Expanding Opportunities For Leadership Development: Utilization Of Social Media By Early Career Women

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of social media on career development and leadership ambition of early career women. Despite their growing numbers, women have historically entered the workforce in lower-status, lower-paying positions and have stayed concentrated in a small number of traditional careers. The study examines the ways social media usage influences the leadership potential and career development of women. To conduct a thorough and accurate investigation, the researchers decided to use a mixed method thus combining qualitative and quantitative paradigms. The quantitative design is to extract respondents’ demographic information. The combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques is a promising way to overcome some challenges in the research. A structured interview protocol guide was used as the instrument to collect the qualitative data from twenty respondents but the information from ten (young women) respondents was used in this paper. The study found that there are a lot of trending issues on social media platforms that can be downloaded to reused for academic purposes for personal development. Moreover, it was discovered that the usage of social media raises expectations of the youth, their occupation, and educational ambitions, the need for gender empowerment, and socioeconomic status had an impact on career aspirations. It further found that social media usage and the use of perceived authority and situational determinants assist females in securing placement in leadership positions. Since the study sought to determine whether social media is having an impact on women's leadership ambition and career development, the findings may be used to rethink and plan their attitudes and behaviour when using social media. The findings may be used to make future decisions on capacity building in career and leadership development.