Women As Managers Scale Research Articles

The Glass Ceiling in the Sport Industry: Spanish Version of the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS)

The pace of women’s access to leadership positions is very different from country to country. With 69.4 out of 100 points, Spain ranks fourth in the European Union (EU) on social power, first measured in the 2020 edition of the Gender Equality Index. However, a need of deepening the reasons for gender inequalities remains. The Women As Managers Scale (WAMS) is a useful tool that allows for the measurement of the attitudinal factors that hinder access to managerial positions. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the WAMS among sport managers through three factors: acceptance of women in key positions, features for business success, and barriers to access to managerial positions. For that purpose, a questionnaire—as is the original WAMS—was distributed to 401 managers working within sports organizations in the community of Madrid, Spain. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Student’s test were performed to analyze the stability of the scores. The internal consistency of the scales was assessed through Cronbach’s alpha, the Homogeneity Index, and Discriminability Index. The construct validity was completed through exploratory factor analysis using principal components. The results show that the WAMS serves as a reference for use as a measure of attitudinal factors that hinder access to an executive position. Therefore, this work generates an instrument with adequate properties in the Spanish context.

Differences in Attitudes towards Female Managers: Lessons from Technology Start-Up Companies in Jakarta, Indonesia

Despite the perceptions that such technology start-up companies are known as a modern working environment that embraces diversity, the data shows that the number of women in the industry, especially in a senior position, is still lower than men. Naturally, men have a high sense of competitiveness and feel more superior to become managers compared to women; while women sometimes practice self-stereotyping and think they are not capable enough for being a leader. This study aims to investigate differences in the attitude of men and women towards female managers in technology start-up companies. This research applies mixed methods, using “Women as Managers Scale (WAMS)” as indicators in the quantitative data collected from 60 male and 60 female that work in technology start-up companies in Jakarta. WAMS was also used as the basis for interview questions with three men and three women are being interviewed for the qualitative approach. The study finds differences in the attitude between men and women towards female manager in the technology startup companies in Jakarta, Indonesia. Compared to men, women respondents have more positive attitudes in terms female managers’ ability, acceptance, physical constraints and leadership. On the contrary, men respondents view that physical constraints like menstruation and maternity leave would affect female managers’ performance. Theoretically, this study contributes to the knowledge of gender diversity at work in the context of technology start-up companies in Indonesia. Practically, managers can use lessons from this study to develop a more gender balanced strategy for the companies.

Demographic and workplace factors contributing to attitudes toward women as managers in Macau’s hospitality industry

As an increasing number of women enter workforce and progress to managerial positions, they challenge traditional notion of gender roles ascribed to them by sociocultural theory and change gender stereotypes. However, by doing so, they may enter into gender incongruent roles which evokes negative attitudes, creates obstacles for women’s professional advancement and results in negative work outcomes. This study utilizes Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) in street intercept with 600 participants to examine the attitudes toward female managers in the dominant hospitality industry in Macau, China and finds them to be comparatively positive. The results are discussed in the context of demographic and workplace factors. Managerial implications of the findings are stated.

Attitudes towards women managers: Development and validation of a new measure with Turkish samples

This study reports the development of a new instrument measuring attitudes towards women managers (ATWoM). To test its reliability and validity data were collected from 456 Turkish employees from 23 organizations. Reliability and validitiy of ATWoM's final version were also tested with a separate sample comprised 312 students enrolled in junior–senior undergraduate and MBA programmes. ATWoM's psychometric properties were superior to one of the most widely used instruments measuring the same construct, Women as Managers Scale (WAMS). ATWoM was negatively correlated with traditional attitudes towards gender roles and positively correlated with respondents' report of quality in their interaction with women managers and general preference to work with women managers.

Sex stereotyping managerial positions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how men and women sex stereotype managerial positions and how they view women in managerial roles in Egypt and the USA, in order to provide meaningful cross‐cultural comparisons.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses surveys that utilize the Schein descriptive index and the women as managers scale (WAMS) to compare perceptions on women in managerial positions in Egypt and the USA. The sample consists of 553 Egyptian and 324 American management students.FindingsThe results show that in the Egyptian sample both males and females held negative views of women managers. However, in the US sample, women held more favourable views of women managers than did their male counterparts. In the Egyptian sample the English section female students had a more positive perception of female managers than their Arabic section counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample is limited to management students in Egypt and the USA. The Middle East includes countries with different cultures, such as Israel. About 10 percent of Egypt's population are Christians who do not necessarily share the same cultural beliefs as the country's Muslim majority.Practical implicationsThe paper helps donor countries better direct their aid programs when it comes to promoting gender equality and championing women's rights in the Middle East.Originality/valueOur contribution was to study the perceptions of female leaders in Egypt, an Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern country. The gender research on countries with conservative cultures, such as Egypt, is an area that remains mostly unexamined. Our study aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of the position of Egyptian women in management.

Changing Attitudes Toward Women IT Managers

Essentialism and social constructionism theories have long explained the difficulties women experience as they aspire to higher managerial positions or enter science and technology fields. In the 1970s, the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) sought to determine the extent to which males perceived females as being different from their social group. Given efforts to encourage women to consider IT careers and changes in public law and education that have occurred since the early 1970s, this study revisited the WAMS to compare current attitudes of young people toward women as managers. The results suggest that through the intangible individual differences of women, perspective, overtime, via training, by awareness, and with their greater participation in the workplace, there has been gradual improvement in the perception of women as managers by men in the science and technology fields.

Women as Managers in the United States and China: A Cross-Cultural Study

This article investigated Chinese and U.S. attitudes toward women as managers with the goal of establishing an empirical basis for comparison and understanding of the glass ceiling potential in each culture. The authors used the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) to measure perceptions of 919 U.S. and Chinese participants. Results indicated differences in perceptions by gender and nationality. Overall, women were perceived less favorably as managers by Chinese and U.S. males as compared to perceptions of Chinese and U.S. female participants. Findings are discussed in terms of existing research and areas for future research are suggested.

Perceptions of Women as Managers in Chile and the United States

The objective of the current study was to determine if stereotypical perceptions of women as managers existed among men and women in two different cultural settings, the U.S. and Chile. Using the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS), 412 participants from the U.S. and Chile responded to questions about their perceptions of women performing managerial roles and tasks. Gender and culture effects were identified at both the multivariate and univariate levels.1 The results showed that male subjects in both cultures had more stereotypical and negative perceptions of women as managers than did female subjects, and the U.S. participants (both male and female) had more positive and less stereotypical perceptions of women as managers than the Chilean participants. Implications for research and practice in cross‐cultural and international management are discussed.

Attitudes toward women as managers: sex versus culture

This paper examines attitudes toward women managers in Chile (n=194) and the USA (n=218) using the women as managers scale (WAMS) and a Spanish version of WAMS developed for this study. Across both cultures, two coherent measures were labeled “acceptance” and “ability”. No cultural differences in the acceptance of women as managers were discovered. The differences in acceptance were divided solely according to sex. There were differences in the perceived ability of women managers for both the sex and culture variables. The paper then compares the impact of the sex and culture variables. Results show that sex explained approximately three times more variance than culture. These findings can inform both the expatriate woman manager who is likely to encounter friction in interactions with males in many cultures and the human resource manager interested in improving the success of women managers working overseas.

The evaluation of female leadership

Effects of the sex of a leader and of a respondent on evaluation of leader behavior were examined from the viewpoint of an implicit leadership theory and theories on sex-role stelectyping. 110 male and 698 female college students rated a Leader Behavior Descriprion Questionnaire (LBDQ) From XII, and Women as Managers Scale (WAMS). Results of the analysis indicated that the sex of both leader and respondent did not affect factor structure of leader behavior description, but did affect the level of leader behavior evaluation. Among male subjects WAMS was found to be contributed only by a limited, stereotyped LBDQ scales, while among female respondents a variety of LBDQ subscales showed significant contributions to WAMS. This indicated a dual-prejudiced view on female leadership.

Gender Effects on Performance Evaluation

Abstract Male and female bank managers (N = 166) and students (N = 240) took the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS) and rated the successful, unknown, or unsuccessful performance of either a female or a male assistant branch bank manager applying for promotion to bank manager. Females were viewed more positively when success was known. Female respondents rated successful applicants more positively and unsuccessful applicants more negatively than did male respondents. Bank managers with high scores on the WAMS gave higher ratings to the female applicant than to the male applicant. The reverse was true for managers with low scores.

When Reason Fails: A Comment On The Reliability And Dimensionality Of The Wams

The authors present a commentary on an article discussing the reliability and dimensionality of the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS). The scale is used as a measure of attitudes toward women as manag...

WHEN REASON FAILS: A COMMENT ON THE RELIABILITY AND DIMENSIONALITY OF THE WAMS.

The authors present a commentary on an article discussing the reliability and dimensionality of the Women as Managers Scale (WAMS). The scale is used as a measure of attitudes toward women as manag...

A Comment on the Dimensionality and Reliability of the Women As Manager Scale (Wams)

The Women as Managers Scale (WAMS), reported to be a measure of stereotypic attitudes toward women in management, has appeared in recent literature as both an independent and a dependent variable. ...

A COMMENT ON THE DIMENSIONALITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE WOMEN AS MANAGER SCALE (WAMS).

The Women as Managers Scale (WAMS), reported to be a measure of stereotypic attitudes toward women in management, has appeared in recent literature as both an independent and a dependent variable. ...