Sex as a Status Variable in Work Settings: Female and Male Reports of Dominance Behavior

Abstract

This study shows that sex is an important status variable in occupational settings. The basic hypothesis that males, because of a status prerogative, would be more likely than females to use nonverbal and verbal dominance behaviors, including intimate gestures, toward their opposite sex co‐workers was confirmed. Subjects (88 female and 69 male samples from two institutions of higher learning) reported dominance behaviors (a) toward opposite sex co‐workers; (b) from opposite sex co‐workers; (c) toward opposite sex superiors; and (d) from opposite sex superiors. Analysis of the sexual dominance items revealed that sexual intimacy is expressable along the same continuum as traditional dominance gestures. The hypothesis that sex competes with other status variables was supported. If the sexual dominance patterns explored in this study prove widespread, institutions may wish to provide programs aimed at raising employee awareness of these interactions.

Gender, Self‐Esteem, and Focus of Interest in the Use of Power Strategies by Adolescents in Conflict Situations Schwarzwald and Koslowsky

“…Our findings can also be placed in a broader social context. Gender has frequently been perceived as a status characteristic (e.g., Radecki & Jennings, 1980) in which females are placed lower on the hierarchy than males (Johnson, 1976). The fact that girls resorted less to all power strategies than boys may very well reflect lower motivation levels concerning the need to persuade others to adopt their viewpoints.…”

Assessing Barriers to Women's Career Adjustment

“…Radecki Jennings Sexual Dominance Scale. The Radecki Jennings Sexual Dominance Scale (RJSDS; Radecki & Jennings, 1980) can be used to investigate the perceived frequency of harassing behaviors in the workplace. The form is a checklist of 28 items representing 12 dominance behaviors and 16 sexual intimacy behaviors.…”

The Effect of Sex and Impression Management on Future Salary Estimations

“…INVESTIGATIONS CONCERNED with relationships between sex and interpersonal behavior have supported the notion that women are accorded a position of lower status in society than are men (Radecki & Jennings, 1980; Riess & Salzer, 1981). The inferior status of women has been compared with that of Blacks in the United States.…”

“…It is assumed that for a high status audience, people will evince greater concern for impression management than they will for a low status audience. Research on the lower status ascribed to women (Radecki & Jennings, 1980;Riess & Salzer, 1981) suggests an important implication from an impression-management standpoint. If women are seen as being of lower status than men, then both males and females should engage in less impression management for female audiences than for male audiences.…”

“…In another test of sex as a status variable, Radecki and Jennings (1980) investigated various verbal and nonverbal behavior involved in the work relations of male and female employees at two large universities. They found gender to be an important indicator of the status employees attributed each other in their work relations.…”