Gardiner Anna, Chur-Hansen Anna, Turnbull Deborah, Semmler Carolyn
School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Aust J Psychol. 2023 May 24;75(1):2213781. doi: 10.1080/00049530.2023.2213781. eCollection 2023.
The contribution of women's leadership programs to gender change in organisations is controversial, and evidence of programs' effectiveness is siloed across countries, sectors and industries. This systematic review aimed to provide a summary of current global efforts to evaluate women's leadership programs.
A systematic review protocol was registered with Open Science Framework prior to data extraction. Eight databases from multidisciplinary fields including (but not limited to) behavioural, social, physical, health and life sciences, management and business, and gender and women's studies were searched for academic papers examining the outcomes of women's leadership programs. Twenty-four studies were appraised for methodological quality using Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and 16 studies (11 peer reviewed articles and five theses) were included in the review.
Data were synthesized using an updated Kirkpatrick typology with seven categories used to classify evaluation outcomes. Subjective outcome levels were addressed more frequently than objective levels. Promotion to a leadership position was the sole objective outcome addressed, but methodological limitations of the included studies mitigate a link between programs and women's career advancement.
Currently, the global evidence of women's leadership programs' impact on individuals and organisations is inconclusive. This systematic review emphasises the need for enhanced methodological and theoretical rigour to guide the development of future women's leadership programs and their evaluation.
女性领导力项目对组织中性别变革的贡献存在争议，且项目有效性的证据在不同国家、部门和行业中相互孤立。本系统综述旨在总结当前全球评估女性领导力项目的努力。
在数据提取之前，在开放科学框架上注册了系统综述方案。在包括（但不限于）行为科学、社会科学、自然科学、健康与生命科学、管理与商业以及性别与妇女研究等多学科领域的八个数据库中搜索了研究女性领导力项目成果的学术论文。使用乔安娜·布里格斯研究所的指南对24项研究的方法质量进行了评估，16项研究（11篇同行评审文章和5篇论文）被纳入综述。
使用更新后的柯克帕特里克分类法对数据进行综合，该分类法有七个类别用于对评估结果进行分类。主观结果层面比客观结果层面得到了更频繁的探讨。晋升到领导职位是唯一涉及的客观结果，但纳入研究的方法局限性削弱了项目与女性职业发展之间的联系。
目前，全球范围内关于女性领导力项目对个人和组织影响的证据尚无定论。本系统综述强调需要加强方法和理论的严谨性，以指导未来女性领导力项目的开发及其评估。
