Women’s spousal and career identities in male-dominated industries

Murphy, Dawn Olivia (2022) Women’s spousal and career identities in male-dominated industries. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

There is little known about the importance of women’s identities in terms of both their familial domains and their male-dominated career domains, which have contradictory role demands. In this thesis, I build on the literature about positive social identities in organizations through linking married women who work in male-dominated industries and their self-views regarding their spousal and career identities. I propose that identity conflict mediates the effect of positive spousal and career identities such that when women hold favorable regard for their social identities in their marriage or their career, they experience reduced identity conflict and subsequent increased psychological well-being, career commitment, and relationship satisfaction. I explore spousal support as a moderator whereby when women in male-dominated industries have higher levels of spousal support, their positive identities will further reduce their experiences of identity conflict, leading to higher levels of well-being, relationship satisfaction, and career commitment. The results indicate that women’s positive spousal and career identities are negatively associated with identity conflict. Identity conflict is subsequently negatively associated with psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction. Additionally, both positive career identity and positive spousal identity were found to have a positive indirect relationship with psychological well-being. The moderating role of spousal support was non-significant. Theoretical contributions, practical implications, and an agenda for future research are discussed.

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