The Influence of Gender Stereotype and Attitudes on Hiring Decisions in the Lebanese Workplace (original) (raw)
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Stereotypes and prejudice towards women managers
An experimental study based on Goldberg's paradigm was carried out to investigate stereotypical attitudes towards the women managers in a mixed gender sample. 329 participants were asked to participate in a simulated personnel selection decision task. 166 participants had to choose between 2 resumes describing 2 men, while 163 participants had to choose between the same 2 resumes, but they were told that the first resume belonged to a woman. All participants were also asked to assess the managerial skills, orientation towards task and towards relations of both candidates. The results show a clear drop of preferences in the second experimental condition for the resume describing a woman compared with the preferences expressed by the participants in the first experimental condition for the same resume describing a man. Also, the participants in the second experimental condition rated the male applicant's managerial skills, task orientation and relationships orientation higher than the female applicant's. However, contrary to what was expected, women rates were equally as discriminative against woman applicant as men rates were. This result does not support the prediction of the implicit social cognition theory and is explained by the traditional values of Romanian culture, in which women are much more perceived as being engaged in the private sphere than the public one.
The Consequences of Gender Stereotypes in the Work of Managers
Procedia Economics and Finance, 2015
Gender inequality remains a significant factor affecting the status of men and women in society, despite some progress, thanks to the measures that have been introduced in recent years. Normally we look at the men that they are leaders, they are ambitious, rational and logical-thinking. Women managers take care of the family, which reduces their opportunities to succeed in recruiting managerial position. Often stereotyped manager (man) receives rather a person of the same sex as he is. The result of our research is showing effect of gender stereotypes resulting in low representation of women at senior management levels.
Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 1980
One hundred male and female MBA students evaluated a woman applicant for a managerial position when the proportion of women in the applicant pool was varied. Results indicated that personnel decisions of both males and females were significantly more unfavorable when women represented 25% or less of the total pool. Additional findings suggest that this effect was mediated by the degree to which sex stereotypes predominated in forming impressions of applicants. The results were interpreted as supportive of the thesis that situational factors can function to reduce the adverse effects of sex stereotypes in employment settings.
Sex bias in hiring: Effects of job demands and applicant competence
Sex Roles, 1983
Managers in a large corporation evaluated application materials representing one of eigh t hypothetical fob candidates. In order to examine the effects of two types of information on sex bias, three factors were manipulated in a factorial design." (1) Applicants were either male or female engineers; (2) they appeared highly competent or moderately competent based on academic performance; (3) they were applying for an engineering fob that entailed either technical engineering tasks or managerial tasks in addition to the technical tasks. Greater discrimination against women occurred in evaluations for the technical-managerial fob, even with highly competent applicants. These results are explained in terms of ambiguity: Because it was not obvious that applicants wouM succeed on the additional managerial tasks, the evaluators resorted to stereotypes in order to make their predictions. Despite affirmative action programs, women remain underrepresented in professional and managerial positions (Cohen & Bunker, 1975). Although partially caused by sex differences in aspirations and qualifications, this underrepresentation also reflects the persistence of discrimination at the entry level (cf. Terborg, 1977). That is, women are less likely to be hired even when male and female job applicants have identical qualifications (e.g., Fidell, 1970; Rosen & Jerdee, 1974a, 1974b, 1974c). Many investigators have attributed sex bias in hiring to traditional stereotypes and have begun to consider factors other than overt hostility which may underlie stereotypical evaluations of women.
WHAT A MAN CAN DO, A WOMAN CAN DO BETTER: INVESTIGATING GENDER STEREOTYPE IN THE WORKPLACE
Gender and behaviour patterns are fundamental cultural criteria in categorizing the human species. Under-valuing the potential and capabilities of workers as a result of gender stereotype has serious consequences for an organisation. The main purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of the theoretical and empirical effect of gender stereotype on employees " performance, with focus on selected industries in Nigeria. The study was anchored on social role theory and role congruity theory. The study adopted a mixed research paradigm of qualitative and quantitative methods to gain a more robust investigation into gender stereotyping in the Nigerian work environment. Aresponse sample of 270 employees from 10 industries participated in the study with 10 female executive women amongst them answering the interview question on perception of their career paths as it relates to gender in their organisations. Stratified random sampling and convenience sampling techniques guided the sampling procedure. Narrative analysis and two sample t-test were used for the data analyses. The results revealed some complaints of gender discrimination and intimidation in the workplace and a significant effect of gender stereotype on employee performance. The study recommended that a strong policy against gender discrimination should be in place in organisations, to create and maintain a work environment with equal treatment for all employees irrespective of their gender. The study has implications for management, employees and the society at large. The reading public will become more aware of the effects of gender stereotyping on poverty, income inequality, injustice and underdevelopment of the society.
Gender Stereotyping and Self-Stereotyping Attitudes: A Large Field Study of Managers
Social Science Research Network, 2017
Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.
Journal of Business and Psychology, 2012
Purpose Several studies have shown that the traditional stereotype of a ''good'' manager being masculine and male still exists. The recent changes in the proportion of women and female managers in organizations could affect these two managerial stereotypes, leading to a stronger preference for feminine characteristics and female leaders. This study examines if the gender of an employee, the gender of the manager, and the management gender ratio in an organization are related to employees' managerial stereotypes. Design/Methodology/Approach 3229 respondents working in various organizations completed an electronic questionnaire. Findings The results confirm our hypotheses that, although the general stereotype of a manager is masculine and although most prefer a man as a manager, female employees, employees with a female manager, and employees working in an organization with a high percentage of female managers, have a stronger preference for feminine characteristics of managers and for female managers. Moreover, we find that proximal variables are much stronger predictors of these preferences than more distal variables.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 1992
This field study focused on the influence of sex stereotypes in the evaluation of male (N=38) and female (N=21) job applicants in the Netherlands. The employee selection process for higher-level technical and academic jobs in real life situations was studied, with special attention to the assessment of applicants by members of selection committees. It was demonstrated that, according to the job interviewers, the ideal applicant had more masculine than feminine traits. Males and females were regarded as having the same qualifications for the job, but because male applicants were assessed as having more masculine characteristics and female applicants more feminine characteristics, the male applicants were accepted more often. The job interviewers acted according to a fit model: The applicant most similar in traits to the ideal applicant was hired for each job.
PERCEPTIONS OF GENDER INEQUALITY IN THE LEBANESE WORKPLACE
This MBA project examines the perceptions of gender inequality in the Lebanese workplace. In the literature review the concepts of occupational sex segregation and the glass ceiling are introduced. Occupational sex segregation is the compartmentalization of men and women into different types of jobs (horizontal segregation) and different levels of hierarchal positions (vertical segregation). This sexual division of labor and position ultimately leads to different rewards and career opportunities for men and women. Vertical segregation is also known as the glass ceiling phenomenon. The glass ceiling refers to the challenges confronting women’s ascent to top executive positions due to negative stereotypes, attitudes, and prejudices. The project then discusses five obstacles (training and career development/promotion policies; mentoring; compensation; bias in recruitment and selection; and work/family balance) in the workplace that affect women’s access to managerial positions. Two theories help explain the perpetuation of these organizational obstacles. First, sex role stereotype describes how stereotyping involves judging people by their group affiliations rather than their unique individuality. Second, social identity theory proposes that our environment and culture helps develop our social identity. With respect to perceptions of gender roles in the organizational context, social identity theory establishes that women’s gender identity at work is shaped by the power differentials that are a consequence of sex stereotyping and hierarchal segregation. In light of the literature review, the theories employed, and the results of the focus group nine hypotheses were proposed. A survey of 397 respondents was aimed at investigating the perceptions of workers with respect to gender inequality in the Lebanese work force. Mainly the survey found that the socio-economic environment influences workers perceptions of gender roles. Also, although women recognize their subordinate status, they do not necessarily perceive their gender group unfavorably. Further more, workers realize the existence of gender inequality and are open to the idea of women entering traditional men’s roles and vice versa. Workers recognize - that for more equitable gender relations - policies need to be designed and implemented to enhance the status and advancement of women.