Abstract
This paper aims to study the determinants of subjective happiness among working females with a focus on female managers. Drawn on a large social survey data set (N = 10470) in China, this paper constructs gender development index at sub-national levels to study how institutional settings are related to female managers’ happiness. We find that female managers report higher levels of happiness than non-managerial employees. However, the promoting effect is contingent on individual characteristics and social-economic settings. The full sample regression suggests that female managers behaving in a masculine way generally report a high level of happiness. Meanwhile, female managers who refuse to support gender equality report low happiness levels. Sub-sample analysis reveals that these causalities are conditioned on regional culture. Masculine behavior and gender role orientation significantly predict subjective happiness only in gender-egalitarian regions. This study is one of the first to consider both internal (individual traits) and external (social-economic environment) factors when investigating how female managers’ happiness is impacted. Also, this study challenges the traditional wisdom on the relationship between female managers’ job satisfaction and work-home conflict. This study extends the literature by investigating the impacts of female managers’ masculine behavior on their happiness. This study is useful for promoting female managers’ leadership effectiveness and happiness.
Highlights
Research on gender differences in subjective happiness has received substantial attention in early (Røysamb et al, 2002; Bailyn, 2003; Reid, 2004) and more recent studies (Meisenberg and Woodley, 2015; Tao et al, 2018)
That is why some previous studies suggested that female managers are not necessarily associated with decreased job/life satisfaction (Zhao et al, 2017, 2019)
Drawing on a large data set in China, this research assesses how occupational hierarchy relates to subjective happiness
Summary
Research on gender differences in subjective happiness has received substantial attention in early (Røysamb et al, 2002; Bailyn, 2003; Reid, 2004) and more recent studies (Meisenberg and Woodley, 2015; Tao et al, 2018). According to the traditional gender division of labor, women bear the primary responsibility for household work, and men should focus on career development. Females seeking career achievement may suffer more from work-home conflict and distress and overwhelm (Trzcinski and Holst, 2012; Meer, 2014; Chui and Wong, 2016). Not all women are impacted by work-home conflicts, as some factors, such as cultural. Female Managers’ Happiness Determinants context,gender role orientation and role segmentation etc., might mediate this effect (Putnik et al, 2018). Some females may view the work role more importantly or do not segment work from their family. They will not blame the work domains when it conflicts with home domains. That is why some previous studies suggested that female managers are not necessarily associated with decreased job/life satisfaction (Zhao et al, 2017, 2019)
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