Journal ti/ Applied Psychology

1975, Vol. 60, No. 3, 340-344

Relationships Between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite

Management Characteristics Among Female Managers
Virginia Ellen Schein
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New Yor/c, New Yor/c
The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management char-
acteristics among female middle managers was examined. In a replication of
a previous study with male middle managers, 167 female middle managers rated
either women in general, men in general, or successful middle managers on 92
descriptive terms. As was found with the male sample, the results confirmed the
hypothesis that successful middle managers are perceived to possess character-
istics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general
than to women in general. This relationship between sex role stereotypes and
perceived requisite management characteristics was strongest among female
managers with limited managerial experience.

Male middle managers have been shown
to perceive successful middle managers as
possessing characteristics, attitudes, and tem-
peraments more commonly ascribed to men
in general than to women in general (Schein,
1973). This association between sex role
stereotypes and perceptions of requisite man-
agement characteristics would seem to ac-
count, in part, for the limited number of
women in management positions. Such sex
role stereotyping of the managerial job could
result in the perception that women are less
qualified than men for management positions,
a perception which would have a definite
influence on selection, promotion, and place-
ment decisions.
Although the number of studies pertaining
to women in management has been gradu-
ally increasing (e.g., Bass, Krusell, & Alex-
ander, 1971; Cecil, Paul, & Olins, 1973;
Rosen & Jerdee, 1974a, 1974b), the samples
for most of these studies have been composed
of males. As the weight of evidence from
these studies indicating discriminatory atti-
tudes toward women in management in-
creases, the use of such samples implies that
The author wishes to thank the members of the
Personnel Research Committee of the Life Office
Management Association for their assistance and
John Sherman for his help with the statistical
analyses.
Requests for reprints should be sent to the author,
Personnel Research, Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, New
York 10010.
340
it is the male population that is responsible
for the limited number of women in mana-
gerial positions. While negative attitudes held
by male managers may have inhibited the
advancement of women, it is necessary to
ascertain the extent to which women in
managerial positions hold these same atti-
tudes. The results of the few studies >that have
included women in the sample (e.g., Rosen &
Jerdee, 1973, 1974c) have indicated that male
and female managers hold similar, and often
negative, attitudes toward women in manage-
ment positions and are influenced similarly
by sex role stereotypes.
The purpose of the present study was to
determine to what extent relationships be-
tween sex role stereotypes and requisite man-
agement characteristics exist among female
middle managers. Specifically, it was hypothe-
sized that among female managers, successful
middle managers are perceived to possess
those characteristics, attitudes, and tempera-
ments more commonly ascribed to men in
general than to women in general. The effects
of age and tenure upon this relationship were
also examined.
METHOD
Sample
The sample was composed of 167 female managers
of various departments within 12 insurance compa-
nies located throughout the United States. Their
ages ranged from 23 to 62 with a median of 43.5
years; their years of experience as managers ranged
from 1 to 32, the median being 6.5 years. The type
of department, type of company, position level, and
 SEX ROLE STEREOTYPES AND REQUISITE MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS
age were all similar to those of the male sample
employed in an earlier investigation (Schein, 1973),
although the males had a slightly higher median
length of service. Eight insurance companies co-
operated in both studies.
Measurement Instrument
To define both the sex role stereotypes and the
characteristics of successful middle managers, three
forms of a 92-item descriptive index were used
(Schein, 1973). All three forms contained the same
descriptive terms and instructions, except that one
form asked for a description of women in general
(Women), one for a description of men in general
(Men), and one for a description of successful
middle managers (Managers).
The instructions on the three forms of the
descriptive index were as follows:
On the following pages you will find a series of
descriptive terms commonly used to characterize
people in general. Some of these terms are positive
in connotation, others are negative, and some are
neither very positive nor very negative.
We would like you to use this list to tell us
what you think (women in general, men in gen-
eral, or successful middle managers) are like. In
making your judgments, it might be helpful to
imagine you are about to meet a person for the
first time and the only thing you know in advance
is that the person is (an adult female, an adult
male, or a successful middle manager). Please rate
each word or phrase in terms of how character-
istic it is of (women in general, men in general,
or successful middle managers).
The ratings of the descriptive terms were made
on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (not character-
istic) to S (characteristic) with a neutral rating of
3 (neither characteristic nor uncharacteristic).
Procedure
Within each company a representative with re-
search experience randomly distributed an equal
number of the three forms of the descriptive index
to female managers with a salary ranging from ap-
proximately $12,000 to $30,000 and a minimum of
one year experience at the managerial level. Each
manager received only one form of the index and
was not aware of the purpose of the study.
Of the total number of descriptive indexes dis-
tributed, 67.34%, or 198 out of 294, were returned.
The return rates for the various forms of the index
were: Women, 65.65%; Men, 64.64%; and Man-
agers, 71.87%. The usable number of questionnaires
was reduced to 167 (52 Women, 54 Men, and 61
Managers) due to the elimination of questionnaires
on which demographic data, such as age and sex,
were not indicated.
RESULTS
The degree of resemblance between the
descriptions of Men and Managers and be-
341
tween those of Women and Managers was
determined by computing intraclass correla-
tion coefficients (/) from two randomized-
groups analyses of variance (see Hays, 1963,
p. 424). The classes (or groups) were the 92
descriptive items. In the first analysis, the
scores within each class were the mean item
ratings of Men and Managers, while in the
second analysis they were the mean item
ratings of Women and Managers. The larger
•the value of r1, the more similar were the
observations in the same class relative to
observations in different classes.
The results show a large and significant
resemblance between the ratings of Men and
Managers (/ = .54, p < .01). There was also
a significant resemblance between the ratings
of Women and Managers (r1 = .30, p < .01);
however, this degree of resemblance was sig-
nificantly less (p < .05) than the one be-
tween Men and Managers. These results,
then, confirmed the hypothesis that managers
are percieved to possess characteristics more
commonly ascribed to men than to women.
To determine whether age moderates the
demonstrated relationships, the total sample
was divided into three age levels, with an
approximately equal number of subjects dis-
tributed within each age level and within each
Women, Men, and Manager group. Intraclass
correlations between the mean ratings of Men
and Managers and between Women and Man-
agers were computed within each of the three
age levels. Age did not moderate the rela-
tionships since the same pattern of significant
intraclass correlation coefficients was found
within each age level.
The effect of tenure upon the relationships
between sex role stereotypes and requisite
management characteristics was also ana-
lyzed. The results revealed that length of
service did have some effect upon the rela-
tionships. Among respondents with five or
more years of service, the results were similar
to those found using the total sample. Among
respondents with 5 to 11 years of service and
among respondents with 12 or more years of
service the intraclass correlation coefficients
between Men and Managers were .54
(/>< .01) and .57 (p < .01), respectively,
and between Women and Managers, .37
342 VIRGINIA ELLEN SCHEIN

TABLE 1 Managers. The former relationship, however,

REPRESENTATIVE ITEMS IN THE THREE OUTCOME was significantly greater (p < .05) than the
CATEGORIES : FEMALE AND MALE SAMPLES one between Women and Managers. The pat-
tern of correlations with regard to age and
Female sample Both samples Male sample tenure was similar to the pattern of relation-
only only
ships found using the intraclass correlation
Managers more similar to Men than to Women
coefficients.
An examination of the specific descriptive
(No) Desire Leadership ability Emotionally items on which Women or Men were per-
for friend- Competitive stable ceived as similar to or different from Man-
ship Self confident Steady agers was made by performing two 3 X 3
Objective Analytical factorial analyses of variance for each of the
Aggressive ability
Forceful Logical 92 items. One analysis incorporated the three
Ambitious Consistent groups (Women, Men, and Managers) and
Desires responsi- Well informed the three age levels, and the other incorpo-
bility rated the three groups and the three tenure
levels. In each analysis, there was a signifi-
Managers more similar to Women than to Men cant group effect for 81 of the 96 items. An
alpha level of .0005 was used as the criterion
Modest Intuitive Sophisticated
Creative Helpful of significance; therefore, the probability of
Cheerful Humanitarian obtaining one or more spuriously significant
values F ratios was .045. There were no significant
Aware of feelings age or tenure effects, nor were there any
of others
significant Age X Group or Tenure X Group
Sex role stereotypes not related to
interactions.
management characteristics For each of the 81 items displaying a sig-
nificant group effect, Duncan's multiple range
Emotionally Competent Tactful test for unequal ns (see Kramer, 1956) was
stable Intelligent Curious used to determine the significance of the dif-
Steady Persistent ference (a = .01) between the mean ratings
Analytical (Not) Devious
ability (Not) Bitter of Men and Managers, Women and Man-
Logical agers, and Men and Women. The results
Well informed revealed that on 39 of these 81 items, ratings
Consistent of Managers were more similar to ratings of
Men than to those of Women; for 14 items
the ratings of Managers were more similar
(p < .01) and .33 (p<.0l), respectively. to those of Women than of Men; and for the
However, among those respondents with 1 to remaining 28 items with significant group F
4 years of tenure there was a significant re- ratios there was no relationship between sex
semblance between the mean ratings of Men role stereotypes and perceptions of managerial
and Managers (Y = .54, p < .01), but a characteristics—the mean ratings of both
nonsignificant resemblance between the ratings Women and Men were significantly different
of Women and Managers (r1 = .17). from those of Managers, but there were
In addition to intraclass correlation co- no significant differences between the mean
efficients, Pearson product-moment correlation ratings of Women and Men.1
coefficients were computed to determine the
linear relationships between the mean ratings 1
Since the 92 items arc undoubtedly intcrcor-
among the three groups. There was a signifi- related, the number of significant item differences
cant correlation (r = .70, p < .01) between within each of the three outcome categories should
the mean ratings of Men and Managers and not be viewed as a test of the hypothesis. The N
within each of the Women, Men, and Manager
a significant correlation (r = .40, p < .01) groups approximated the number of items, thereby
between the mean ratings of Women and precluding a factor analysis within groups; and a
 SEX ROLE STEREOTYPES AND REQUISITE MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS 343

Items representative of these three outcome TABLE 2

categories for the female sample are pre- iNTRACr.ASS COEITICENTS BETWEEN
sented in Table I.2 Three separate groups AND WITHIN SAMPLES
of three advanced psychology students served
Male sample Female sample
as judges for selecting representative items.
Sample
Comparison of Male and Female Responses Men Man- Women Men Man-
agers agers
Similarities and differences between male
and female samples were examined by com- Male sample
Women .06 .06 ,89** -.20 .07
paring the results of the present study with Men .62** -.IS .92** .59**
Managers .31** .57** .99**
those of the first study which used only Female sample
Women .19* .30**
males. The intraclass correlation coefficients Men .54**
Managers
relevant to the hypothesis were also computed
between the two samples. * P < .05.
**!> < .01.
As shown in Table 2, there was a large and
significant resemblance between the ratings
similar to Men than to Women; Managers
of Men and Managers within both the male
more similar to Women than to Men; and
and female samples. Within the female sam-
sex role stereotypes not related to manage-
ple, but not in the male sample, there was
ment characteristics. Table 1 presents the
also a significant resemblance between the
representative items which fell into each of
ratings of Women and Managers. There was
the three outcome categories within the fe-
also a somewhat higher degree of resemblance
male sample only, within both samples, and
between the ratings of Women and Men
within the male sample only.
within the female sample than within the
male sample. The intraclass correlation co-
DISCUSSION
efficients computed between the two samples
revealed a very high degree of resemblance Within a sample of female managers, the
between the males' and females' ratings of results confirmed the hypothesis that success-
Managers, and a high degree of resemblance ful middle managers are perceived to possess
between the two groups' ratings of both Men those characteristics, attitudes, and tempera-
and Women. ments more commonly ascribed to men in
Between-group comparisons were also made general than to women in general. To the
by determining the differences by item be- extent that this association between sex role
tween the male and female mean ratings of stereotypes and requisite management charac-
Women and the difference between the male teristics fosters a view of women as being
and female mean ratings of Men. The mean less qualified than men for managerial posi-
differences between the males' and females' tions, the results imply that female managers
ratings of Women across the 92 items were are as likely as male managers to make selec-
significantly greater than the mean differences tion, promotion, and placement decisions in
between the males' and females' ratings of favor of men. Thus, the sex of the manager
Men (t - 2.77, p < .01, two-tailed). may have less of an influence on decisions
The two samples were also compared with relating to the status of women in manage-
regard to the items which fell into each of ment than heretofore considered. Simply in-
the three outcome categories—Managers more creasing the number of women in manage-
ment may not significantly enhance the ease
factor analysis combining the responses to the three of entry of other women into these positions.
different forms of the descriptive index would be These and other findings pertaining to
misleading due to the possibility of differing factor women managers suggest that acceptance of
structures within the three stimulus groups (see stereotypical male characteristics as a basis
Nunnally, 1967).
2
A complete list of the items and Women, Men,
for success in management may be a necessity
and Manager mean ratings within the three outcome for the woman seeking to achieve in the cur-
categories is available upon request from the author. rent organizational climate. For example, in
344 VIRGINIA ELLEN SCI-IEIN
an in-depth study of 100 successful women
executives, Hennig (1971) found that the
majority of these women admitted to identi-
fying with the masculine stereotype of what
constituted success during their early mana-
gerial years. Further, a general survey of atti-
tudes toward women found that professional
women, more so than women who identified
themselves as traditional or strongly feminist,
believed that "women have only themselves to
blame for not doing better in life" (Staines,
Tavris, & Jayaratne, 1974, p. 58). Further-
more, as suggested by Staines et al. (1974),
it is possible that an organization rewards,
via. promotion, female managers who accept
the view of women in general as being less
qualified for managerial positions than men
in general.
The results of the present investigation
further suggest that acceptance of the mascu-
line stereotype as a model for success is espe-
cially strong during the early years of a
woman's career in management. In the pres-
ent sample, the association between sex role
stereotypes and requisite management charac-
teristics was strongest among women with less
than five years of tenure. This result cor-
responds with Hennig's (1971) finding that
conflicts pertaining to being a woman and a
manager surfaced only after the women execu-
tives reached the upper middle management
levels.
In comparing the responses of the female
and male samples, the female managers did
perceive the characteristics of women in gen-
eral as somewhat more similar to those of men
in general than did the male managers. These
results suggest that among women managers
any lessening of the relationship may be a
function of a change in the perception of
women in general rather than a change in
perception of requirements for managerial
success or perception of men in general. The
specific items on which this difference be-
tween the two samples showed up most
clearly were those items seen by the male
sample as more characteristic of men and
successful managers than women and those
seen by the female sample as equally charac-
teristic of men and women. As shown in
Table 1 these items appear to deal with emo-
tionality (emotionally stable and steady)
and rational thinking (logical, analytical
ability, and consistent). Thus, in at least
these two areas of evaluation, women man-
agers may be less likely than male managers
to perceive the female as less qualified than
the male.
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(Received August 20, 1974)