Abstract
The present study investigated differences between male and female leaders' responses to poorly performing subordinates. Ninety-four male and 94 female leaders were presented with a vignette describing an incident of poor performance that occurred in a distribution center. The subordinate in the vignette was either male or female, likable or dislikable, and performed poorly due to internal or external factors. Leaders studied the vignette and then rated the appropriateness of a series of corrective actions. Analyses indicated that the corrective actions of female leaders were more affected by the likableness and sex of the subordinate than were the corrective actions of male leaders. The results support the proposition that male leaders tend to respond to subordinates based upon a norm of equity, while female leaders respond to subordinates based upon a combination of equity and equality. Implications of the findings for management training and organizational effectiveness are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, E. F. A multivariate study of subordinate perceptions of and attitudes toward minority and majority managers. Journal of Applied Psychology 1978, 63 277–288.
Anderson, N. H. Likableness of personality-trait words. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1968, 9 272–279.
Bartol, K. M. Male versus female leaders: The effect of leader need for dominance on follower satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal 1974, 17 225–233.
Day, D. R., & Stogdill, R. M. Leader behavior of male and female supervisors: A comparative study. Personnel Psychology 1972, 25 353–360.
Deutsch, M. Equity, equality, and need: What determines which value will be used as the basis of distributive justice? Journal of Social Issues 1975, 31 137–149.
Dipboye, R., Fromkin, H. L., & Wiback, K. Relative importance of applicant sex, attractiveness, and scholastic standing in evaluation of job applicant resumes. Journal of Applied Psychology 1975, 60 39–43.
Dobbins, G. H. The effects of gender on leaders' responses to poor performers: An attributional interpretation. Academy of Management Journal 1985, 28 587–598.
Dobbins, G. H., & Platz, S. J. Sex differences in leadership: How real are they? Academy of Management Review 1986, 11 118–127.
Dobbins, G. H., Pence, E. C., Orban, J. A., & Sgro, J. A. The effects of sex of the leader and sex of the subordinate on the use of organizational control policy. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1983, 32 325–343.
Eskilson, A., & Wiley, M. G. Sex composition and leadership in small groups. Sociometry 1976, 39 183–194.
Green, S., & Liden, R. Contextual and attributional influences upon control decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology 1980, 65 459–466.
Green, S., & Mitchell, T. Attributional processes of leaders in leader-member interactions. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1979, 23 429–458.
Hennig, M., & Jardim, A. The managerial woman. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.
Ilgen, D., Mitchell, T., & Fredrickson, K. Poor performers: Supervisors' and subordinates' responses. Organizational Behavioral and Human Performance 1981, 27 386–410.
Jacobson, M. G., & Effertz, J. Sex roles and leadership: Perceptions of the leaders and the led. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1974, 12 383–396.
Kahn, A., O'Leary, V., Krulewitz, J. E., & Lam, H. Equity and equality: Male and female means to a just end. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 1980, 1 173–197.
Kelley, H. H. Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 15), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.
Liden, R. C. Female perceptions of female and male manager's behavior. Sex Roles 1985, 12 421–432.
Mai-Dalton, R. R., & Sullivan, J. J. The effects of manager's sex on the assignment to a challenging or a dull task and reasons for the choice. Academy of Management Journal 1981, 24 603–612.
Major, B., & Deaux, K. Individual differences in justice behavior. In J. Greenberg & R. L. Cohen (Eds.), Equity and Justice in Social Behavior. New York: Academic Press, 1982.
Messe, L. A., & Callahan-Levy, C. Sex and message effects on reward allocation behavior. Academic Psychology Bulletin 1979, 1 129–133.
Mitchell, T., & Wood, R. Supervisors' responses to subordinate poor performance: A test of an attributional model. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1980, 25 123–128.
Osborn, R. N., & Vicars, W. M. Sex stereotypes: An artifact in leader behavior and subordinate satisfaction analysis? Academy of Management Journal 1976, 19 439–449.
Petty, M. M., & Lee, G. K. Moderating effects of sex of supervisor and subordinate on relationships between supervisory behavior and subordinate satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology 1975, 60 624–628.
Rice, R. W., Bender, L. R., & Vitters, A. G. Leader sex, follower attitudes toward women, and leadership effectiveness: A laboratory experiment. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1980, 25 46–78.
Rose, G. L. Sex effects on effort attributions in managerial performance evaluations. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1978, 21 367–378.
Rosen, B., & Jerdee, T. H. The influence of sex-role stereotypes on evaluations of male and female supervisory behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology 1973, 57 44–48.
Shaw, E. A. Differential impact of negative stereotyping in employee selection. Personnel Psychology 1972, 25 333–338.
Stitt, C., Schmidt, S., Price, K., & Kipnis, D. Sex of leader, leader behavior, and subordinate satisfaction. Sex Roles 1983, 9 31–42.
Terborg, J. R., & Ilgen, D. R. A theoretical approach to sex discrimination in traditionally masculine occupations. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1975, 13 352–376.
Weick, K. E., Bougon, M. G., & Maruyama, G. The equity context. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 1976, 15 32–65.
Weiner, B., & Kukla, A. An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1970, 66 149–158.
Weiner, B., Frieze, I. H., Kukla, A., Reed, L., Rest, S., & Rosenbaum, R. Perceiving the causes of success and failure. In E. Jones, D. Kanouse, H. Kelley, R. Nisbett, S. Valins, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior Morristown, N.J.: General Learning Press, 1972.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The author would like to thank Donald M. Truxillo for assisting in data collection.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dobbins, G.H. Equity vs equality: Sex differences in leadership. Sex Roles 15, 513–525 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288228
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288228