Masculinity-femininity Dimension Research Articles

Nurturing as a Masculinity-Femininity Dimension and Performance of Multinational Corporations in Uganda

This paper examined the influence of nurturing as a masculinity-femininity dimension on performance of multinational corporations (MNCs) in Uganda. Specifically, it focused on aspects of nurturing that included relationship building and negotiations as key attributes to strategic business performance. The justification for this study was that MNCs in Uganda were under-performing given that they were finding it difficult to continue running their businesses profitably to the extent that some decided to close down. A cross-sectional research design that relied on quantitative approach was employed involving 50 participants who filled in a questionnaire. Two methods of analysis involved simple regression analysis and a multiple regression analysis. Results revealed that both relationship building and negotiations had significant positive influence on performance of MNCs in Uganda. In particular, poor work relationship building and work negotiations among MNCs’ employees contributed to poor performance of MNCs in Uganda. The study recommends MNCs to align their strategic vision and mission towards nurturing to instilling employee work relationship building and negotiations toward achieving the objectives of the MNCs.

Internet shopping in the Covid-19 era: Investigating the role of perceived risk, anxiety, gender, culture, and trust in the consumers’ purchasing behavior from a developing country context

Unlocking the power of information technologies has become a core driver of business transformation and growth, particularly Internet-enabled technologies. It is a recognizable fact that the Internet shopping trend sweeping developed countries and is still in its development stage in developing countries. Covid-19 pandemic triggered a surge in online shopping, resulting in a massive acceleration in online businesses in both developed and developing cultures. This study intends to study the adoption dynamics of Internet shopping during the Covid-19 pandemic era. The current study recognizes that trust is a crucial prerequisite to effectively dampen the noise associated with the uncertainty, insecurity, and ambiguous nature of Internet shopping technology. Certainly, a perceivably trustworthy Internet shopping environment would position individuals in a less difficult mandate to start transacting online. To achieve the goals of this study, the influence of perceived risk, Internet shopping anxiety, gender on trust and intention, and the moderating impact of cultural differences on the trust-intention relationship. A questionnaire was developed utilizing validated measurement items taken from previous research. A convenience sample was used to collect data through a self-administered questionnaire. The empirical data which consists of 215 valid datasets were analyzed utilizing WarpPLS software. Perceived risk, Internet shopping anxiety, and gender were found to exert empirical influence on trust and intention with the exception of perceived risk which showed an insignificant correlation with behavioral intention. Cultural differences, with exception of the masculinity-femininity dimension, negatively moderate the trust-intention relationship as proposed in this study. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications are addressed.

Relationships of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions and Lactation Patterns in Lactating Mothers

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding is the best pattern for feeding infants in the first 6 months of life. On the other hand, lactation patterns may be influenced by cultural factors. The present study aimed to determine relationships of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and lactation patterns in lactating mother. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 452 mothers with infants 6 months old and younger in 2018. Eight centers were selected from all health centers in Isfahan, Iran through cluster random sampling. The samples were lactating mothers who referred to health centers for receiving self and infant care. Data was collected using two questionnaires. The first questionnaire examined personal and fertility characteristics and lactation patterns. The second questionnaire was a self-administered structured questionnaire for cultural dimensions. Content validity index and relative content validity coefficient were respectively 0.80 and 0.70 for the cultural dimension questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 18.0. Results: The majority of mothers (64.4%, n=291) had exclusive breastfeeding. In the masculinity-femininity dimension, the mean score of exclusive breastfeeding pattern was higher than the non-exclusive breastfeeding (3± 0.48, 2.48±0.50) and there were significant statistical differences between exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding groups (p = 0.03). In other cultural dimensions, despite there being a difference in mean of the dimensions in exclusive breastfeeding and non-exclusive breastfeeding groups, it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Masculinity-femininity as a cultural dimension was associated with lactation patterns, so that mothers with greater orientation towards masculinity had higher focus on gender roles of a woman such as breastfeeding and they had greater exclusive breastfeeding. But others dimensions were not associated with lactation patterns.

The Impact of Diversity Climate for Women on Female Employees’ Intentions to Stay: A Cross-Cultural Study on South Korea and Norway

The purpose of this research was to examine what factors influence female workers’ intentions to stay with their employer. The effect of diversity climate for women on female employees’ intentions to stay was investigated. Also, based on compensation theory, this study hypothesized the moderation effect of a societal culture, especially Hofstede’s masculinity-femininity dimension, on the association between diversity climate for women and female employees’ intentions to stay. An experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses of this research using South Korea and Norway as study venues. The results revealed that there was a positive association between diversity climate for women and female employees’ intentions to stay. Moreover, in the investigation of societal masculinity’s moderating role, it was shown that diversity climate for women was highly influential in strengthening the intent to stay for female employees from a masculine society. On the other hand, for those from a feminine society, the impact of diversity climate for women was not as strong as for those from a masculine society. By clarifying the role that a societal culture played in female workers’ intentions to stay with their employing organization, the results of this study emphasized the importance of supportive contexts not only at work, but also within a society.

Exploring the relative impact of biological sex and masculinity–femininity values on information technology use

ABSTRACTPrevious studies in an e-commerce context suggest that there are biological differences (i.e. whether one is a man or a woman) with respect to perceptions of websites. In other research, there is evidence that psychological gender (i.e. values such as masculinity or femininity) likewise influences website perceptions. It is the aim of the current investigation to explore the possibility that both biological sex and psychological gender influence user perceptions, and to examine the predictive power of each on our model. To test these assumptions, we use an augmented technology acceptance model (TAM). To maximise variance in our sample, participants are selected from two countries that are significantly different in masculinity–femininity. As expected, psychological gender better predicted trust and TAM than biological sex. Moreover, this study validates that the masculinity–femininity dimension as originally developed by Hofstede [1980. Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage] can be separated into two scales – one each for masculinity and femininity. The results suggest the need for additional research into the differentiation between psychological gender and sex.

Jordanian women's leadership styles in the lens of their masculinity-femininity value orientation

ABSTRACTThis study adopts a gender approach to investigate the interaction between women’s cultural values and their leadership style. Utilizing Hofstede’s masculinity-femininity dimension, the study explores the perceptions of 115 Jordanian women managers on their task-people style of leadership. The hypotheses were created on the notion that because women possess feminine traits they adopt “people” more than “task” leadership orientation. Results revealed that Jordanian women embrace masculinity more than femininity values and employ people as well as task leadership orientation. The topic warrants investigation as there is a lack of studies that explore gender issues in Arab societies from a cultural perspective. Recommendations with practical and organizational implications and research limitations are discussed and presented.

Brunei Student Teachers’ Selected Personal Attributes, Attitudes to Women and Interpersonal Trust: Brief Psychological Report

We report on the findings from three social psychology survey instruments administered to78 randomly selected Brunei student teachers of both genders. Males scored significantly higher than females on the masculinity-femininity dimension of the personal attributes inventory. In addition, mean scores for males were also significantly higher than those of their female counterparts on the equal distribution of labor and equal social roles domains of the attitudes towards women scale. However, there were no significant differences among the participants by teacher training programs and race or ethnicity. These results suggest that men have no prejudices over women. The participants might be able to live and work together peacefully. This is important for promoting social harmony and stability in the Brunei teaching profession where more females than males are increasingly assuming positions of higher responsibility previously held by males. Further mixed-methods research was recommended to gain additional insights.

Flowers in a Greenhouse: profiling excellence in leadership in Singapore

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the changing cultural values that influence the perception of managers to leadership excellence in their organisations in Singapore.Design/methodology/approach– Summated scales for the importance of excellent leader, personal qualities, managerial behaviours, organisational demands and environmental influences were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajahet al.(1995) and several other items rated highly in this study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership.Findings– In all, 249 managers, from the three main ethnic groups: Chinese, Indians and Malays participated in this research. The findings suggest that ethnic differences are not strong determinants of managerial values in organisations in Singapore. However, gender is seen as a differentiating factor in the behavioural values of Singapore managers.Research limitations/implications– This study is purely an exploratory study and the size of the sample is not large enough to create purposeful causal relationships. Certainly the effect of ethnicity on the study should be explored further with a larger sample.Practical implications– Singapore is a highly globalised country that attracts international investments. Statistics in Singapore clearly suggests that there is a sharp increase in women managers in employment. Therefore, understanding the changing behavioural values of managers of both sexes are important for a foreigner engaging with Singapore nationals.Originality/value– This is the first study that looks at behavioural values of Singapore managers with regard to leadership excellence. The masculinity-femininity dimension is pronounced in the gender split.

Are leader stereotypes masculine? A meta-analysis of three research paradigms.

This meta-analysis examined the extent to which stereotypes of leaders are culturally masculine. The primary studies fit into 1 of 3 paradigms: (a) In Schein's (1973) think manager-think male paradigm, 40 studies with 51 effect sizes compared the similarity of male and leader stereotypes and the similarity of female and leader stereotypes; (b) in Powell and Butterfield's (1979) agency-communion paradigm, 22 studies with 47 effect sizes compared stereotypes of leaders' agency and communion; and (c) in Shinar's (1975) masculinity-femininity paradigm, 7 studies with 101 effect sizes represented stereotypes of leadership-related occupations on a single masculinity-femininity dimension. Analyses implemented appropriate random and mixed effects models. All 3 paradigms demonstrated overall masculinity of leader stereotypes: (a) In the think manager-think male paradigm, intraclass correlation = .25 for the women-leaders similarity and intraclass correlation = .62 for the men-leaders similarity; (b) in the agency-communion paradigm, g = 1.55, indicating greater agency than communion; and (c) in the masculinity-femininity paradigm, g = 0.92, indicating greater masculinity than the androgynous scale midpoint. Subgroup and meta-regression analyses indicated that this masculine construal of leadership has decreased over time and was greater for male than female research participants. In addition, stereotypes portrayed leaders as less masculine in educational organizations than in other domains and in moderate- than in high-status leader roles. This article considers the relation of these findings to Eagly and Karau's (2002) role congruity theory, which proposed contextual influences on the incongruity between stereotypes of women and leaders. The implications for prejudice against women leaders are also considered.

Unintended effects of memory on decision making: A breakdown in access control

A hybrid evaluative-conditioning/source-monitoring paradigm is put forward as an alternative to the standard evaluative-conditioning paradigm. The first experiment paired brand names with a small number of attractive or unattractive female faces and used a likeability rating task as well as a source monitoring task. The second experiment paired words which differed along a masculine–feminine dimension with male and female faces, and used a speeded judgment about whether words were stereotypically masculine or feminine. The third experiment paired words that differed along an active–inactive dimension with male and female faces and used a variation of the Implicit Association Test where judgments about whether words were active or inactive were mixed with judgments about whether faces were male or female. In all three experiments, we observed transfer between the recently acquired information and the judgment task. In addition, the three experiments progressively reduce the probability of demand characteristics. We explain the results in this paradigm, and in many other paradigms, as a breakdown in access control. We also point to several similarities between existing theories of evaluative conditioning and memory phenomena/theories that have gone unnoticed in the evaluative conditioning literature.

Mosaic and Pa Uline Charisma- the Cultural Relevance of Religious Leadership

AbstractThe paper discusses the relevance and effectiveness of religious leadership as an interaction effect of leader personality and cultural constraints. Particularly the masculinity-femininity dimension of national culture seems to be of importance in evaluating the effects of Mosaic and Pauline types of leadership.

Intonation and Fundamental Frequency in Male-to-Female Transsexuals

Twenty speakers, diagnosed as male-to-female transsexuals, produced conversational recordings of speech and voice. The samples were submitted to perceptual evaluations and to acoustic analysis by means of a Visi-Pitch, Apple IIe microcomputer system. Transsexuals categorized as having female voices had higher fundamental frequencies (fo), less extensive downward intonations, a higher percentage of upward intonations and downward shifts, and a smaller percentage of level intonations and level shifts than transsexuals categorized as having male voices. The lowest average fo identified as belonging to a female speaker was 155 Hz. Higher (more feminine) ratings on the masculinity-femininity dimension correlated with fo (r = .89), percentage of level shifts (r = -.67), percentage of downward shifts (r = .50), percentage of level intonations (r = -.43), and percentage of upward intonations (r = .40). Findings are discussed in terms of the relative perceptual salience of average fundamental frequency and patterns of intonation for female voice quality.

Chronic pelvic pain patients and conflicts in gender identity

Psychological examination of 109 women suffering from chronic pelvic pain has demonstrated that as a group these patients feel very insecure and may have conflicts in gender identity. By means of a cluster analysis applied to the self-assessment scores of these patients on a masculinity—femininity dimension, five subgroups could be discerned. In two of these groups (39%) no problems could be established in the patients with regard to security and gender identity. In a third group (41%) the patients show strong feelings of insecurity together with indications of conflicts in identification. In two more groups (17%) the patients show evidence of the existence of severe gender identity problems. Three per cent of the patients do not fit into one of these groups.

Language Style and Gender Stereotypes in Person Perception

Twelve sentence pairs representing Lakoff's “women's language” and corresponding “masculine” styles were developed in order to examine gender stereotyping as a function of linguistic pattern usage. College students (77 women and 74 men) read the sentences as transcribed from an interview with a hypothetical male, female, or sex-unknown client, and evaluated the speaker on 31 bipolar adjective scales. Ratings on the masculinity-femininity dimension confirmed Lakoff's “feminine” speech style as a gender stereotype. Factor analysis and subsequent multivariate analyses of variance on factor scores revealed that participants rated the nonfeminine linguistic style significantly higher in competence, but lower in social warmth, than the feminine style. Author gender did not contribute significantly to speaker evaluations. Implications of this importance of style over gender in person perception are discussed.

Women who farm: A preliminary portrait

Nearly 500,000 women are engaged in farm work. Although the majority are unpaid family workers, in recent years greater proportions are in salaried and managerial positions. In-depth interviews with farming women in Baca County, Colorado, however, suggest that wage classification has negligible predictive value in explaining a woman's attitude toward farm work. Satisfaction with doing “men's work” depends on early socialization experiences and the degree to which a woman adopts the traditional female value system. The relevance of a masculinity—femininity dimension to distinguish women with career versus homemaking proclivities is demonstrated.

The effects of gender, masculinity-femininity and trait favorability on evaluations of students

In order to test whether sex role stereotypes are caused by gender per se or by assumptions that favorable or unfavorable masculine or feminine traits are associated with gender, both male and female college students were asked to read and evaluate fictitious descriptions of high school students. These descriptions varied with respect to gender of the fictitious student and the masculinity-femininity and favorability of the adjectives used to describe him or her. Ratings of the students on the masculine-feminine dimension indicated a successful manipulation; those on the other dependent variables indicated that few effects due solely to sex of subject or sex of student described were found. Students with favorable traits were rated more highly on all variables, and those with masculine traits were expected to get higher grades, do better in college, and be more intelligent but to be liked less well by teachers and cause more trouble than those with feminine traits. Tendencies to have more positive expectations for opposite sex students and to see masculine boys as more popular were also found. Apparently gender has less effect on evaluations than does either masculinity or trait favorability.

Attitudes towards women's roles in society and vocational interests

Differences in vocational interests, as measured by the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, between undergraduates having traditional, conservative attitudes towards the roles of women and those having contemporary, liberal attitudes were examined. Separate comparisons were made for male and female subjects. Both men and women with traditional attitudes were found to score higher on the conventional personality-occupational theme. Women with traditional attitudes scored higher on stereotypically female occupational scales. Women with contemporary attitudes scored higher on verbal-linguistic oriented occupational scales. Men with traditional attitudes scored higher on stereotypically male occupational scales. Men with contemporary attitudes scored higher on verbal-linguistic and creative-esthetic oriented occupational scales. A strong relationship between homemaker versus career orientation and the masculinity-femininity dimension in women was argued against. Implications for future employment patterns were made.

Pitch and Duration Characteristics of the Oral Reading of Males on a Masculinity-Femininity Dimension

Certain vocal characteristics of 14 males were compared and rated on the basis of voice on a masculinity-femininity continuum. The voices consisted of the extremes of a larger population selected by faculty from the college student body. The relatively effeminate voices had a median pitch of 127 Hz; the relatively masculine voices, 100 Hz. If the median pitch of unselected American males is 130 Hz, it appears that effeminacy may be associated with voices considerably lower than the typical female pitch. The relatively effeminate voices also displayed a mean rate of pitch change during inflections greater than that of the relatively masculine voices with a greater difference for upward inflections. None of the other measured vocal characteristics discriminated between the two groups.

Sex-role preferences and adjustment in early adolescents.

Authorities dealing with the personality development and adjustment of children are continually stressing the major importance of achieving the role appropriate to one's sex. While there are a number of studies dealing with the masculinity-femininity dimension as it relates to adult adjustment, there is relatively little research examining sex-role preferences and adjustment in childhood. This lack of research has been acutely felt in the area of adolescent development. The present study was an effort at exploring the possible relations which might exist between sex-appropriate role preferences in early adolescents and several indices of adjust nent. The relations with which the author was principally concerned related to some variables readily observable in the school setting. Seward (12) has written that in early adolescence certain changes in sex-role expectation are introduced which strain the growing child's integrative ability. Many of the changes would appear to be related to the confusion which is being generated by a lack of clarity in the female role. For example, in a study of boys and girls at two age levels (12 and 15 years), Tryon (13) found that sexrole values for girls undergo some marked changes in the direction of greater masculine role preferences. Tuddenham (14) used Tryon's method with a younger group and concluded that girls have much more flexible role choices than boys and that masculine traits increase in value in girls with increasing age. Rabban (ii) noted that both working class and middle class boys ranging in age from 3 to 8 are more clearly aware of sex-appropriate behavior than are girls. In a study of junior high school youngsters, Helper (io) found that boys who follow the role model provided by their father gain

The masculinity-femininity dimension in normal and psychotic subjects.

The masculinity-femininity dimension in normal and psychotic subjects.