Are female hospitality managers still unpopular in China? Evidence from implicit and explicit attitude investigation

Abstract

Given inconsistent results of past studies on attitudes toward female managers in China, this study explored the topic using both implicit and explicit measures with a sample of 150 tourism and hospitality students from Macao and Greater China. Implicit and explicit attitudes were found to be positive regardless of place of origin. A close parallel relationship between implicit and explicit results points to low sensitivity of the topic, and the positive or neutral implicit scores indicate positive attitudes toward female managers in Macao in the sample employed. Moreover, although neutral implicit attitudes of males showed positive bias, they suggest a continued adherence to traditional social gender roles despite social progress when compared with female positive implicit attitudes. Overall, the results are encouraging for future employers in Macao as the egalitarianism of the upcoming professionals should reduce conflict and contribute to a harmonious work environment. The results suggest that the Implicit Association Test (IAT) alone can be used as an evaluation tool for bias detection.