Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine linkages of gender and gender-related variables to aspirations to top management over a period spanning five decades.


Design/methodology/approach
During each of the past five decades, samples from two early-career populations (n = 2131), undergraduate business students and part-time (evening) MBAs, completed an aspirations to top management measure and described themselves on an instrument that assessed self-ascribed masculinity and femininity.


Findings
Aspirations to top management were predicted by respondent gender for undergraduates, with women's aspirations lower than those of men, and by masculinity for both populations. Suggesting a shifting role of gender, undergraduate women's aspirations to top management declined during the 21st century, whereas undergraduate men's aspirations did not.


Practical implications
Any decline in early-career women's aspirations to top management over a sustained period may contribute in the long run to perpetuating the under-representation of women in top management.


Originality/value
The finding of a striking decline in women's aspirations to top management during the 21st century in an early-career population is an original contribution to the gender in management literature.

PurposeThis study aims to examine factors that may explain the status of women in management by exploring the linkages between leader anti-prototypes and prototypes to gender stereotypes.Design/methodology/approachSamples from two populations described either a "bad manager" (representing leader anti-prototypes) or a "good manager" (representing leader prototypes) on two instruments that assessed masculinity and femininity.FindingsOn each instrument, masculinity was endorsed more than femininity in both leader prototypes and anti-prototypes. Both masculinity and femininity were endorsed more in leader prototypes than leader anti-prototypes but only when the purpose of the instrument was disguised rather than transparent.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of a single data collection method, the nature of the samples and a newly designed scale for purposes of the study are acknowledged. Further attention to the linkages of leader anti-prototypes and prototypes to gender stereotypes and the outcomes of these linkages is recommended.Practical implicationsIndividuals who make managerial selection and promotion decisions may devote more attention to the presence or absence of masculine traits in candidates than to the presence or absence of feminine traits, thereby leading to female candidates being passed over and male candidates receiving greater scrutiny in determining who gets ahead.Social implicationsThe study suggests cognitive mechanisms that may influence the status of women in management.Originality/valueThe study incorporates leader anti-prototypes and leader prototypes to explain the low status of women in management.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of psychological androgyny, a construct that represents a combination of masculinity and femininity, in explaining changes in descriptions of a good manager over time.Design/methodology/approach– Samples of the same two populations were surveyed at four different points in time spanning four decades (N= 1,818).Findings– Good-manager descriptions became increasingly similar in masculinity and femininity over time, or increasingly androgynous according to the balance conceptualization of androgyny. However, both good-manager masculinity and good-manager femininity declined over time, with masculinity declining to a greater extent, which accounted for the greater similarity in these scores. As a result, according to the high masculinity/high femininity conceptualization of androgyny, good-manager descriptions actually became decreasingly androgynous and more "undifferentiated". Overall, the trend in leader prototypes over time was toward less emphasis on traits associated with members of either sex.Research limitations/implications– Limitations of two alternative methods of analyses and the survey instrument are acknowledged. What constituted a good manager may have depended on the context. Further scholarly attention to the concept of an undifferentiated leadership style is recommended.Practical implications– People may be moving beyond leader prototypes based on the simple application of gender stereotypes. Changes in leader prototypes over the past four decades may contribute to enhancements in women's societal status.Social implications– Leader prototypes may disadvantage women less than in the past.Originality/value– Results suggest that the role of androgyny in leader prototypes is declining according to the high masculinity/high femininity conceptualization.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of the "Ideal President" and candidates in the 2008 US presidential election in relation to gender and leader prototypes.Design/methodology/approachA total of 768 undergraduate business students rated either the ideal President or a presidential candidate on Bem Sex‐Role Inventory and Implicit Leadership Theory scales.FindingsThe ideal President was seen as more similar to male candidates as a group than female candidates as a group (i.e. "think president – think male"). The ideal President was seen as higher in masculinity than femininity (i.e. "think president – think masculine").Research limitations/implicationsAdditional factors beyond gender and leader prototypes may affect perceptions of presidential candidates and the ideal President. Respondents came exclusively from northeastern USA; hence, results may not be generalizable to other populations. Replication of this study in nations that have elected a female leader is recommended. Future theory and research should link perceptions of male and female leaders in different nations to dimensions of national culture such as gender egalitarianism.Social implicationsThe results suggest the continued presence of sex‐related biases in leader evaluations in the political context. Such biases influence whether specific groups are excluded from political leadership because of their personal characteristics (e.g. women), which would dilute the talent of the pool of available candidates.Originality/valueThe results increase knowledge of the linkages among sex, gender, and political leadership by incorporating both gender and leader prototypes.

Data gathered by the authors from undergraduate and part‐time graduate business students in 1976‐1977 suggested that men were more likely than women to aspire to top management and that, consistent with traditional stereotypes of males and managers, a gender identity consisting of high masculinity and low femininity was associated with aspirations to top management. As a result of gender‐related social changes, we expected the gender difference in aspirations to top management but not the importance of gender identity to have decreased over time. We collected data in 1999 from the same two populations to test these notions. In newly collected data, high masculinity (but not low femininity) was still associated with such aspirations, and men still aspired to top management positions more than women. However, the gender difference in aspirations to top management did not decrease over time.

This study replicated our earlier study (Powell & Butterfield,1979) of the applicability of the androgyny concept to management and reanalyzed that data using a revised Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Reanalysis of our earlier data showed that the good manager was described as more androgynous and less masculine on the revised instrument than on the original instrument. However, the good manager was described as more masculine and less androgynous by some groups in the newer sample as compared with their counterparts in the earlier sample. Overall, despite a considerable increase in the proportion of women managers, male and female undergraduate and part-time graduate business students continued to describe the "good manager" as masculine rather than androgynous. Implications of the results for theory, practice, and training and development are discussed.

This study extends earlier attribution research on leadership regard ing the "high-high" effective leader stereotype. Stories depicting man agers using either high-high or low-low leadership styles were rated by 859 business students. For both styles, when group performance was high, managers were seen as engaging in more initiating structure and consideration behavior than when performance was low. The high-high style was also evaluated more favorably than the low-low style, independent of the effect of performance. Combined with results from previous research, these results demonstrate that a view of the effective leader as high-high in behavior is a strongly-held implicit theory of leadership and not a myth as far as observers are concerned. Such a view can be used by leaders to their advantage.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore issues of gender and diversity raised by the 2020 US presidential election.Design/methodology/approachSamples from two populations (n= 667) described either an ideal president or one of the major-party candidates for president (Donald Trump and Joe Biden) or vice president (Mike Pence and Kamala Harris) on an instrument that assessed self-ascribed masculinity and femininity. Androgyny was calculated as the difference between masculinity and femininity; the closer the score to zero, the more androgynous the candidate.FindingsThe ideal president was viewed as androgynous (i.e. balanced in masculine and feminine traits) rather than masculine as in previous studies of presidential leadership. Compared to the White male candidates, Harris, a woman of color, displayed the most androgynous profile. The Democratic ticket represented a "balanced" team, with one candidate (Biden) higher on femininity and the other (Harris) higher on masculinity; in essence, an androgynous ticket. In contrast, the Republican ticket (Trump and Pence) represented a decidedly masculine ticket. Ideal president profiles differed according to respondents' gender and preferred president.Practical implicationsThe Democrats winning the election with an androgynous ticket suggests that a more level playing field for femalevis-à-vismale candidates for political leader roles may be arriving.Originality/valueThe finding of an ideal president as androgynous rather than masculine is an original contribution to the literature on presidential leadership.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine stability and change in the linkage between gender and managerial stereotypes over a five-decade period.


Design/methodology/approach
Samples from two populations (n = 2347) described a "good manager" on an instrument that assessed masculinity and femininity during each of the past five decades.


Findings
Good-manager descriptions exhibited a decreasing emphasis on masculinity and increasing emphasis on femininity over time, culminating in an androgynous profile, or a balance of masculine and feminine traits, for each population in the most recently collected data.


Practical implications
Although women face systemic barriers in the managerial ranks of organizations, a change in managerial stereotypes to an androgynous rather than masculine profile would represent one less barrier for them to overcome.


Social implications
If managers come to be held to an androgynous standard in their behavior regardless of their gender, there would be a more level playing field for candidates for open managerial positions, rather than one tilted in favor of men.


Originality/value
The analysis of data from samples of the same population types using the same measures systematically over five decades, and the provocative finding of an androgynous profile of a good manager in the most recently collected data, are original contributions to the literature.