers indicated that men and women have similar belief structures when it comes to their intentions to apply for promotion in South Australian local government. 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. Our analysis supports a number of structural and managerial recommendations, which we believe will address this imbalance overtime.