The Influence of Social Dominance Orientation and Power Distance on Attitudes Toward Women Managers Aneika Simmons Sam Houston State University
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Influence of Social Dominance Orientation and Power Distance on Attitudes Toward Women Managers Aneika Simmons Sam Houston State University Andrea Hawkins Alabama A&M University Jo-Ann Duffy Sam Houston State University Hamed Alfraih Kuwait University Abstract We investigated how social dominance orientation (SDO) and power distance (PD) influence attitudes toward women managers. We collected data from women in both Kuwait and America. We discovered that the interaction between perceptions of high PD and SDO resulted in favorable attitudes toward women managers in America and unfavorable attitudes toward women managers in Kuwait. Contrary to our prediction, we also discovered that perceived low PD in American women who are high in SDO has a positive attitude toward other women managers. In agreement with our predictions, perceived low PD in Kuwaiti women who are high in SDO has a negative attitude toward other women managers. Keywords: Women, Managers, Attitudes, Cross-Cultural Introduction The employment rate of women around the world continues to grow. The rate is presently over 57% up from 54% in the previous decade (OECD Factbook, 2010). At the same time, the number of women in the work force is increasing. However, women across the world find themselves underrepresented in management positions according to the World Survey on the Role of Women in Development (United Nations, 2009). Further, the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) indicates that only 1.8% of organizations are led by women (Toegel, 2011). Women make up 47% of the current United States work force, and 44% of the S&P 500 work force (Warner, 2014; Warner & Corley, 2017). In 2017, women in the United States held 27% of the executive officer positions and 21% of the S&P 500 board seats (Catalyst, 2017). In 2018, there are 107 women out of the 535 members (20%) of the United States Congress, with 23 women (23%) serving in the United States Senate and 84 women (19.3%) serving in the Copyright @ Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. All Rights Reserved. 22 Unites States House of Representatives. Another five women serve as non-voting delegates in the Unites States House of Representatives for American Samoa, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Center for American Women and Politics, 2018). In Kuwait, women comprise 53% of the work force (International Monetary Fund, 2013), and 54% of the overall public sector work force (Alzuabi, 2016). The labor force participation of Kuwaiti women in management positions is 10% of the public sector, with 7% women in ministerial positions, and 5% women in parliament (Alzuabi, 2016). Although the numbers for women in the workforce and in leadership are increasing, there are still many barriers to the career advancement of women in organizations. In the United States, women are still facing issues related to discrimination (Inesi & Cable, 2015; Hekman, Johnson, Foo, & Yang, 2017), the glass ceiling (Fernandez & Campero, 2017), glass cliffs (Sabharwal, 2015), and the wage gap (Joshi, Son & Roh, 2015; Addison, Ozturk & Wang, 2018). Around the world, women are experiencing similar challenges and barriers to their career advancement. Women in Switzerland experience wage gaps (Janssen, Sartore & Backes-Gellner, 2016). Canadian women are challenged by the glass ceiling (Ng & Sears, 2017). Further, weak societal interest, discrimination, scarce benefits, and the lack of training programs for women are the issues impacting Kuwaiti women (Alzuabi, 2016). In certain areas of the world, could there be a relationship between women being more prevalent in the workplace and women not readily advancing to managerial positions? We will attempt to address this question through an analysis of the national cultural differences and the attitudes towards women in managerial positions in both the United States and Kuwait. Literature Review It is commonly recognized that women’s acceptance as managers varies across countries (Humbert & Drew, 2010; Toegel, 2011). A misconception may be that the attitudes and behaviors of men are the only culprits that may potentially have negative attitudes towards women (e.g., good old boy networks), but this may not always be the case. In general, women tend to support the promotion of other women to management or leadership positions (e.g., Breinlinger & Kelly, 1994), but what happens when they do not? Women can intimidate other women in order to sustain or establish a power dynamic similar to the manner in which some men have historically maintained power in business settings (Chatel, 2011; Dentith, Wright, & Coryell, 2014; Wild & Brady, 2009). Indeed, according to a survey on bullying in the workplace, 31% of the perpetrators were women who targeted other women 68% of the time (Workplace Bullying Institute, 2014). Such attitudes by women as peers, subordinates, and managers could be hindrances to the advancement of women into management positions. We believe that the variables that reflect a person’s attitudes and beliefs about power and status are germane to investigating how women perceive other women as managers in different countries. This study will explore whether national cultural differences regarding position and power will interact to influence women’s attitudes toward women as managers. To better understand this idea, we will look to the United States and Kuwait. These countries provide a proper context for this study, because both countries are historically different in terms of perception of power, or power distance. Hofstede’s power distance reflects “the extent that a Copyright @ Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. All Rights Reserved. 23 person accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally” (Kirkman, Chen, Farh, Chen, & Lowe, 2009, p.745). The United States has a national power distance ranking of 40, and Kuwait has a ranking of 80 (Hofstede, 2009). These rankings indicate that the United States’ cultural norm would be more toward accepting that power is distributed equally in organizations, and the Kuwaiti cultural norm would be more toward accepting the unequal distribution of power in organizations. Further, social dominance orientation will be a central construct in the study, because it influences the cultural perceptions of power, status, and societal hierarchies that exist in different countries (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). This study will address the interaction between social dominance orientation (SDO) and power distance (PD) on the attitudes of women in culturally different countries toward women managers. It will provide further insight into what influences women’s attitudes toward women managers, and will address the gap in the literature with regard to the relationships among SDO, PD, and attitudes towards women managers in two distinct countries. Theoretical Framework Social Dominance Orientation Social dominance theory addresses the apparent hierarchal differences that can be observed around the world (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). It purports that individual, group, and organizational discriminatory practices support these hierarchical disparities. Individuals who believe in these conceptual ideas are identified as those who are high in social dominance orientation (SDO). They are described “as expressing a generalized orientation towards and desire for unequal and dominant/subordinate relations among salient social groups, regardless of whether this implies ingroup domination or subordination” (Pratto, Sidanius, & Levin, 2006, p. 282). Those who are high in SDO tend to minimize low status groups like women, and can be characterized as xenophobic, sexist, and racist (Pena & Sidanius, 2002; Pratto, Stallworth, Sidanius, & Siers, 1997; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Further, traditionally considered low status group members (i.e., women) can also be high in SDO (Umphress, Smith-Crowe, Brief, Dietz, & Watkins, 2007). This suggests that high SDO women may be just as inclined to possess bias toward other women in authoritative positions, because men typically hold these high status positions. Having a low status group member (women) in a traditionally high status position (for men) could challenge the high SDO woman’s desire and expectations for an established hierarchy, thus resulting in a negative perception of and discrimination against women managers. Our study is limited to women, in part, so that we can determine how women respond to other women in managerial positions across countries. This investigation will be a more conservative test of the interaction between SDO and PD than if we investigated men, because women tend to have lower levels of SDO compared to men (Nicol, 2007; Sidanius, Levin, Liu, & Pratto, 2000). Power Distance Power distance (PD) is a national cultural dimension that was developed by Hofstede (2001) to describe the beliefs about social groups, with regard to the perception of power dynamics and inequity (Ramaswami, Huang, & Dreher, 2014). This dimension is related to how much an individual is inclined to accept the unequal distribution of power and status within society (Kirkman et al., 2009). Literature has shown that together PD and gender play an Copyright @ Institute of Behavioral and Applied Management. All Rights Reserved. 24 important role in issues related to women from an international perspective. For example, women who perceive high levels of PD in Taiwan gain much more in terms of career attainment (e.g., managerial positions) in a mentoring relationship than if