Gendered Dimensions of Professional Visibility and Personal Branding in Conservative Societies: A Narrative Literature Review

Abstract

Personal branding is a key strategy for all professionals who seek to improve their professional visibility, career opportunities and advancement. Existing research has mainly examined personal branding as a theoretical concept focusing on its definitions, processes, and outcomes but not from gendered and contextual perspectives. The purpose of this paper was to review and synthesize the literature on the role of gender and sociocultural context on personal branding among professional women in conservative societies. A literature search was conducted on Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The inclusion criteria were all types of articles, including peer-reviewed papers and grey literature focusing on professional personal branding by women on social media. Seven relevant articles were identified and included in the review. They explored personal branding practices among women only or men and women from different contexts, the digital platforms employed, and influencing factors of personal branding. The review revealed a knowledge gap regarding personal branding in relation to gender and sociocultural contexts due to limited research in this area.