| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors determining women involvement in managerial positions in the telecommunication industry in Nairobi County. The study was guided by four objectives namely: To establish the influence of decision making as a determinant factor on women‘s involvement in managerial positions within the telecommunication industry in Nairobi County, to evaluate the influence of level of education as a determinant factor on women‘s involvement in managerial positions within the telecommunication industry in Nairobi county, to examine the influence of provision of equal opportunities as a determinant factor on women‘s involvement in managerial positions within the telecommunication industry in Nairobi county and to determine the influence of socio-cultural activities as determinant factors on women‘s involvement in managerial positions within the telecommunication industry in Nairobi county. The study adopted descriptive survey research design .The target population was employees of 3 Telecommunications companies, Safaricom Ltd, Orange Telkom, and Airtel Kenya in Nairobi County, Kenya, in managerial positions. The sampling procedure used was stratified random sampling in the strata of senior management to include chiefs and directors and middle management to include heads of department and senior officers. The 3 companies had a total population of 327. The sample population was a 16% representation of the total population hence a sample size of 53 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaires .The research instruments were tested for reliability through split half technique. Quantitative data was first coded then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V 21) .The instrument was administered to the respondents by the researcher using ―drop and pick later‖ method. Data analysis involved descriptive statistical analysis summarized and prepared in tables showing frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The study found out that 42 (92%) of the managers were in need of decision making knowledge. It was also established that women with postgraduate degrees were more preferred than those with undergraduate degrees with the highest mean of 4.07 and standard deviation of 1.020. However, doctorate degrees were not important for a woman to perform better in senior management with the least mean of 1.48 and standard deviation of 0.691. There were also gaps in terms of provision of equal opportunities. It was also established from 28 (61%) of the respondents, that men were more valued in management than women. Furthermore the study revealed that socio- cultural factors such as marital status and nationality were used to decide women involvement in managerial positions with the highest mean of 2.63 and standard deviation of 1.404. The study therefore concluded that women involvement in managerial positions still faces major challenges and action was needed. The recommendations of the study were that; the organizations should enhance capacity building on decision making skills to enable women have the right information when making decisions. Women should strive to improve their level of education to increase their chances of involvement in management. An equality policy should be implemented in order to ensure all employees are treated equally. There should be sensitization within the organizations to change discriminatory cultural practices. Areas for further research work included studies on: factors contributing to female marginalization in projects, determinants of women involvement in managerial positions in other sectors in Kenya and the influence of policy formulation on women leadership in the telecommunication industry. | en_US |
