Building professional identity: a study with female managers who are baby boomers, generation Xers, and millennials

Abstract This article analyzes the construction of the professional identity of female managers who are baby boomers, generation Xers and millennials. The research adopted a qualitative and analytical descriptive approach, interviewing 32 women working in different sectors of the economy in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The group interviewed was chosen and divided by generations counting on 06 baby boomers, 11 generation Xers, and 15 Millennials. The data were analyzed considering the dimensions proposed by Hill (1993) when discussing the process of becoming a manager: learning what it means to be a manager; developing interpersonal judgements; gaining self-knowledge; coping with stress and emotions; and managing transformations. The study identified that although the generations have different characteristics (such as way of thinking, acting, and seeing the world), they have little influence in the process of building professional identity of the female managers.