Abstract
ABSTRACTWe demonstrate how men and women political scientists in PhD-granting departments perceive the professional climates there. We find remarkable differences in how men and women perceive the “cultural” climates of their departments, such as the degree to which it is sexist, but not in how they perceive strictly collegial aspects of climate. We also demonstrate that these patterns characterize the perceptions of men and women at both junior and senior ranks. Contrary to some past research, we also find that climate perceptions do not have a general effect on faculty research productivity. Further, perceptions of high departmental sexism by women scholars does not degrade their research productivity.
Highlights
Hesli and Burrell (1995) found that women are more likely than men to cite a hostile climate or harassment as motivation for seeking alternative employment, and that junior women and those in fields that might fit under the rubric of “women’s studies” are more likely to perceive unequal or hostile treatment relative to men. Hesli and Lee (2013) reported that more positive collegial climates and greater success in publication are associated with greater job satisfaction for both men and women and that experiencing discrimination suppresses job satisfaction
Hesli and Lee (2011) found that women have fewer publications than men after controlling for a number of rival explanatory variables, including the “collegiality” of the departmental climate. They do not parse the effects of climate by gender, yet their aggregate analysis reveals that faculty who experience more positive departmental climates publish less than those in more antagonistic environments
These findings present a mixed picture for the effects of departmental climate
Summary
Kendall’s tau-c=0.05, n.s. It is widely agreed that the interpersonal climate in academic departments consists of multiple dimensions (APSA 2005, 6–12; Lee 2007). The survey data that we analyze support an especially rich analysis of perceived departmental climate dimensions and how men’s and women’s perceptions differ about them. This survey posed nine semantic differential scales about respondents’ perceptions of their home department. Factor analysis of the set of scales for the PhD faculty uncovered a first dimension (which accounted for 56 of the total variances across the scales) that includes items for how disrespectful–respectful, contentious–collegial, competitive–cooperative, individualistic–collaborative, and hostile–friendly departments were perceived. Hesli and Lee (2011, Perceptions of Sexism in Respondents’ Home Departmental Climate(a) Factor analysis of the set of scales for the PhD faculty uncovered a first dimension (which accounted for 56 of the total variances across the scales) that includes items for how disrespectful–respectful, contentious–collegial, competitive–cooperative, individualistic–collaborative, and hostile–friendly departments were perceived. Hesli and Lee (2011, Perceptions of Sexism in Respondents’ Home Departmental Climate(a)
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