Sex differences in explanations for career progress

Abstract

Tests the prediction that there will be sex differences in how middle managers perceive promotion requirements, and that such differences will be influenced by societal expectations of gender appropriateness, in which women are expected to display communal (nurturing, interpersonally sensitive) and men agentic (independent, assertive and ambitious) qualities and behaviour. Results from 351 male and 156 female managers indicated that sex does not strongly influence the belief that every manager receives the same opportunities for advancement. However, there were sex differences in the reasons given for unequal career advancement, personal career progress, achievement of the last promotion received, and why a future promotion may not occur. Additionally, although male and female managers have similar aspirations to obtain a senior management position, women are less likely to expect a promotion. The results partially support the predictions of social‐role theory.

What does it take to get to the top: do middle and senior managers agree?

“…These views are in marked contrast to the comments reported by female managers in response to what factors influenced their previous promotion (Wood and Lindorff, 2001), where``personal'' qualities (doing the job well, being a team player, determination to succeed, communication skills, integrity and self-confidence) and``individual qualities'' (potential for development, personality, and presence of a mentoring relationship) were given as the attributes which accounted for their career progress in general, and the last promotion received. This may suggest that female middle managers believe that senior management roles require a different set of skills than they feel they currently possess.…”

A cross‐cultural study into peer evaluations of women's leadership effectiveness

“…Many of the women who are making their way into management careers are equally or better qualified in terms of educational attainments than their male colleagues. For example, some management research projects reported that the sample of female managers has higher educational qualifications compared to their male colleagues (Wood and Lindorff, 2001).…”

The influence of position and gender on personal networks in a UK professional service

“…Although this may indicate that women are simply more adept at mapping their networks, comparison of all practitioners' network maps and discussion resulting from the interviews did not indicate so. Rather, gender variations might be attributable to women's differing networking styles due to socialisation factors, such as their communal orientation, value on interpersonal relationships, and search for greater social support (Gilligan, 1982;Greenglass et al, 1996;Wood & Lindorff, 2001;Addis & Mahalik, 2003) which may lead them to seek out, acquire and sustain more personal contacts in their networks than men. However, this area requires deeper research.…”

“…Some argue that it may be the essential nature of women to be caring, communal and wanting to be connected, preferring attachment and community (e.g. Gilligan, 1982) with women expected to display communal qualities and behaviour such as nurturing and being interpersonally sensitive (Wood & Lindorff, 2001), to be caring and genuine in relationships with others, and provide invisible and often unrecognised support (Fletcher, 1999), while men are expected to be independent, ambitious and assertive (Wood & Lindorff, 2001). Van Emmerik et al (2006) suggest that men might be expected to participate more in, and specialise in improving the instrumentality of, networking activities than women.…”