Abstract:
This study is to discuss the relationship between glass ceiling and the upward
mobility of women managers in the telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka.
There is an empirical and knowledge gap in the Sri Lankan context on the
relationship between the glass ceiling and the upward mobility of women
managers and its impact. The main objective of this research study is to
identify whether there is an impact of glass ceiling for the upward mobility of
women managers in Sri Lankan large scale telecommunication company. The
research problem of this study: Whether there is an impact of glass ceiling for
the upward mobility of women managers in a selected telecommunication
company in Sri Lanka? The data were collected from a convenient sample of
100 female executives in a Sri Lankan large scale Telecommunication
Company with a structured questionnaire which consisted of 32 questions
with five point Likert scales. Data was analyzed using univariate analysis,
correlation and regression analysis with the SPSS (16.0 version). The findings
of the study were that, the three factors of glass ceiling i.e. stereotype of
women, work/family conflict and unfavorable corporate practices are
negatively correlated with the career upward mobility of women managers in
the Sri Lanka large scale telecommunication company. According to the
regression analysis, 3.5% of the variance in career upward mobility of women
managers has been accounted by the above three dimensions of glass ceiling.
It is concluded that among the three dimension of glass ceiling considered in
the study, especially the level of work/family conflict faced by women
managers should be reduces in order to further enhance their career upward
mobility. It was implied to the management of the company to take necessary
actions to boost upward mobility of women managers in the organization.
