Human resource managers advancing the careers of women in Saudi Arabia: caught between a rock and a hard place

Abstract

In a bid to accelerate the modernization of its economic and social structures, Saudi Arabia has recently embarked on a set of ambitious reforms, including those aiming to advance the role of Saudi women in the economy and society. This study explores both how and the extent to which human resource (HR) managers are involved in undertaking a strategic role in advancing women’s careers amidst the changing legislative mandates. In so doing, we draw upon semi-structured interviews with HR managers and capitalize on the strategic human resources management partnership model and insights from Institutional Theory. Accordingly, we present empirical evidence detailing how the Saudi HR managers are experiencing a slow transformation away from strictly administrative tasks toward strategic partnerships in terms of reducing gender discrimination and further developing women’s careers. However, this transformation is hindered by the varying speed of change among the cognitive-cultural, normative, and regulative institutions, along with disconnects between policy makers, senior managers, and HR managers. These disconnects unfold as institutional challenges hindering the transformation of macroeconomic goals into social progress and managerial practices that further advance the progression of Saudi women’s careers.

Keywords:

• Strategic human resource management
• Arab women
• institutional theory
• gender discrimination
• Saudi Arabia
• Vision 2030
• Arab world

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, [H.T.]. The data are not publicly available due to restrictions e.g. containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.