IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v30y2023i5p1676-1693.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The militarized workplace: How organizational culture perpetuates gender inequality in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Sejin Um

Abstract

This study advances our understandings of gender inequality in organizations by examining the experiences of young women who leave their jobs even in the absence of family responsibilities. Based on 29 in‐depth interviews with young women who left full‐time employment at large Korean firms early in their careers, complemented by interviews with 16 men who also resigned from these companies, I find that women's experiences and decisions to quit are critically shaped by what I term militarized workplace culture and practices. The militarized workplace is a work organization where core military values and mechanisms have been integrated and are reproduced to such an extent that organizational culture is saturated with military discipline. Within the militarized workplace, rigid hierarchies and male‐only informal networks marginalize and exclude women, and norms of overwork and complete availability undermine women's aspirations of long‐term employment. By demonstrating the roles that male conscription and the military play in shaping organizational culture and its gendered outcomes, these findings provide insight into how external institutions operate as a source of gender inequality at the organizational level.

Suggested Citation

  • Sejin Um, 2023. "The militarized workplace: How organizational culture perpetuates gender inequality in Korea," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1676-1693, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:1676-1693
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.13005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.13005
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.13005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benson Honig & Miri Lerner & Yoel Raban, 2006. "Social Capital and the Linkages of High-Tech Companies to the Military Defense System: Is there a Signaling Mechanism?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 419-437, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Julius Agbor, 2016. "Does Trust Matter for Entrepreneurship: Evidence from a Cross-Section of Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-17, March.
    2. Uwe Cantner & Michael Stützer, 2010. "The Use and Effect of Social Capital in New Venture Creation - Solo Entrepreneurs vs. New Venture Teams," Jena Economics Research Papers 2010-012, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    3. Silveli Cristo-Andrade & João J. Ferreira, 2020. "Knowledge spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship: what researches and approaches?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 263-286, March.
    4. Amalya L. Oliver & Kathleen Montgomery & Shimrit Barda, 2020. "The multi-level process of trust and learning in university–industry innovation collaborations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 758-779, June.
    5. Bernard Dussuc & Sébastien Geindre, 2012. "Capital social, théorie des réseaux sociaux et recherche en PME : une revue de la littérature," Post-Print halshs-00747912, HAL.
    6. Vershinina, Natalia & Rodgers, Peter & Tarba, Shlomo & Khan, Zaheer & Stokes, Peter, 2020. "Gaining legitimacy through proactive stakeholder management: The experiences of high-tech women entrepreneurs in Russia," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 111-121.
    7. Boris Bauke & Thorsten Semrau & Zheng Han, 2016. "Relational trust and new ventures’ performance: the moderating impact of national-level institutional weakness," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 1007-1024, December.
    8. Thorsten Semrau & Arndt Werner, 2014. "How Exactly Do Network Relationships Pay Off? The Effects of Network Size and Relationship Quality on Access to Start–Up Resources," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(3), pages 501-525, May.
    9. Semrau, Thorsten & Werner, Arndt, 2009. "How exactly do networking Investments pay off? Analyzing the impact of nascent Entrepreneurs networking Investments on Access to Start-Up Resources," MPRA Paper 18350, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Cisneros, Luis & Deschamps, Bérangère & Chirita, Gabriel M. & Geindre, Sébastien, 2022. "Successful family firm succession: Transferring external social capital to a shared-leadership team of siblings," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3).
    11. Edelman, Linda F. & Manolova, Tatiana S. & Brush, Candida G. & Chow, Clifton M., 2021. "Signal configurations: Exploring set-theoretic relationships in angel investing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    12. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    13. Maximilian Benner, 2023. "Making spatial evolution work for all? A framework for inclusive path development," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 445-462.
    14. Jue Wang & Philip Shapira, 2012. "Partnering with universities: a good choice for nanotechnology start-up firms?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 197-215, February.
    15. Gimmon, Eli & Levie, Jonathan, 2010. "Founder's human capital, external investment, and the survival of new high-technology ventures," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 1214-1226, November.
    16. Benjamin Gidron & Kfir Bar & Maya Finger Keren & Dalit Gafni & Yaari Hodara & Irina Krasnopolskaya & Alon Mannor, 2023. "The Impact Tech Startup: Initial Findings on a New, SDG-Focused Organizational Category," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-26, August.
    17. Julian Bafera & Simon Kleinert, 2023. "Signaling Theory in Entrepreneurship Research: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2419-2464, November.
    18. Pablo Salas, 2013. "Literature Review of Energy-Economics Models, Regarding Technological Change and Uncertainty," 4CMR Working Paper Series 003, University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economy, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:1676-1693. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.