Developing a Typology of Korean Women Leaders' Resistance to Their Token Status in the Workplace

Abstract

Despite remarkable economic development in South Korea (Korea), there are only a few women leaders, and they face challenges in the gendered workplace where organizational constraints and traditional values coexist. In a reanalysis of narratives of Korean women leaders (KWLs), using an ideal-type analysis as a novel qualitative research method, we identified five types of KWLs' resistance to their token status in the workplace: (1) Opportunity-Driven, (2) Pathfinding, (3) Self-Reflective, (4) Persevering, and (5) Changing the Way to Resist. The five types broaden the meaning of KWLs' resistance and highlight different ways they resist their token status in the workplace. A significant finding is that all KWLs have persevered in their own way, whether their resistance is overt (active), as in Type 1 (Opportunity-Driven), or covert (passive), as in Type 4 (Persevering), which is not considered resistance in Western contexts as it is subtle and hidden. This study also revealed that KWLs' personal agency plays an important role in shaping resistance strategies, though it is limited by organizational context and is possible after they gain executive power in the organization. We provide implications for research such as the importance of culture in typology development and implications for practice at the individual and organizational level.