Beyond competence: how organisational recognition and digital visibility shape women's leadership progression in project-based organisations

Purpose This study examines how organisational recognition and digital visibility shape women's leadership progression in project-based organisations. It moves beyond the view that leadership progression depends only on individual capability and explores how women's competencies are developed, made visible and recognised within gendered project environments. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was used, based on semi-structured interviews with 23 women leaders working in project-based organisations across Australia. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were analysed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo, with social role theory guiding the interpretation of gendered expectations and recognition processes. Findings The findings show that women's leadership progression depends on the interaction between relational, strategic and execution-based competencies. Communication, stakeholder engagement, decision-making, risk awareness, problem-solving, planning, coordination and governance awareness helped women build trust, credibility and delivery capability. However, these competencies did not automatically translate into leadership progression. Organisational recognition was central to whether women's competencies were valued and translated into leadership opportunities. Gendered workplace norms often reduced the visibility of relational and coordination work by treating it as expected support work rather than leadership. Digital technologies supported competency visibility, flexibility, communication and evidence-based decision-making, but also created challenges through digital overload, limited training, workload pressure and reduced informal visibility. Research limitations/implications This study is based on a qualitative sample of 23 women leaders in Australia, and the findings reflect self-reported experiences within a cross-sectional design. Longitudinal and cross-cultural research would help clarify how leadership progression and organisational recognition evolve over time and across different national contexts. Practical implications Project-based organisations, particularly HR managers and project directors, need to move beyond competency development alone. Promotion criteria, project allocation and formal sponsorship should be designed to make women's leadership work visible and explicitly recognised, supported by deliberate use of digital tools and by monitoring invisible labour. Originality/value This study contributes to project leadership and gender research by shifting attention from competency possession to competency recognition. It develops a gender-responsive leadership progression framework that explains how leadership competencies are translated into women's leadership progression through competency visibility and organisational recognition and extends social role theory by identifying system-mediated visibility, recognition shaped by digital infrastructure rather than direct observation, as a second pathway through which gendered expectations operate.