The meaning of gender in management : Investigating factors influencing women's and men's entry into management from social-psychological perspective

Abstract: This thesis presents four studies examining some common explanations to the gender gap in managerial positions. Study I compared managerial aspirants with non-managerial aspirants and showed that regardless of sex, the major predictor of managerial aspirations was an internal factor consisting of instrumental ("masculine")qualities. Study II, comparing women managers with women non-managers alsoshowed that the strongest predictor of managerial emergence was the instrumental("masculine") factor, while work/family pressure and coping style had no causal impact.Study III, examining the relationship between Person-Manager (P-M) tit and managerialadvancement of women and men, showed that managers and managerial aspirants had ahigher P-M fit than non-managers and non-aspirants. However, there was no differencein P-M fit between men and women. Study IV, based on interviews with women andmen with managerial aspirations, revealed that the disadvantages experienced bywomen aspiring for a managerial career derive from a combination of mutuallyreinforcing processes in the home and at the workplace. It is concluded that selection factors (self-selection, organizational selection) seem to operate in a way that promotewomen who conform to an instrumental ("masculine") managerial norm. It is furtherconcluded that in order to obtain gender equality, it is important to understand theinterdependent interaction between the gender system at home and workplace.