The current research targets 4 potential stereotypes driving hostile attitudes and discriminatory behaviors toward pregnant women: incompetence, lack of commitment, inflexibility, and need for ...accommodation. We tested the relative efficacy of reducing concerns related to each of the stereotypes in a field experiment in which female confederates who sometimes wore pregnancy prostheses applied for jobs in a retail setting. As expected, ratings from 3 perspectives (applicants, observers, and independent coders) converged to show that pregnant applicants received more interpersonal hostility than did nonpregnant applicants. However, when hiring managers received (vs. did not receive) counterstereotypic information about certain pregnancy-related stereotypes (particularly lack of commitment and inflexibility), managers displayed significantly less interpersonal discrimination. Explicit comparisons of counterstereotypic information shed light on the fact that certain information may be more effective in reducing discrimination than others. We conclude by discussing how the current research makes novel theoretical contributions and describe some practical organizational implications for understanding and improving the experiences of pregnant workers.
Benevolent Sexism at Work King, Eden B.; Botsford, Whitney; Hebl, Michelle R. ...
Journal of management,
11/2012, Letnik:
38, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The current research draws from ambivalent sexism theory to examine potential gender differences in the quantity and quality of developmental work experiences. In a sample of managers in the energy ...industry, men and women reported participating in a similar number of developmental experiences (with comparable levels of support), but men rated these experiences as more challenging and received more negative feedback than did women. Similarly, a sample of female managers in the health care industry reported comparable amounts, but less challenging types, of developmental experiences than their male counterparts’. The results of three complementary experiments suggest that benevolent sexism is negatively related to men’s assignment of challenging experiences to female targets but that men and women were equally likely to express interest in challenging experiences. Taken together, these results suggest that stereotype-based beliefs that women should be protected may limit women’s exposure to challenging assignments, which in turn may partially explain the underrepresentation of women at the highest levels of organizations.
In 2 studies that draw from the social role theory of sex differences (
A. H. Eagly, W. Wood, & A. B. Diekman, 2000
), the authors investigated differences in agentic and communal characteristics in ...letters of recommendation for men and women for academic positions and whether such differences influenced selection decisions in academia. The results supported the hypotheses, indicating (a) that women were described as more communal and less agentic than men (Study 1) and (b) that communal characteristics have a negative relationship with hiring decisions in academia that are based on letters of recommendation (Study 2). Such results are particularly important because letters of recommendation continue to be heavily weighted and commonly used selection tools (
R. D. Arvey & T. E. Campion, 1982
;
R. M. Guion, 1998
), particularly in academia (
E. P. Sheehan, T. M. McDevitt, & H. C. Ross, 1998
).
Across the world, many individuals, organizations, and communities rely on the charitable contributions of others to meet critical needs. However, receiving aid can be challenging if donors ...discriminate against solicitors based on their demographic characteristics. We examined the potential impact of two of such characteristics, namely, the solicitor’s race and gender, by soliciting contributions from 162 dentist offices through phone calls, manipulating race (Latino/White) and gender (male/female) of the caller. We analyzed differences between race and gender on the likelihood of receiving donations and interpersonal interactions rated by blind coders. Logistic regression results revealed Latinos were significantly less likely to receive donations than Whites, and women were marginally more likely to receive donations than men. Multivariate analysis of variance results indicated, however, that Latinos received significantly better interpersonal treatment than Whites. Results show support for Patronization Theory extended to the solicitation context. Implications of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.
The extent of gender bias in academia continues to be an object of inquiry, and recent research has begun to examine the particular gender biases emblematic in letters of recommendations. This ...current two-part study examines differences in the number of doubt raisers that are written in 624 authentic letters of recommendations for 174 men and women applying for eight assistant professor positions (study 1) and the impact of these doubt raisers on 305 university professors who provided evaluations of recommendation letters (study 2). The results show that both male and female recommenders use more doubt raisers in letters of recommendations for women compared to men and that the presence of certain types of doubt raisers in letters of recommendations results in negative outcomes for both genders. Since doubt raisers are more frequent in letters for women than men, women are at a disadvantage relative to men in their applications for academic positions. We discuss the implications and need for additional future research and practice that (1) raises awareness that letter writers are gatekeepers who can improve or hinder women’s progress and (2) develops methods to eliminate the skewed use of doubt raisers.
Few time periods in the past five decades match the intensity of intergroup conflict that people around the world are currently experiencing. Polarized attitudes around various sociopolitical issues, ...such as gender equality and immigration, have dominated
Violent behavior, police brutality, and racial discrimination are currently at the forefront of society's attention, and they should be. We investigated whether mild sleep loss-as typical for many ...adults throughout the work week-could aggravate the socio-emotional-cognitive processes contributing to violence and discrimination. In a sample of 40 healthy young adults, we either experimentally restricted participants' sleep for four nights (6.2 h/night) or let participants obtain normal sleep (7.7 h/night)-and then had them complete the Police Officer's Dilemma Task. In this computerized task, the participant must rapidly decide to shoot or not shoot at White and Black men who either are or are not holding a gun. Results showed significant racial biases, including more and quicker shooting of Black targets compared to White targets. Furthermore, signal detection analyses demonstrated that mild sleep restriction changed participants' decision criterion, increasing the tendency to shoot, even when controlling for psychomotor vigilance, fluid intelligence, and self-reported desirability to behave in a socially acceptable manner. The increased tendency to shoot was also observed in participants who reported believing that they had adapted to the sleep loss. Future experimental research using trained police officers will help establish the generalizability of these laboratory effects. Importantly, sleep loss is modifiable via organization-level changes (e.g., shift scheduling, light entrainment) and individual-level interventions (e.g., sleep hygiene education, incentives for behavioral change), suggesting that if sleep loss is corrected, it could save lives-including Black lives.
Colloquium talks at prestigious universities both create and reflect academic researchers’ reputations. Gender disparities in colloquium talks can arise through a variety of mechanisms. The current ...study examines gender differences in colloquium speakers at 50 prestigious US colleges and universities in 2013–2014. Using archival data, we analyzed 3,652 talks in six academic disciplines. Men were more likely than women to be colloquium speakers even after controlling for the gender and rank of the available speakers. Eliminating alternative explanations (e.g., women declining invitations more often than men), our follow-up data revealed that female and male faculty at top universities reported no differences in the extent to which they (i) valued and (ii) turned down speaking engagements. Additional data revealed that the presence of women as colloquium chairs (and potentially on colloquium committees) increased the likelihood of women appearing as colloquium speakers. Our data suggest that those who invite and schedule speakers serve as gender gatekeepers with the power to create or reduce gender differences in academic reputations.
We conducted three studies to explore how job candidates perceive and respond to hiring managers who commit gender role violations during salary negotiations, extending previous studies restricted to ...economic outcomes and backlash effects by focusing on a range of job candidate reactions. We apply expectancy violation and role incongruity theories to suggest that job candidates respond more strongly to hiring managers who violate gender role expectations than those who conform to expectations. We suggest that this reaction is more negative in response to agentic female hiring managers than any other type and more positive in response to communal male hiring managers than any other type. Across the three studies, the pattern of mean differences supports our predictions, although significance tests were not fully supportive across all outcomes and studies. Job candidates perceived hiring managers as more extreme on characteristics that violate gender role expectations (agentic female hiring managers were perceived to be more agentic than male counterparts, communal male hiring managers were perceived to be more communal than female counterparts). Job candidates were also less engaged with an agentic female hiring manager than an agentic male hiring manager. Significance tests were mixed for negative affect, self-efficacy, and trust, but mean differences were mostly consistent with the expectation that those negotiating with an agentic female hiring manager would experience the least favorable outcomes, whereas those negotiating with a communal male hiring manager would experience the most favorable outcomes. These results demonstrate that gender role violations extend beyond their impact on the violator (e.g., backlash), dramatically influencing job candidates on a range of outcomes as well.
Drawing from theory and research on perceived stigma (Pryor, Reeder, Yeadon, & Hesson-McInnis, 2004), attentional processes (Rinck & Becker, 2006), working memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974), and ...regulatory resources (Muraven & Baumeister, 2000), the authors examined discrimination against facially stigmatized applicants and the processes involved. In Study 1, 171 participants viewed a computer-mediated interview of an applicant who was facially stigmatized or not and who either did or did not acknowledge the stigma. The authors recorded participants' (a) time spent looking at the stigma (using eye tracker technology), (b) ratings of the applicant, (c) memory recall about the applicant, and (d) self-regulatory depletion. Results revealed that the participants with facially stigmatized applicants attended more to the cheek (i.e., where the stigma was placed), which led participants to recall fewer interview facts, which in turn led to lower applicant ratings. In addition, the participants with the stigmatized (vs. nonstigmatized) applicant depleted more regulatory resources. In Study 2, 38 managers conducted face-to-face interviews with either a facially stigmatized or nonstigmatized applicant, and then rated the applicant. Results revealed that managers who interviewed a facially stigmatized applicant (vs. a nonstigmatized applicant) rated the applicant lower, recalled less information about the interview, and depleted more self-regulatory resources.
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