Bridget Cooper

Social Network Structures of Women in Academic Medicine: Positioning Women for Leadership Success Bridget Cooper

This study investigated the social network structures of 34 women in academic medicine, a male-dominated field, at two career stages. The women in this study sample were self-identified as leaders who would make steady upward career progression toward the highest levels of academic medicine. The research literature indicates that social network structure is integral to leadership success. In male-dominated fields, such research is critical for understanding the advancement of women. The rare study that documented the networks of professional women (Burt, 1998, 2000; Raider & Burt, 1996) previously indicated that large, entrepreneurial, diverse social networks translated into slower career progression and lower incomes for women. Researchers instead recommended to women who wanted to succeed in a male-dominated environment to build smaller networks with stronger ties, at least one with an instrumental, presumably male, network member with an expansive network (Burt, 1998, 2000; Raider & Burt, 1996). This study's findings indicate that women instead may benefit from sizeable networks with casual ties, more like their male counterparts.