An Exploration Of Theoretical Foundations For Working Mothers Formal Workplace Social Networks

Abstract

This paper presents a multidisciplinary integrative exploratory review of possible theoretical foundations for working mothers’ formal workplace social networks. Beginning with theoretical overviews of work-life balance, career development, mentoring, psychology, and social capital this paper develops a plausible possible framework rooted in women’s psychological developmental theory. The authors conclude that the theoretical frameworks for human resource development (HRD) and human resource management (HRM) do not identify one unified specific framework for research and scholarly investigation of working mothers’ formal workplace social networks, while presenting a conceptual model grounded in Gilligan’s (1982) principles appears to be a good fit for enhancing the understanding of the phenomenon.