Underrepresentation of Women in High Tech: Attraction-Selection-Attrition Theory

Introduction

The under-representation of women in high-tech is a complex issue with many possible solutions. It involves multiple institutions such as: families, schools (primary and secondary), clubs and social groups, universities, non-government organizations (NGOs), employers, and professional societies, among others. Many participants are involved not limited to, children, parents, role models, friends, fellow students, teachers, managers, mentors, and leaders. As in many complex issues faced today a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to truly understand the problems and solutions posed by this issue. In this chapter we will look at under-representation through multiple lenses, including child development, psychology, organizational behavior (OB) and human resources practices.

Child development and psychology literature will help us understand the early formulation of career interests and the basic gender specific formulation of attitudes that impact a child’s value and interaction with technology. In an age where technology is everywhere even the formulation of a person’s gender role characteristics, self-identify and self-worth are impacted. The child development literature also helps us to understand the role and influence of the parent, role models, friends, and teachers in a child’s orientation to technology. The authors make the case that these early life experiences influence an adult’s career interest and job choices and discuss alternative ways of child rearing which do not conflict with the necessity of both genders to be tech savvy.

The literature in OB and human resource practices helps to understand the role of institutions in the recruitment, selection, socialization, development, advancement, and retention of women in high-tech. The authors explore strategies to increase the representation of women in high-tech jobs.

In 2018 and again in 2019 the authors organized panel discussions involving women executives, researchers, and coaches at the National conferences of the American Psychological Association, Division 14: The Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology held in San Francisco, California and Chicago, Illinois respectively. The panel discussions addressed the topic of under representation of women in high tech. Executives, former executives, and coaches from Google, Airbnb, Intuit, Genentech, scitrain and Kent State University discussed the issues related to attracting, recruiting, selecting, placement and retention of women. While this chapter does not directly quote any of the participants, it does follow the course of conversations over these two meetings and structures the chapter using the same theory used in the panel discussions.

Attraction – Selection – Attrition Theory (ASA) was first introduced by Benjamin Schneider (1987) in the seminal article “The People Make the Place”. The article makes the bold assertion that organizations are determined by its people as opposed to situational factors like processes, systems, and structures.

For attraction the model states that people are most likely to join organizations where its members and culture share similar values, normative behavior, and personality to the candidate. The organization is most likely to select individuals who have the same skill sets, knowledge and experiences as the organizational members involved in the selection. Finally, attrition involves assimilation processes over time where individuals most likely to leave the organization are those that do not share the same characteristics and cultural values of the other members of the organization.

It is important to understand that these three areas (ASA) are not just categories, they are a system that works in concert with each other. If unchecked, they will make the workplace less diverse. At each component of the model people who are different are screened out. When in the final stage of attrition people with different values leave, the range of differences become more restricted than before. As an iterative process, the amount of and tolerance for diversity will continue to decrease over time, while the culture strengthens making it even more difficult for new, diverse employees to assimilate. This is a harmful process to an organization because lack of diversity relates to lower innovation and complex problem solving.