Sex Of Supervisor Research Articles

The Impact of Supervisor Relationships on Auditor Turnover Intentions Using Leader-Member Exchange Theory

ABSTRACT This study expands understanding of auditor relationships and turnover by introducing the measurement of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) to an audit setting. LMX—which considers overall quality of subordinates’ relationships with their supervisor—is well established in the management literature but has previously only been referred to as a theoretical construct in the audit literature. Utilizing a well-validated scale, we measure LMX with 167 practicing auditors. We find LMX with a single supervisor significantly impacts retention via organizational commitment. This finding is novel in the LMX literature given the unique audit setting where subordinates have multiple supervisors and transitory teams. In an exploratory analysis, we also find female subordinates form lower-quality relationships with supervisors, regardless of supervisor sex, which in turn can influence the impact of LMX on organizational commitment. Results demonstrate the value of measuring LMX in audit research and practically highlight the importance of fostering positive, strong auditor-supervisor relationships. Data Availability: Contact the authors. JEL Classifications: L2; M40; M42; M50.

The dark side of leave: how voluntary leave shapes preferences for male and female supervisors

PurposeTo determine how different voluntary leaves of absence (parental vs. community service) affect individuals’ preferences for working with either male or female supervisors. Drawing on role congruity theory, the authors examined whether individuals would least prefer supervisors who took voluntary leave that violated role expectations.Design/methodology/approachIn Study 1, participants (n = 372) evaluated supervisors who took different forms of leave (none vs. parental vs. community service). In Study 2 (n = 202), the authors tested an intervention to reduce negative bias toward males taking community service leave. In both studies the authors examined the sex of the supervisor (male vs. female) on perceptions of typicality and supervisor preference.FindingsMales who took community service leave were perceived as most atypical and were least preferred as supervisors. However, providing relevant research-based information about typicality reduced this bias.Practical implicationsThe results show that people respond negatively toward males who take community service leave. Managers can help reduce this bias by providing relevant research-based information regarding community service leave.Originality/valueThis work is among the first to explore the consequences of community service leave and how it interacts with supervisor sex. The authors also identify a simple way to reduce bias against males who take community service leave.

Proactive Personality, LMX, and Voice Behavior: Employee–Supervisor Sex (Dis)similarity as a Moderator

In today’s changing environment, employees’ voice behavior can enhance organizational effectiveness. This study tests an integrative model linking proactive personality, leader–member exchange (LMX), voice behavior, and employee–supervisor sex (dis)similarity. Sex (dis)similarity is posited as a moderator. Results showed proactive personality was positively related to both voice behavior and LMX quality, and LMX quality was positively related to voice behavior. LMX quality partially mediated the relationship between proactive personality and voice behavior. Employee–supervisor sex (dis)similarity moderated the effect of LMX quality on voice behavior. Employees working in higher quality LMX relationships with supervisors of dissimilar sex exhibited more voice behavior.

Family Binds and Glass Ceilings: Women Managers’ Promotion Limits in a ‘Knowledge Economy’

This article documents macro-level trends regarding gender equity for women managers in paid workplaces and examines the importance of factors related to equitable promotion. Primary evidence is drawn from 1982, 2004 and 2010 surveys of work and learning activities of the employed Canadian labor force. These surveys provide unique national-level data on the managerial levels, qualifications, sex of supervisor and divisions of paid and unpaid labor among male and female managers which could provide benchmarks for further international surveys. Women’s representation in top-level jobs remains very restricted, and most women still manage only women. Greater employment experience and higher educational qualifications are now generally significant factors for promotion of women as well as men. But glass ceilings maintained by men and women’s own primary responsibility for household work remain the major obstacles to equitable promotion. Women managers’ increasing economic power remains contingent on facing up to these interrelated barriers.

Pygmalion effects among outreach supervisors and tutors: Extending sex generalizability.

Students who supervised other students who tutored grade-school pupils in a university-based outreach program were randomly assigned to Pygmalion and control conditions. Experimental supervisors were told that their tutors were ideally qualified for their tutoring role; control supervisors were told nothing about their tutors' qualifications. A manipulation check revealed that the experimental supervisors expected more of their tutors. Analysis of variance of tutorial success measures confirmed the Pygmalion effect among supervisors of both sexes. No main effect or interaction involving either supervisor sex or tutor sex was significant. As predicted, the experimental supervisors also provided better leadership and the experimental tutors increased their self-efficacy. This was the first demonstration of the Pygmalion effect among women leading men. Pygmalion effects may be produced without regard for sex.

Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace Revisited: Influences on Sexual Harassment by Gender

Using data from the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board's most recent survey on sexual harassment, this study examines influences on sexual harassment in the federal workplace. We investigate the effect of workers’sociodemographic characteristics, aspects of their daily work environment (the sex of the supervisor and female/male ratio of coworkers), and agency location. Drawing on a variety of theoretical models and addressing a limitation of a previous study, we assess whether and how influences on sexual harassment differ for men and women. Not only does the likelihood of sexual harassment differ for men and women, but the determinants of harassment differ as well. Women are more likely to indicate receipt of unwanted sexual attention as their ratio of male coworkers increases, and men are more likely to indicate its receipt as their ratio of female coworkers increases. We also find differential effects for sex of supervisor, age, education, and job type, among other variables. Our analyses highlight that gender conditions the influences on sexual harassment.

Does Having a Woman Manager Affect Managerial Women's Work and Career Experiences?

This study compared the work and career experiences of Filipino professional and managerial women with men and women supervisors. Data were collected from 200 women working in banking and financial services and the fashion and cosmetics sectors. Sex of supervisor was not associated with Filipino women's work and career experiences.

Communication in conflict: Style‐strategy relationships

This study examines the relationships between scores on Rahim's measure of conflict styles and supervisors’ predictions of the communicative strategies they would use in conflicts with their subordinates. It finds that scores on some styles (integrating, compromising, and avoiding) predict initial communicative strategies, but not follow‐up strategies with noncompliant subordinates. Complex patterns of strategy shifts are examined in terms of style preferences and supervisor sex. While virtually all supervisors eventually shift to coercive communication with noncompliant subordinates, females do so more slowly.

The Effects of Supervisor Sex and Work Environment on Attitude toward Older Employees

The effects of supervisor gender and work environment (public versus private sector) on supervisors' attitudes toward older employees were investigated. Participants attending a supervisory development institute completed questionnaires relating to performance appraisal practices in the public and private sectors. As part of this larger study, 120 participants were selected at random and combined in a balanced, 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA. Two independent variables — supervisor sex and type of work environment — were manipulated to assess their effects on supervisors' attitudes towards older employees. A significant main effect was found for type of work environment, confirming the hypothesis that public sector supervisors were more lenient in their evaluations of older employees. A main effect was also found for supervisor gender, but not in the predicted direction. Female supervisors were found to be more unfavorable in their evaluations of older employees. No interaction was found. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are offered.

Sex of employee and sex of supervisor: Effect on attributions for the causality of success and failure

An industrial “employee-testing” situation was simulated in two laboratory studies to determine if differential attributions would be made for the causality of success and failure, as a function of the sex of the “supervisor” and of the “employee.” The saliency of the relative success of the performance was confirmed in both studies, as was the importance of the sexual composition of the dyad. Two surprising results were the general lack of derogation of females by themselves and others, as was generally found in prior research, and the different self-attributional patterns made in the presence and absence of a supervisor. The latter result calls into question the ipsative conception of attributions.

Affective Dispositions of Teachers in Training toward Examples of Supervisory Behavior

AbstractThe affective dispositions of men and women secondary student teachers toward the credibility and utility of supervisors depicted in recorded examples of supervisory sessions were measured using semantic differential techniques. The examples differed in approach used by the supervisor (directive and nondirective) and in supervisor gender. Factor analytic techniques were used to identify those bipolar scales that succeeded in indexing the subjects’ dispositions toward the target concepts. Composite scores of the identified scales were submitted to three-way ANOV A resulting in a significant main effect for supervisory approach favoring directive supervision and two significant interaction effects, supervisor sex x subject sex and supervisory approach x subject sex. Implications for supervisory behavior with student teachers are discussed.

Reward behavior by male and female leaders: A causal inference analysis

This research investigated causal inferences between leader reward behavior (positive and punitive) and subordinate goal attainment, absenteeism, and work satisfaction over a 3-month period in a merchandise distribution center ( n = 252). Four groups were studied: (a) male supervisors-male subordinates, (b) male supervisors-female subordinates, (c) female supervisors-female subordinates, and (d) female supervisors-male subordinates. Using the techniques of tests of mean differences and corrected cross-lag correlations, the results revealed that: (a) No significant differences attributed to sex were found between the four groups with the perceptions of leader reward behavior or subordinate outcome measures, and (b) the causal inference analysis suggested that the relationships between leader reward behavior and subordinate attitudes and behavior were independent of the effects of sex of supervisor or subordinate. Implications for research on sex stereotypes and leadership were discussed.

Sex of Supervisor, Sex of Subordinate, and Subordinate Job Satisfaction

It was hypothesized in the present research that there would be significant differences in the job satisfaction of subordinates depending upon the interaction between their sex and the sex of their supervisors. Using job satisfaction data from 139 employees, it was found that: (a) female subordinates supervised by male supervisors were less satisfied with supervision than those supervised by women, (b) females working under males reported a lower level of satisfaction with their co-workers than females supervised by females or males supervised by males, and (c) women who had female supervisors indicated a higher level of satisfaction with their work than men with male supervisors. Contrary to traditional stereotypes of women supervisors, the results suggested that these stereotypes might not be important in long-term, real-world situations.

Implicit leadership theory: A potential threat to the internal validity of leader behavior questionnaires

The effect of implicit leadership theories on consideration and initiating structure ratings from the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (XII) was investigated. Factor loadings obtained from students under a limited information condition were compared with those from reported field data. The consideration factors were found to be highly congruent, while initiating structure factors were moderately congruent. These results were consistent with comparisons from three additional samples varying in respondent's familiarity with the leader. Cues regarding performance, sex, and level of accomplishment of the supervisor were also examined in the context of implicit theories. Performance cues were found to have a highly significant effect on subscale ratings. The effect for supervisor's sex was marginally significant. Emphasizing behavior—attention—encoding—memory units inherent in such ratings, rater's limited information processing capacity was suggested as a possible explanation of results. It was concluded, after considering the generalizability of results, that the findings posed a threat to the internal validity of behavioral questionnaires.

An Examination of the Moderating Effects of Supervisor Sex and Subordinate Sex Upon the Relationships Between Supervisory Behavior and Subordinate Outcomes in Mental Health Organizations.

Employees (N=592) in mental health organizations described their supervisors' supervisory behavior in terms of consideration, participation, initiating structure, and production emphasis. Very little evidence was found to support the supposition that male subordinates have differential supervisory role expectations for male and female supervisors. However, there was some support for this supposition among female subordinates.

Worker Performance and Evaluation of a Supervisor as a Function of Subordinate Sex, Supervisor Sex, and Leadership Style.

Male and female subordinates (N=88) completed a task under the direction of either a male or female supervisor exhibiting a set of behaviors labeled consideration or structure. Considerate supervis...

Determinants of Supervisory Behavior: A Role Set Analysis

While most studies have examined the consequences of different supervisory behaviors, the present study examines some determinants of supervisory actions. It is argued that the behavior of the supervisor is constrained by the demands of others in his role set. It was found that the expectations of a supervisor's boss and those of his subordinates and peers accounted for a significant portion of the observed variation in behaviors across 53 supervisors in the housing division of a large state university. Further, the extent to which supervisors conformed to their bosses' expectations was related to the number of persons and the proportion of the time spent supervising, the demands to produce, the supervisor's sex, and the proportion of the decisions made by superiors. Multivariate analysis indicated that the expectations of subordinates were more important in influencing social behaviors, while the expectations of the bosses were more important in determining work-related behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of Weick's (1969) concept that individuals in an organization will interlock behaviors to obtain a stable mutually satisfying interaction.

Moderating effects of sex of supervisor and subordinate on relationships between supervisory behavior and subordinate satisfaction.

Moderating effects of sex of supervisor and subordinate on relationships between supervisory behavior and subordinate satisfaction.

Moderating effects of sex of supervisor and subordinate on relationships between supervisory behavior and subordinate satisfaction.

Moderating effects of sex of supervisor and subordinate on relationships between supervisory behavior and subordinate satisfaction.