The effect of personality traits on glass ceiling syndrome: A research on professional accountants

In Turkey, although the employment rate of women employees is increasing, but it stays behind the rate of male employment. Many reasons are effective in the emergence of this situation. One of these reasons is the glass ceiling syndrome, which is an insidious force that makes its effect felt quite strongly despite not being visible. The glass ceiling syndrome affects many professions as well as accounting professionals. At the same time, it can be said that there are many factors that affect the emergence of the glass ceiling syndrome. One of these factors is the personality traits of women and men accounting professionals. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to reveal whether the glass ceiling syndrome exists or not by starting from the personality traits of women and men certified public accountants. The survey method was used as the data collection method in the study. In this study, 250 surveys were applied to certified public accountants operating in the province of Malatya. After examining the data obtained from the applied surveys, it was concluded that there was a positive and low-level statistically significant relationship between the personality trait of extroversion and the mean scores of the subscale of women's personal preferences and perceptions. When evaluated from the perspective of female professionals, it was concluded that there was a positive, moderately statistically significant relationship between the personality trait of extraversion and taking on multiple roles, women's personal preferences and perceptions, and stereotype subscale mean scores. In terms of male professionals, no statistically significant relationship was found between the personality trait of extraversion and the glass ceiling syndrome subscales. The results obtained regarding the glass ceiling syndrome showed that there was a parallelism with the studies conducted in other sectors. Accordingly, female accounting professionals also encounter the glass ceiling syndrome in their working lives. Keywords: Woman, Accounting Profession, Five Factor Personality Traits, Glass-ceiling Syndrome