Originally posted on 25 March 2019
In 2014, Professor Quinetta Roberson gave a brilliant – and much-viewed - TEDx Talk about The Science of Inclusion that detailed why she is such a passionate social scientist. Participants at ECWO's 2018 Women in Leadership Conference also recently experienced Professor Roberson’s rich insights with her illuminating presentation on gender diversity at board level and in company leadership. Using her own research to underpin a powerful address, Roberson demonstrated why the courses she teaches frequently fill-up in record-breaking time. Her ability to easily (and with humour) convey complex ideas to different audiences has seen Roberson teach globally, in places like Stellenbosch, South Africa and, of course, Rotterdam – a boon for this devoted travelholic. Currently the Fred J. Springer Endowed Chair in Business Leadership and Professor of Management at the Villanova School of Business, Roberson earned her PhD in organisational behaviour from the University of Maryland. A widely published global expert on diversity, Roberson talks to us about her research journey, why we need more women in academia and much more.
What was the highlight of your presentation at ECWO’s third Women in Leadership Conference?
It was my first time in Rotterdam and my first time working with ECWO – and it was a really great experience. I knew that I was the final speaker at the end of a very intense programme and so I wanted to send the participants home with a sense of the passion that I feel for my work. In every presentation, workshop or lecture that I give, I make a psychological contract with the audience: they can expect a high level of preparation and engagement as I do something I love and I will return the energy that they emit. It’s a cyclical exchange and I felt it at my ECWO presentation.
You have a busy schedule of research and teaching. What makes you take on engagements outside Pennsylvania where you are based?
A couple things – one of which is that I am lifelong learner. So if you give me an opportunity to do something that I’ve never done before, which to me is a learning opportunity, I’m all for it. And then if you add travel and culture to it, I’m in! Actually I’m something of a travel addict and am currently on my 45th country! I didn’t grow up travelling. My first time outside of the US was in 1999 so it’s been in a relatively short period of time – and I have no plans to stop!
You mentioned the cyclical exchange of the individual lectures, presentations and workshops you give. How does this feed into your work as a researcher?
I work as a social scientist now but my Bachelor and Masters degrees are actually in finance. (Roberson has an MBA in finance and strategy from the University of Pittsburgh and a BS in finance and accounting from the University of Delaware). Before I went back to do my PhD I was in banking – first as a financial analyst, and then as a commercial lender. When I left corporate America, I wondered if there was a way to be in school for the rest of my life, which is how I found my way to academia. But these kind of engagements, like the ECWO conference allow me to have a foot in both worlds – the corporate and academia. Just theorising isn’t appropriate for the research that I do. I have to be able to translate my research into something usable - and that’s really where my passion is now. Learning doesn’t just go one way so to be able to talk and interact with practitioners and professionals helps me. When participants ask questions and offer comments, I gain insights for my research and this enables me to continually regenerate the passion that I feel for my particular field.
Last year’s McKinsey research, Women in the Workplace 2018, got a lot of attention but you did similar research on the link between diversity and firm performance more than a decade before. Tell us a little about that.
When I was teaching a diversity class at Cornell University, I would invite guest speakers and, usually within the first three slides of their PowerPoint deck, they would tell us how many women they had on their board, in leadership or in the company itself. It was always the same story about numbers and the question that arose for me every single time was “so what?” At that time, no one was really asking that question and so I started undertaking research to show that it’s not just about having women in the room. Women bring something of value and, for those companies that realise that value, it can be a real source of competitive edge. I published that research - Examining the Link Between Diversity and Firm Performance: The Effects of Diversity Reputation and Leader Racial Diversity – in 2007.
Did this ability to always think “so what?” propel you into research and academia?
I think so. My mother was an elementary school teacher – she’s retired now - and when I was about three, she let me have my own library card and would then release me into the children’s section to grab all the books I wanted. She also encouraged me to cook dinner once a week when I was just five. I would decide on what the meal would be and she would help me get the ingredients and then with the preparation. These things gave me a feeling of independence from an early age and also a sense of curiosity. As far back as I can remember I’ve always wanted to problem-solve and figure out the why – why something works, why something doesn’t work, what the boundary conditions are.
What are the challenges and opportunities that you’ve faced in your research journey?
Actually, the opportunities and the challenges were the same thing for me. I chose to do my PhD in organisational behaviour at the University of Maryland because I wanted to prepare for a career in research and that particular programme resonated with my research interests. In the USA, you’re usually assigned to one or two professors as a research assistant during a PhD programme but I was on a fellowship in my first two years so I was not assigned to anyone - which meant I had to be proactive. Before I started the programme I wrote to several different faculties in my programme and asked to be a research assistant on new projects - and two of them took me up on that offer. I took a different approach to most other students. There are professors who everyone wants to work with because they have a big name. But I found that I could learn something from everyone – the expert in experimental design was different to the expert in field studies who was different again to the expert in qualitative research. This approach allowed me to broaden and hone my skills and, being the learner and opportunist, I never said no. But there was a difficult side to this approach. At one point in time I was working on six different studies and I didn’t want to say “I can’t do this” because I was very aware that I was the only African American in the programme and I very much wanted to show that I could do it. So by being proactive I had the opportunity to be engaged in research, really develop a level of skill and get published while still a student but at the same time, the challenge was keeping everything, including my life, in balance and, to some degree, keeping my sanity.
You were the only African American in your PhD programme. Has that changed – and why is it important to have more diversity, including more women, in research?
There are definitely more African Americans, people of colour, and women in the field of management and applied psychology now. However, the numbers have not increased at the same trajectory in Research 1 universities, in the endowed chairs and in other key areas. In addition, even though there is more of an understanding of diversity research, it remains a challenge getting diversity-related work published in top peer reviewed journals. The research still has to be situated within a larger, broader body of literature. I see it myself when I am at a conference and am asked what my research field is. There’s a marked difference in people’s reaction when I say “diversity” versus saying I look at how fairly people treat their employees and the effects of this on firm performance, particularly in diverse work teams. That’s why we need to have more women in research – because they are going to approach research questions in a different way; they are going to get at the why in a different way, just through their different experiences and way of thinking.
What advice do you have for women wanting to enter academia?
The PhD is by no means an easy journey so I would definitely encourage a level of reflection that takes into account an understanding of what you are getting into. You also have to have a love for it. I knew that I loved school and that I was great at school and so I wanted to get a job where I could be in school for the rest of my life. We usually tell undergrads to prepare themselves for the job they want, but now we say they should prepare themselves for the job they want after that. So you not only have to be reflective but also forward thinking about where you want to end up. You also need to aim high. Sometimes we women engage in self-talk – not talking aloud to anyone but just talking ourselves away from our original ambition. Lastly I think you have to be proactive. When I reflect back on my doctoral programme, at the time that I was working on those six studies, one of my professors saw my “deer-in-the-headlights” look and asked if I was ok – and it made all the difference. There are times when we have to find a person or a space where we can say “I need to take a minute” and ask for help.
