5.6 Implications, research limitations and future research

This research provides companies with better insight into the quality, quantity and successfulness of interventions implemented by Dutch companies with a view to enhancing women’s representation at the corporate top, and eventually with a view to achieving gender equality. It helps inform companies on the types of interventions that could be implemented to increase the number of women at the corporate top. The finding that commitment from the top and tone at the top are important for the success of gender equality interventions may cause top management to commit themselves to achieving gender equality at the corporate top. The research did not reveal a singular intervention that had been solely successful in increasing the number of women at the corporate top. To the contrary, it became apparent that multiple interventions need to be combined if gender equality is to be achieved.

As the research was conducted in four Dutch companies only, more research into interventions is required to understand more about how these interventions work and to better understand whether some interventions may work better for some organizations than others in achieving gender equality in the workplace.

As the findings contribute in part to liberal feminism and in part to critical feminist perspectives, more research into the theory of gendered organizations and research into transformational interventions is required to better understand how organizations are gendered and how transformational change can be brought about.