Queen Bee Syndrome; The role of Gender Discrimination and women Gender Identification

The queen bee syndrome refers to a phenomenon in which female executives in organizations that males occupy most of the senior positions, are separated themselves from other women and impede their progress. This research explores the concept deeper in universities. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of perceived gender discrimination on the queen bee syndrome perception about the behaviors of women in managerial positions. In this regard, the moderating role of gender identity and academic level were also examined. The research questionnaires were distributed among female faculty members of five top universities in the country and structural equation modeling method was used to test the research hypotheses. The results showed that perceived gender discrimination by women had a significant positive effect on their perceptions of queen bee syndrome. This relationship was moderated by the gender identity so that the relationship decreased in women with more gender identity. But academic degree had no significant moderating effect in this regard.