Personal and Organizational Correlates Affecting Attitudes of Women Executives Towards Their Job

Abstract

The rapid economic growth and industrialization of the Indian economy has created considerable employment opportunities for people, including women, especially for those who possess marketable skills and talents. Historically speaking, women in Indian society have far from had equality with men. The traditional patriarchal attitudes towards women still prevail and restrict the intensity of their efforts towards realizing the benefits of the globalization process. An attempt has been made in this article to develop, refine and validate a scale for measuring attitudes of women executives towards their job. The relationship of personal and organizational characteristics to attitudes is also examined. The study is based on a sample of 271 respondents taken from selected organizations of the service sector in Punjab. Advocated procedures are used for developing and checking the reliability and validity of the scale. Pearson's Chi-Square test and Analysis of Variance are carried out for analysis. The findings reveal that women executives are quite positive in their approach and are reportedly accepted as executives in India. Women executives perceive that they do possess the competence, potential and willingness required of executives. However, our analysis shows that except for age and job level, no other personal and organizational characteristics like education, marital status and years of experience in the institution show any association with the attitudes score. Further, it is observed that the nature of organization and the type of ownership have a significant impact on attitudes.