Shaping Work in Collaboration: The Role of Sex and Rank in Negotiating Demands and Control in Groups

Abstract

Reducing sex-based workplace inequity is central to our ability to ‘create a better world together’. However, our studies (using exploratory sequential mixed methods design), suggest that collaborative group work contexts are anything but equal when it comes to negotiating demands and control in structuring work between men and women in groups. Study 1a interviews suggest a gendered distribution of control and demands; whereby women have less control over their work and, consequently, face heavier demands than men studying in business schools. This contributes to increased frustration and burnout for women. Study 1b replicates and extends this finding among female faculty who again report less influence over their groups and their own roles, and as a result, face heavier demands than male counterparts. Study 2 tests a conceptual model finding that control has an inverse relationship with demands; is predicted by sex, rank, and fear of backlash; mediates the relationships between these variables and demands and burnout; and is a stronger predictor of burnout than demands among faculty. These findings make novel theoretical and practical contributions to the Job Demands-Control literature by testing the model in a collaborative context from a gendered perspective.