Does Work Mean Something Different to Men and Women? An Empirical Examination of the Psychological Contract in the Workplace across Two Countries

Abstract

A substantial literature has emerged in recent years advocating the view that women and men have different definitions, approaches and emanating perspectives of work. However, many of these assumptions regarding gender differences in construal of work are not empirically supported. Within the framework of the psychological contract, this study contributes to the literature by analysing the constructs of work obtained from both sexes, proportionately distributed across comparable cohorts of workers in the Czech Republic and the UK. The findings show a high degree of congruence in the construct distributions for both sexes, supporting the argument that gender inequality is socio-cultural in origin and not a product of gender-based differences in the construal processes. Suggestions are made concerning implications for practice.