%0 Journal Article
%T Why women build less effective networks than men: The role of structural exclusion and personal hesitation
%A Elena Greguletz
%A Karin Kreutzer
%A Marjo-Riitta Diehl
%J Human Relations
%@ 1741-282X
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0018726718804303
%X Studies have shown that women¡¯s professional networks are often less powerful and effective than men¡¯s in terms of exchanged benefits, yet the motivations that underlie the networking behaviours remain less well understood. Based on an interview study of 37 high-profile female leaders working in large German corporations, we found that not only the extrinsic barrier of structural exclusion from powerful networks, but also the intrinsic barrier of women¡¯s hesitations to instrumentalize social ties are key to answering our research question: Why do women build less effective networks than men? Our analysis points to the existence of structural exclusion resulting from work¨Cfamily conflict and homophily. With regard to personal hesitation, we identified two elements that were associated with under-benefiting from networking: moral considerations in social interactions and gendered modesty. Our study makes two important contributions. First, by highlighting personal hesitation as an intrinsic barrier, it extends the understanding of women¡¯s motivations for networking based on social exchange theory. Second, based on structural barriers and personal hesitation, it develops a grounded theory model of networking that offers a holistic understanding of reasons that, from the perspective of the focal women, contribute to gender inequality in the workplace
%K career development
%K gender
%K networking
%K reciprocity
%K social exchange theory
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0018726718804303