Women on the boards of listed companies: Evidence from Finland

This paper investigates gender differences on the corporate boards of Finnish listed companies. The personal characteristics, careers, and boardroom roles of female and male directors on boards were analyzed on the basis of empirical data collected by questionnaire. An analysis of the findings revealed only minor differences between the women and men in personal characteristics such as their marital status, number of children and education, or in their careers. However, female board members were on average younger than their male counterparts and considered themselves to be more protean, took more active roles on the board, and enjoyed power more than men did. They also felt a need for more women on the board. The goal of this study is to contribute to the existing research in two ways. Firstly, it provides empirical evidence on women??s representation on boards from Finland, where women??s and men??s rights are regarded as more equal than in many other countries. Secondly, the study aims to increase our knowledge of gender differences, careers and roles of women in top positions in Finnish business.     

Reflections of the Other: images of women in the Polish business press

After the fall of state communism, the business press in Poland has become an active image designer for people involved in management. Shaping the stereotypes about the market, enterprises and management, it also has an effect on gender related stereotypes and images. A study of a widespread Polish business magazine reveals a pretty flat picture: women managers are typically portrayed in traditional female social roles and the images of men are stripped of feelings and individuality. However, a trend toward the emergence of some variety can be noticed and perhaps the presence of women can contribute to a major change in management?     

Testing the gender similarities hypothesis: differences in subjective task value and motivation to transfer training

ABSTRACT

Are female and male trainees similar or different in their reaction to training programmes, specifically regarding their subjective task value and motivation to transfer? According to the gender similarities hypothesis, women and men are alike on most psychological variables. However, according to research in organizational behaviour, female and male employees differ on certain aspects, such as their job satisfaction and work identity. To test these two views on gender similarities and differences in the context of human resource development and training evaluation, the present study examined the extent to which gender moderated reactions to training. Based on the expectancy-value theory of motivation and self-determination theory, a web-based questionnaire was used to measure six training reactions: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, perceived relative cost, autonomous motivation to transfer, and controlled motivation to transfer. The results indicated that women and men differed in their ratings of attainment value but were similar for the remaining five reaction measures. These outcomes support the gender similarities hypothesis. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for modelling gender effects in HRD research and their practical significance for promoting training effectiveness and transfer of training.     

Effort-reward imbalance,overcommitment and sleep in a working population

The relationship between workplace characteristics and nocturnal sleep in a working population was investigated. Data from 709 employees (mean age=39 years; 87% men) from two German companies were analysed at the entry of the longitudinal cohort study (overall accrual 73%). We investigated the association between the effort-reward imbalance model at work (Siegrist, ) and self-reported sleep quality and sleep disturbances, as assessed by the Jenkins Sleep Quality Index. Effort and overcommitment were found to be higher, and reward was lower in participants with lower (N=328) vs. higher sleep quality (N=381), as well as in participants with (N=217) vs. without (N=492) disturbed sleep (all ps<.001). In regression analyses, lower sleep quality (R ²=.33) and sleep disturbances (R ² _Nagelkerke=.33) were predicted by older age, female gender (only significant for sleep disturbances), shift-work, lower physical and mental health functioning, and higher overcommitment. Individuals were 1.7 times more likely to report disturbed sleep per standard deviation increase in overcommitment. Gender-stratified analyses revealed that higher overcommitment was associated with unfavourable sleep in men, while in women poor sleep was related to lower reward. The findings suggest that overcommitment at work interferes with restful sleep in men, while in women disturbed sleep may be associated with the amount of overcommitment and perceived job reward and sleep quality associated with the perceived reward.     

Exploring the Dynamics of Incongruent Beliefs about Women and Leaders

People tend to have similar beliefs about leaders and men but dissimilar beliefs about leaders and women. A decrease in this perceived incongruity between beliefs about women and leaders might follow from perceived changes in either or both of these stereotypes. In two experiments we investigated the dynamics of this stereotype incongruity by examining cross‐temporal perceptions of change in women's roles and leadership demands. In Experiment 1 , participants judged a target group (leaders, men, or women) in a specified year in the past, the present and the future with regard to gender‐stereotypic traits. In Experiment 2 , participants evaluated the same target groups in a future society in which the role distribution between the sexes was described as traditional, same‐as‐today, or equal. Altogether our findings indicate that the perceived incongruity between the leader stereotype and the female stereotype is a dynamic phenomenon. Participants' beliefs indicated erosion of the perceived incongruity between leaders and women because of a perceived change in women's roles. We discuss the implications of these beliefs for future social change.     

Women in high places: When and why promoting women into top positions can harm them individually or as a group (and how to prevent this)

This contribution focuses on women in leadership positions. We propose that two convictions are relevant to the effects of having women in high places. On the one hand, women as a group are expected to employ different leadership styles than men, in this way adding diversity to management teams. On the other hand, individual women are expected to ascend to leadership positions by showing their ability to display the competitiveness and toughness typically required from those at the top. We posit that both convictions stem from gendered leadership beliefs, and that these interact with women's self-views to determine the effectiveness of female leaders. We develop an integrative model that explains the interplay between organizational beliefs and individual-self definitions and its implications for female leadership. We then present initial evidence in support of this model from two recent programs of research. The model allows us to connect “glass cliff” effects to “queen bee” effects showing that both relate to the perceived salience of gender in the organization, as well as individual gender identities. Each of these phenomena may harm future career opportunities of women, be it as individuals or as a group. We outline how future research may build on our proposed model and examine its further implications. We also indicate how the model may offer a concrete starting point for developing strategies to enhance the effectiveness of women in leadership positions.     

The relative career advancement of men and women engineers in the United States

Abstract

Despite the fact that women engineering students perform as well as their male classmates during college, women engineers report lower salaries and supervisory responsibility levels after about five years in the labour force. Several hypotheses concerning the reasons for the differences in career advancement of men and women engineers were investigated in a national survey of engineers in the United States. The gender differences in career advancement could not be explained by differences in education level or in self-perceptions of ability. The fact that women were more likely to have taken a career break than were men did decrease their salaries and supervisory levels. However, gender differences were still apparent even when this factor was controlled. The careers of both men and women were affected by conflicts arising from the multiple roles of worker, spouse, and parent, but many women engineers avoided such conflicts by remaining single and childless. These results challenge several popular explanations for the differential advancement of men and women, but the actual causes remain unknown.     

Investor response to appointment of female CEOs and CFOs

We study the impact of appointing women to top executive positions from an investor perspective. We analyze whether shareholders value announcement of appointment of women to top positions differently than they do appointment of men. This study uses an international sample of 100 announcements of top executive appointments of women who replace men and investigates how shareholders respond to such appointments. This research combines an event study with a matched pair analysis to compare the response from investors regarding appointment of female versus male CEOs and CFOs. We establish that investors do not seem to value appointment of women significantly differently from that of men. This finding suggests that, from the investor perspective, there appears to be no business case for a particular gender when it comes to appointing a CEO or CFO.     

A Pharmacokinetic Study of Occupational and Environmental Benzene Exposure with Regard to Gender

Using physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling, occupational, personal, and environmental benzene exposure scenarios are simulated for adult men and women. This research identifies differences in internal exposure due to physiological and biochemical gender differences. Physiological and chemical-specific model parameters were obtained from other studies reported in the literature and medical texts for the subjects of interest. Women were found to have a higher blood/air partition coefficient and maximum velocity of metabolism for benzene than men (the two most sensitive parameters affecting gender-specific differences). Additionally, women generally have a higher body fat percentage than men. These factors influence the internal exposure incurred by the subjects and should be considered when conducting a risk assessment. Results demonstrated that physicochemical gender differences result in women metabolizing 23–26% more benzene than men when subject to the same exposure scenario even though benzene blood concentration levels are generally higher in men. These results suggest that women may be at significantly higher risk for certain effects of benzene exposure. Thus, exposure standards based on data from male subjects may not be protective for the female population.     

Women on corporate boards around the world: Triggers and barriers

One of the institutions in which the gender gap remains a contestable issue is the board of directors, where the proportion of female directors is still low. While some countries have achieved higher proportions of female directors on their corporate boards, others have not registered even a single one. Drawing on social role theory, that places emphasis on traditional gender activities, this study starts by arguing that board directorship is an agentic role and more suitable for men. The study shows that key social institutions have the potential to alleviate such stereotypical attitudes or to maintain the status quo. Employing a robust statistical technique in two-stage least squares (2SLS), this study finds that the representation of women in other key national institutions, such as in politics, positively affects the appointment of female directors on boards. On the other hand, religiosity has a negative causal effect on female board appointments.     

Bank Loan Officers' Perceptions of Business Owners: The Role of Gender

There is a widely held belief that banks may be discriminating against female business owners. This study was designed to explore the perceptions held by bank loan officers of male and female business owners, using Bourdieu's theory of practice and Kelly's personal construct methodology. The research literature might lead to an expectation that the characteristics of the business owners would be relatively homogenous but that men and women business owners would be construed differently (for example women might be seen to lack drive). However, the results demonstrate heterogeneity in the constructs held by bank loan officers, and a particular concern with the character of the business owner. Significant gender differences were observed in only 20 of the 325 constructs elicited from 35 bank loan officers. Female bank loan officers were as likely as male bank loan officers to draw gender distinctions between business owners. Detailed multivariate analyses confirmed no evidence of systematic gender differences in the constructs held by bank loan officers of business owners.     

Violence towards psychiatric staff: a comparison of gender,job and environmental characteristics in England and Sweden

Workplace violence is receiving increasing attention world-wide, and studies suggest that, for example, nurses and women may be more abused at work than psychiatrists and men. However, there is a lack of cross-cultural data on the topic. Further, relatively few studies have addressed the influence of environmental factors in the occurrence of violence and within a cross-cultural context. The present study compares among other things the nature of violence encountered by female/male staff (nurses and psychiatrists) in Sweden and England. Psychiatric personnel from England (301 nurses; 74 psychiatrists) and Sweden (745 nurses; 306 psychiatrists) were assessed cross-sectionally by means of a questionnaire covering various areas (e.g. nature of violence). The univariate analyses showed an association between being abused and male gender, young age, being British and a nurse, physical and psychological strain. The multivariate logistic regression confirmed that British nurses and male nurses were the main risk group for exposure to violence. Further, the multivariate analysis indicated that the odds of being abused increased with increasing age, physical strain and dissatisfaction with quality of care. Interventions thus need to be sensitive to gender differences, societal context, professional roles and interactions between them. Further, clinical supervision and team functioning, organizational and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.     

Violence towards psychiatric staff: a comparison of gender, job and environmental characteristics in England and Sweden

Workplace violence is receiving increasing attention world-wide, and studies suggest that, for example, nurses and women may be more abused at work than psychiatrists and men. However, there is a lack of cross-cultural data on the topic. Further, relatively few studies have addressed the influence of environmental factors in the occurrence of violence and within a cross-cultural context. The present study compares among other things the nature of violence encountered by female/male staff (nurses and psychiatrists) in Sweden and England. Psychiatric personnel from England (301 nurses; 74 psychiatrists) and Sweden (745 nurses; 306 psychiatrists) were assessed cross-sectionally by means of a questionnaire covering various areas (e.g. nature of violence). The univariate analyses showed an association between being abused and male gender, young age, being British and a nurse, physical and psychological strain. The multivariate logistic regression confirmed that British nurses and male nurses were the main risk group for exposure to violence. Further, the multivariate analysis indicated that the odds of being abused increased with increasing age, physical strain and dissatisfaction with quality of care. Interventions thus need to be sensitive to gender differences, societal context, professional roles and interactions between them. Further, clinical supervision and team functioning, organizational and environmentally friendly settings may help to reduce violence in mental health care.     

Women,men, VDU work and health: A questionnaire survey of British VDU operators

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey of male and female VDU operators distributed through Health & Safety at Work magazine. 3819 questionnaires were analysed using the SPSS computer program. 57% of the sample were female, 68% were under 35 years old and 73% were members of a trade union or staff association. The large number of male respondents meant that it was possible to compare work patterns, types of work and health effects for men and women. It appears that women are engaged in more repetitive and less varied tasks at the VDU and that they work longer hours and for longer periods without a break than men. The most frequently reported health problems were eyestrain, painful or stiff neck and shoulders, fatigue and irritated eyes. The incidence of symptoms was related to hours of work at the VDU. Women were more likely to report health effects than men. This difference remains when hours of work, type of work and hours worked without a break are taken into account. Ergonomically designed equipment such as adjustable chairs, lighting or keyboard did not have an obvious effect on the reporting of symptoms. It appeared that there is a complex interaction between the physical, ergonomic and psychosocial factors associated with new technology. All these factors need to be taken into account in further research into the health problems of VDU operators.     

Values and Their Change During the Business Education – A Gender Perspective

Modern management and organization theory have been criticized for being based on masculine values and concepts. The theory and associated values influence not only managerial behavior in practice, but also business education's value system. In this study, we analyze the change in values during business education from a gender perspective. By values we mean feminine and masculine values. Our empirical study is based on the literature of cultural values and gender socialization theories. We surveyed 324 students. The result of our study lends support to earlier research: men are more masculine and women more feminine in their values. The change towards masculinity during business education is not supported statistically in this study. However, there may be a weak tendency towards masculinity, especially among female students. In addition, we propose that it is possible that business students have a tendency to try to fulfil masculine needs in their occupational choice. Further research is needed to investigate the empirical findings of our study. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Does valuing androgyny and femininity lead to a female advantage? The relationship between gender-role,transformational leadership and identification

The notion of ‘think manager–think male’ has been demonstrated in many studies. The current study examines whether leaders are perceived as more effective when they have ‘feminine’, ‘masculine’ or ‘androgynous’ characteristics, and how this relates to the leader's and followers' sex. Using carefully matched samples of 930 employees of 76 bank managers, we studied the relationship between managers' gender-role identity (perceived ‘femininity’, ‘masculinity’ and ‘androgyny’) and how this relates to leadership effectiveness in terms of transformational leadership and personal identification with the leader. Our findings show that among both male and female leaders, ‘androgyny’ was more strongly related to transformational leadership and followers' identification than ‘non-androgyny’, and that leaders' ‘femininity’ was more strongly related to leadership effectiveness than ‘masculinity’. Furthermore, the results show that women paid a higher penalty for not being perceived as ‘androgynous’ (mixing ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’), in comparison to men with regard to personal identification. When examining same- versus cross-sex relationships, we found that ‘non-androgynous’ male managers were rated higher by their male employees than by their female employees. Our findings suggest that women and men who are interested in being perceived as effective leaders may be well advised to blend ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ behaviors, and even more so when they are in situations of non-congruency (i.e., women in leadership roles and leading in cross-sex relationships). We discuss the implications of these findings for both theory and practice.     

The relative career advancement of men and women engineers in the United States

Despite the fact that women engineering students perform as well as their male classmates during college, women engineers report lower salaries and supervisory responsibility levels after about five years in the labour force. Several hypotheses concerning the reasons for the differences in career advancement of men and women engineers were investigated in a national survey of engineers in the United States. The gender differences in career advancement could not be explained by differences in education level or in self-perceptions of ability. The fact that women were more likely to have taken a career break than were men did decrease their salaries and supervisory levels. However, gender differences were still apparent even when this factor was controlled. The careers of both men and women were affected by conflicts arising from the multiple roles of worker, spouse, and parent, but many women engineers avoided such conflicts by remaining single and childless. These results challenge several popular explanations for the differential advancement of men and women, but the actual causes remain unknown.     

Maintaining Masculinity: Men who do 'Women's Work'

This paper examines the ways in which men manage their gender identity on entry into occupations traditionally undertaken by women. Drawing on in-depth interviews with men in non-traditional occupations the paper demonstrates how men who enter "female" occupations face a range of challenges to their sense of 'masculinity'. It is argued that gender identity and occupational identity become misaligned during this transition. The paper shows how men attempt to realign these two identities, either by a reconstruction or rationalization of the nature of their occupations, or by renegotiation of their own conception of what it means to be a man. The article concludes that the first of these approaches has important implications for the nature of occupations and the way in which work is carried out, while the second may be one of the key processes at work in the desegregation of the labour market.