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Gender, Management Styles, and Forms of Capital

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Abstract

Extant research notes a tendency to propound the idea that female managers are secondary to men. Gender differences constitute an ethical issue and the discursive constructions of gender management are central to research in business ethics. Drawing on evidence gathered from a time–space intersection that has been widely neglected by research in this area, we address whether female business leaders develop gender-stereotypic management styles as well as their propensity to adopt masculine management patterns such as making risky decisions and implementing formal management systems (e.g. accounting reports). Our findings suggest that gender-stereotypic management styles are chosen strategically and target-driven, which implies a selective use of masculine and feminine management styles. Furthermore, as part of the masculine approach, female business owners adopt risk-taking decisions and implement formal management systems. Our results provide support for the argument that gender is context dependent and, hence, the findings of this study may be useful for contemporary jurisdictions featuring male-dominated societies and a strong intervention by the State in the economy.

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Notes

  1. We use the term ‘the State’ to refer to actions taken in Spain and also in its former colonies in Latin America.

  2. For comparative purposes, the annual income of an average accredited merchant in Cádiz was 2270 Pesos (Ripoll 2006), and the selling price of a male Negro in the Spanish-American colonies was 300 Pesos (Carmona et al. 2013).

  3. The maravedí was the unit of exchange whilst Reales and Pesos were the actual coins; 1 Peso = 72 maravedís, 1 Real = 34 maravedís.

  4. In the eighteenth century, the legitimacy of business was low. Debtors used to claim that they had paid their debts or advanced a payment instalment when in reality they had not. Keeping regular bookkeeping records was costly and not always practiced.

  5. 1 Arroba = 1/4 quintal = 25 lb = 11.5 kilos.

  6. In the context of the language of the time, “equal” meant preserving the 2:1 ratio of barrels and Negroes.

  7. As Echegoyen did not keep accounts, we surmise that he obtained these numbers from the accounts submitted to the court by the Marquesa and the royal officers.

  8. The reference to the burden of having to raise six children does not imply a serious burden; according to customary practice of the time, nobility members like the Marquesa de Pestagua entrusted the care of their children to their domestic staff.

  9. The lack of balance in the analysis of the Marquesa’s masculinist style compared to the feminist style does not imply an overwhelming importance of the former compared to the latter. Supporting evidence for the masculinist style (e.g. formal management systems) is easier to find than for the feminist style (e.g. social networking), and this evidence bias applies especially to historical research which draws on (hard) archival materials.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to participants in these events and to Macario Cámara, Yves Gendron, Rania Kamla, and an anonymous referee for their many constructive suggestions. Salvador Carmona and Mahmoud Ezzamel have received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Finance and Innovation, Project ECO2013-48393-P.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IE Business School, Calle Castellón de la Plana, 8, Madrid, Spain

    Salvador Carmona, Mahmoud Ezzamel & Claudia Mogotocoro

  2. Cardiff Business School, Colum Drive, Cardiff, UK

    Mahmoud Ezzamel

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  1. Salvador Carmona
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  2. Mahmoud Ezzamel
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Correspondence to Salvador Carmona.

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Carmona, S., Ezzamel, M. & Mogotocoro, C. Gender, Management Styles, and Forms of Capital. J Bus Ethics 153, 357–373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3371-8

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