The Relationship Between Gender and Career Advancement in Product Management

Gender-based career advancement disparities are well-documented as an issue for employees and organizations in various fields; however, little is known about its prevalence in the product management profession. This study addressed career advancement disparities through the lens of gender for full-time, salaried product managers and senior product managers based in the United States. The quantitative correlational study compared the relationship between gender and the perceived barriers to career advancement in the product management profession using a survey of 173 product managers and senior product managers. The perceived barriers to career advancement factors included lack of culture fit, exclusion from informal networks, lack of mentoring, poor organizational career management processes, difficulty getting developmental assignments, and difficulty obtaining opportunities for geographic mobility. Organizational justice theory and the glass ceiling metaphor were used in this study to frame this study, along with a Mann-Whitney U test to analyze the data. The results indicated a statistically significant relationship between gender and lack of culture fit as a perceived barrier to career advancement in the product management profession. The results contribute to the broader, gender-based career advancement disparities body of research while providing a research foundation for the intersectionality of gender, career advancement, and the product management profession. This study’s findings may contribute to positive social change by enabling product management professionals and organizational leaders to make meaningful career development decisions to advance gender-based career equity.