Women Journalists’ Contact Quality with Male Coworkers, Affective Attitudes Toward Men and Intention to Quit: Intergroup Anxiety in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Along with Saudi women’s increased presence and participation in mixed-gender workforces and the current government’s reform initiative, Saudi Vision 2030, their communication opportunities with male coworkers have also increased. Guided by intergroup contact theory, the current online survey tested the influences of Saudi female journalists’ (N = 198) report of communication quantity and communication quality with male coworkers on their affective attitudes toward Saudi men and intention to quit the current job. Supporting our hypotheses, results indicated that Saudi female journalists’ communication quality with male coworkers was positively associated with affective attitudes toward men. In addition, results revealed a significant positive indirect effect of communication quality with male coworkers on affective attitudes toward men and a significant negative indirect effect on intention to quit through intergroup anxiety. These findings are discussed regarding prior literature on intergroup contact theory and Saudi women in the workplace.