*1.4. Purpose of the Study*

The importance of resilience, the identification of disrespect as an impediment to employee engagement, and the important role of respect in fostering job satisfaction have been illustrated in the above literature review. Given these findings, this study examined the question, What factors impact and account for the resilience of women leaders who experience disrespect in the workplace?

The study was conducted to contribute to the literature regarding how women leaders can develop resilience. It provides information to enable coaching for women so that they are aware of the type of disrespect they may experience and how they can develop resilience in the face of such disrespect. The study also provides convincing evidence for the types and importance of respect in the workplace and prioritizes respectful workplaces for women in the post-pandemic world.

#### **2. Materials and Methods**

This study employed the qualitative methodology of narrative inquiry and thematic analysis. Narrative analysis has been used in many disciplines to learn more about the narrator's culture, historical experiences, identity, and lifestyle [22]. There are many analytic methods or forms of narrative analysis, including inquiry directed at narratives of the human experience or inquiry that produces data in narrative form [22]. Research is a mutually constructed story, a collaborative effort between the researcher and the participant, and narrative inquiry is a view of the phenomena of people's experiences [23]. It is a methodology that allows for the intimate study of the subject's experiences over time and in context.

Narrative thematic analysis in which the content within the text is the primary focus is the most common approach employed in narrative analysis and is the approach employed in this study. This approach generally follows five stages, and these stages were followed in this study: (1) organization and preparation of the data, (2) obtaining a general sense of the information, (3) the coding process, (4) categories or themes, and (5) interpretation of the data [22]. Thematic analysis is often selected because "it offers a toolkit for researchers who want to do robust and even sophisticated analysis of qualitative data, but yet focus and present them in a way that is readily accessible to those who are not part of academic communities" [24]. One of the intentions of this study was to be able to apply the results to the development of a model of resilience in order to be able to train and mentor women leaders on how to respond to disrespect, practice respect, and cultivate increased resilience in their work.

Purposeful sampling was employed in the study to identify women 18 years or older who had been in senior leadership positions above middle management for at least one year. Findings were obtained from semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with the 24 participants selected that lasted, on average, 60 min. All interviews took place over Zoom and were transcribed. The interviews included 18 open-ended questions. The first six questions explored who served as role models and mentors in childhood and youth and the circumstances (including their first jobs) in early life that contributed to their later success. Seven questions probed participants' work experience as a leader in their current industry. These questions examined participants' experiences of being disrespected on the job and how they responded. One question addressed participants' experience when they were forced to shift to working remotely during the pandemic. Probes covered the extent of their virtual work, how working virtually affected the range and types of disrespect they experienced, and whether and how working virtually changed the way they responded to disrespectful behavior.

These interviews allowed each participant to share incidents, stories, memories, and lessons learned from disrespectful experiences that helped shape their approach to their leadership roles. Their experiences met the test of types of disrespectful experiences such as verbal abuse, theft of intellectual property, ridicule, dethroning, racism, or sexism. Their resilience was demonstrated by the fact that these negative experiences did not cause significant setbacks, nor did they deter them from reaching their goals and succeeding as leaders. Some of the participants' relevant influences were more apparent in the circumstances and experiences they shared. For others, extra examples and probing were needed to reveal the more subtle influences. Nevertheless, all participants acknowledged a confluence of circumstances and experiences that influenced and supported their successes.
