Ryan O. Miller

I am a fifth year Ph.D. Candidate studying  Organizational Behaviour at Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. My dissertation thesis examines how gender influences the leadership journeys and career experiences of aspiring senior leaders, and particularly the unique experiences of women CEOs.  In doing so, I have conducted over 40 semi-structured interviews with women hospital CEOs, as well as several additional interviews with board chairs involved in their appointment (creating several CEO-board chair dyads). To analyze this data, I combine abductive reasoning, thematic analysis, and axial coding to create rich aggregate dimensions which I believe well-encapsulates the trends observed within the data.

So far, results have revealed unique barriers and enablers to women's career ascension, with many participants describing specific leader behaviours they feel are unique to womanhood. Examples include a great need to be cognizant of the expression of one's emotions, as well as the importance of engaging in agentic behaviour subtly, among many others.

As an additional research stream, I am examining the intersectional roles gender and ethnicity exert in relation to leader performance evaluations. Participants within this research have much managerial experience, improving the external validtity of findings.

My ultimate goal is to expedite gender equality in leadership through rigorous empirical research.