Sustaining women’s executive leadership tenure in South Africa’s private sector: A relational sustainability framework

Abstract

Orientation: Despite improvements in women’s representation in executive leadership, tenure sustainability remains uneven, particularly within transformation-driven contexts such as South Africa’s private sector.
Research purpose: This study explored how structural, cultural and developmental dynamics shape the sustainability of women executives’ leadership tenure following appointment.
Motivation for the study: Industrial and organisational psychology (IOP) scholarship has predominantly focused on barriers to leadership access rather than executive tenure durability. In South Africa, legislated transformation has improved representation; however, sustained executive presence has not increased proportionately, suggesting a sustainability gap requiring theoretical and practical examination.
Research approach/design and method: An interpretivist qualitative design using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was adopted. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight senior women executives who voluntarily exited C-suite or equivalent roles across South African private-sector industries.
Main findings: Executive tenure sustainability emerged as a function of relational alignment across three interdependent domains: structural legitimacy, cultural belonging and developmental continuity. Misalignment produced cumulative relational strain, increasing vulnerability to voluntary exit despite demonstrated competence and formal authority.
Practical/managerial implications: The study introduces the executive sustainability diagnostic model, enabling organisations to assess governance integration, leadership climate architecture and talent mobility systems to proactively manage executive tenure risk.
Contribution/value-add: The study advances relational sustainability as a mid-range IOP framework, shifting leadership scholarship from pipeline-access metaphors to systemic analysis of executive tenure durability.