“Not our class darling”: networking – privilege or penalty in large hotels?

• Date: 13 December 2019
• Pages: 181-194
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-11-2017-0257
• Published date: 13 December 2019
• Author: Irene Ryan,Shelagh Karin Mooney

“Not our class darling”:

networking –privilege or

penalty in large hotels?

Irene Ryan

Department of Management, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand, and

Shelagh Karin Mooney

School of Hospitality and Tourism, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to show how the social categories of gender, age and class influence

networking practices and career progression in the 4–5-star hotel sector in Australia and New Zealand.

It argues that in this type of workplace the practice of networking is so normalized that it is assumed an

inclusive, gender-neutral activity.

Design/methodology/approach –This paper draws on 18 semi-structured interviews. Inductiveanalysis was

used uncover themes, sub-themes and emergent patterns. An intersectionally sensitive approach was followed.

Findings –The significance of networking processes for career progression in the 4–5-star hotel sectors was

a recurring theme. Networking reflects historically embedded gendering practices that heighten existing

class-based structural privilege for groups of men.

Research limitations/implications –The focus is on hotel employees in Australia and New Zealand with

the findings are not implicitly generalizable.

Practical implications –Networks are important for women as their “merit”may not be immediately

visible. Well-structured mentoring schemes need to be adopted as part of the affirmative action required to tilt

the “skewed playing field”.

Originality/value –Studies that indicate how the gendering of networking practices reinforce career

privilege and penalty in specific organizations have been lacking, as have studies favouring an intersectional

approach. This study seeks to redress these omissions.

Keywords Gender, Networking, Hospitality, Age, Hotels, Class

Paper type Research paper

This paper investigates networking as a socialpractice and how it appears to privilege some

men’s career advancement while excluding many women. We respond to calls for a more

critical, contextual approach specifically in hospitality studies, to better understand the

persistence of male privilege. Our aim is to examine how the social categories of gender,

age and occupational class influence networking practices and career progression at the

organizational level of the 4–5-star hotel sector in Australiaand New Zealand. We argue that

in this typeof workplace the practiceof networking is sonormalized that it is assumedto be an

inclusive, gender-neutral activity. Such assumptions of an impartial work environment are

evident in the extensive, disciplinary specific, academic and practitioner literature on formal

and informal networks in organizations (e.g. Gibson et al., 2014; Kim, 2013).

In terms of diversity, the existent research looks primarily at women’s networks, ethnic

minority networks and LGBT networks (see Dennissen et al., 2018). Research on women’s

networkssheds light on the multiple wayssocial networks reinforcethe vertical and horizontal

segregationin many work organizations that shapewomen’scareeroutcomes(e.g.Grayet al.,

2007; Kossek et al., 2017). For example, evidence of the implicit construction of the “ideal

worker”is seen in the differential outcomes in managerial careers for certain men over other

men and most women (Metz and Kulik, 2014). This orientation is especially evident in

hospitality career studies where senior executives are presumed to be, and described as,

“organisational men”(Houran et al., 2012, p. 6). Yet, despite recognition that social networks

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 39 No. 2, 2020

pp. 181-194

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-11-2017-0257

Received 18 November 2017

Revised 28 October 2018

10 February 2019

24 July 2019

20 October 2019

13 November 2019

Accepted 18 November 2019

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

181

Networking –

privilege or

penalty