AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES THAT HELP WOMEN TO BREAK THROUGH THE GLASS CEILING IN THE INDIAN IT SECTOR

Abstract

The Indian IT sector is the major contributor to the country’s economy. Despite of this fact, women in the Indian IT sector face various barriers and challenges in their career advancement. The main focus of the study is to investigate the role of leadership competencies to break the glass ceiling in the Indian IT sector.  For this purpose, a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was designed using Google Forms. Through online platforms wide and easy access is possible. The data was collected from 431 working women in the Indian IT sector.  The questionnaire is designed to know the perception of females on the importance of leadership competencies ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach’s Alpha method and a value of α= 0.796 is the outcome, indicating a high degree of internal consistency. The data analysis is done through descriptive statistics where mean and standard deviation are calculated and competencies are ranked based on high mean score and low standard deviation. The ranked competencies from 1 to 11 show their relative importance from most to least important. The findings identify Fostering team unity, gathering technical and leadership skills, Work-Life Equilibrium, Taking Initiative and being assertive, Emotional Intelligence, and a Robust professional network are most important for breaking the glass ceiling in the Indian IT sector.  The study concluded that empowering women with these competencies will help them break the glass ceiling in the Indian IT sector and also bring gender parity.