Female Images in Management Research: Based on International Journal Literature of Management

Abstract

Gender issue is a frontier in the organization and management research. Gender with its social embeddedness is not only an important category of management research, but also an important field of management activities, so it has unique value and significance in management research. It aims to explore the impact of women physiological and gender differences in the workplace on various performance indicators in the organization. This article uses 539 papers related to gender issues published on top international management journals as the literature pool, and then combines systematic review, bibliometrics and content analysis to explore the following questions:（1）In management research, what are the characteristics of “female images”, what management phenomena and problems are reflected, and how to explain them by theories?（2）In the relevant empirical research, especially in testing causal relationships and hypotheses from theoretical explanations, how to measure and analyze gender dimension and related variables?（3）What are the conclusions and practical implications for management research? This article obtains three conclusions on female images in management research: Firstly, the bibliometric analysis of the current research shows that the literature clusters are not based on theoretical research and management phenomena, but on specific images of female characteristics. Secondly, according to the analysis of literature content, female images are divided into five types: different, invisible, paradoxical, isolated and little women, and their corresponding gender issues and theoretical explanations are combed respectively. Thirdly, the measurement method of female images includes direct gender measurement, gender match, gender change and gender ratio. The above analysis takes female images as a clue to effectively solve the problem of interdisciplinary, and establish an inclusive dialogue among diverse studies. Combined with the high degree of social construction and social embeddedness of gender research, this study believes that in the future research, we need to pay full attention to the new social phenomenon, including economic empowerment, the impact of new career types generated by the new economy, and institutional barriers, especially in non-governmental organizations and media. Revisiting gender issues in management research is instrumental to reconstruct theoretical research results from the perspective of gender equality and care. No matter from the construction of humanistic view in the management theory, the social responsibility to undertake management research to promote social harmony and sustainable development, or to do responsible management research, the conclusions output research increment and reference value both in theory and practice.