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Editorial verdict
Theoretically ambitious and methodologically transparent, but the findings rest on a small, purposive sample of exiters only — the relational sustainability framework is a credible conceptual contribution, though its diagnostic model awaits empirical validation.
Executive summary
This article addresses the gap between women's representational gains and tenure durability in South Africa's private sector executive leadership, noting that women held only 26.2% of top management roles in 2024 despite legislative frameworks such as the Employment Equity Act and B-BBEE policies. The authors argue that Industrial and Organisational Psychology has over-focused on access barriers while neglecting post-appointment sustainability, and propose that voluntary executive exit is better explained by systemic relational misalignment than by individual inadequacy or attitudinal withdrawal. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis with eight senior women executives who had voluntarily exited C-suite or equivalent roles, the study identifies three interdependent domains shaping tenure sustainability: structural legitimacy, cultural belonging, and developmental continuity. Key findings include the concept of 'temporal legitimacy erosion' — whereby authority is continuously contested through micro-evaluations rather than secured at appointment — alongside evidence of cumulative impression management burden, psychological safety deficits, sponsorship gaps, and unequal access to high-visibility roles. Participants described these dynamics as interacting and accumulating, and framed departure as a strategic recalibration rather than a failure. The authors propose the Relational Sustainability Framework and an operationalising Executive Sustainability Diagnostic Model (ESDM) as mid-range theoretical and practical contributions to Industrial-Organisational Psychology.
Key insights
- 1Formal executive appointment does not automatically confer legitimacy: women executives describe 'conditional authority' requiring repeated competence demonstration that they perceived peers were not required to do, a process the authors term 'temporal legitimacy erosion.'
- 2Participants described voluntary exit from C-suite roles as shaped by the cumulative, reinforcing interaction of three domains — structural legitimacy, cultural belonging, and developmental continuity — rather than any single organisational event.
- 3Sponsorship (active advocacy converting relational capital into structural positioning) is distinguished from mentorship and identified as a critical institutional mechanism; in its absence, participants perceived progression as depending on individual perseverance.
- 4Intersecting identities — particularly race and gender in South Africa's post-apartheid context — were described by several participants as heightening visibility and scrutiny without genuine inclusion, notably for participants who were women of colour.
- 5Participants consistently reframed departure as deliberate self-determination and strategic recalibration, several reporting relief upon exit, challenging deficit-based narratives about women's executive attrition.
Practical takeaways
- The proposed, untested Executive Sustainability Diagnostic Model (ESDM) offers organisations a structured diagnostic architecture across three auditable domains — structural legitimacy, leadership climate architecture, and talent mobility systems — framed around proactive longitudinal assessment rather than reactive post-exit analysis.
- The distinction the article draws between symbolic inclusion (representational appointment) and structural recalibration (sustained authority, psychological safety, equitable portfolio access, and transparent succession) points to organisational conditions that participants linked to their decisions to stay or leave.
Frameworks mentioned
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
A qualitative methodology, following Smith et al.'s six-stage framework, used to explore complex, emotionally significant professional experiences with idiographic depth, progressing from individual case analysis to cross-case synthesis.
Role Congruity Theory
A framework explaining how stereotype-based incongruity between gender expectations and leadership roles generates ongoing micro-evaluations; extended in this article to describe cumulative, temporal legitimacy erosion rather than discrete appointment barriers.
Gendered Organisation Theory
A theoretical lens holding that organisational structures and norms are historically designed around masculine identities; extended in this article to demonstrate ongoing post-appointment contestation of women's authority rather than barriers limited to recruitment and promotion.
References
- Lincoln and Guba (1985).Lincoln and Guba's trustworthiness criteria (credibility, dependability, confirmability, transferability).
- Smith et al. (2021).Smith et al.'s six-stage IPA framework.
Source & Provenance
sajip
Christine D. Charles-Masinga, Lia M.M. Hewitt
October 1, 2026
Research Study
Africa
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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