PERCEPTIONS OF MALE AND FEMALE LEADERS IN COSTA RICAN, MEXICAN AND AMERICAN SAMPLES

In recent years, the interconnectivity of nations has increased remarkably. In 2001, international trade accounted for 30% of US economic activity, up from 20% a decade ago. The reasons for this are many, including technological advances in transportation and communication, political changes (especially the dissolution of the Soviet Union), and the efforts of international organizations such as the World Trade Organization to decrease trade barriers. The creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), one of a number of regional trade agreements in Asia, Europe and Latin America, is a result of these globally integrating forces. Organizations increasingly operate across borders and encounter cultural differences that complicate and impede effective and efficient operations. This is of particular importance within the NAFTA trade zone. The U.S. and Mexico are the extreme example of a high level of economic integration coupled with high levels of cultural difference. Mexico is one of the main markets for US exports and the US is the number one market for Mexican exports. A cultural difference of particular concern to international organizations is the differing roles of women in the workplace from nation to nation. This paper examines aspects of the differing roles of women in leadership between the US and Mexico.

Several issues arise in a discussion of the role that gender plays in the labor force, particularly in regard to women in positions of leadership. One is the role of gender on the perceived effectiveness of managers. Another includes the personal implications for women who assume positions of leadership in different cultures.

Women are not necessarily always at a disadvantage when entering positions of leadership; they may encounter employment situations where feminine characteristics may be an advantage. In one study of the perceived qualities of a typical manager, an ideal manager, a male manager and a female manager, students’ responses indicated there was significant overlap between the characteristics of a typical manager and a male manager. Thus, in the minds of students, the characteristics of a typical manager are nearly identical to the characteristics they’d expect to find in a man. However, students’ responses also indicated that there was significant overlap between the characteristics of an ideal manager and a female manager (Maier, 1993). In a follow-up study of the effect of gender role on perceived effectiveness, the qualities of best managers included both masculine and feminine traits, suggesting that androgyny is perceived to be a characteristic of good managers (Maier, 1993). This study suggests that gender role may be more important than biological sex in shaping the characteristics of desirable managers. Indeed, one meta-analysis of the relation between biological sex and gender role in effectiveness suggests that men are more effective than women when the job calls for a more masculine gender role, but that women are more effective than men when the job calls for a less masculine gender role (Eagly, Karau & Makhijani, 1995). Although this study suggests an interaction between biological sex and the culture of the job, other studies indicate that overall, instrumental qualities associated with a masculine gender role are predictive of managerial advancement, regardless of biological sex (e.g. Marongiu & Ekehammar, 1999). In this latter study, individual traits appear to be more important than biological sex, with a preference for masculine traits when it comes to actual career advancement in a Swedish organization.

Another trait, in addition to instrumental personality traits, that can influence career advancement is management style. An autocratic style was perceived by undergraduate business students to result in better performance in female managers than in male managers (Luthar, 1996). However, the sex of the respondents also influenced the perceived ratings in this study. Male students tended to evaluate male managers more favorably than female managers. Female students tended to evaluate female managers more favorably than male managers, especially when the female managers were depicted as having an autocratic management style. In contrast, female students gave male managers depicted as having an autocratic management style very low ratings for leadership ability and performance.

The above studies assessed leaders and perceived effectiveness within the private sector. Gender equity in management ranks within the private sector is not generally found; most top management is male. It is therefore relevant to examine the influence of gender roles in organizations with greater gender balance. In one study of leadership in secondary and post-secondary schools, subordinates rated their male and female leaders equally well (Thompson, 2000). Thus, the culture and gender composition of the organization may play an important role in the effectiveness of different leadership styles and gender.

In terms of the impact of gender on a leader’s personal satisfaction, women may be particularly vulnerable. In general, women are more likely to anticipate increased interpersonal relationship problems while holding a position of power (Lips, 2000). Indeed, female students expect to be in a position of power significantly less than male students. This is reminiscent of the idea of women having a "Fear of Success". In the original study of this, male and female students were presented with scenarios of a successful medical student. The women tended to imagine negative consequences for the female medical student (Horner, 1969). The original interpretation of this was that women feel uneasy when presented with success in a domain that is outside of the traditional female gender role and anticipate a loss of femininity and uneasiness with the thought of competing against men. However, follow-up research suggests that both men and women will exhibit a fear of negative consequences associated with particular occupations (Paludi, 1984), and women’s success in non-traditional fields is associated with a loss of social competence and physical beauty (Yoder & Schleicher, 1996).

Women’s success may also exact a price in terms of personal health and happiness. In a study of female leaders at male-dominated organizations, mental health suffered among women who used an interpersonal rather than a more instrumental leadership style (Gardiner & Tiggermann, 1999). Women with leadership roles in female-dominated organizations did not show an increase in mental health vulnerability. In contrast, men in these organizations who used an interpersonal leadership style were more likely to have better mental health. Like some of the previous research, this suggests that biological sex, gender role and context interact in shaping the perceived outcomes and personal experiences of men and women in positions of leadership.

Given the way that the setting and culture of the organization may help shape the role played by sex and gender, it is of interest to examine attitudes towards female leaders in different cultures.

The seminal work on the effects of cultural differences on organizational effectiveness is " Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values" (Hofstede, 1980). In this broad cross-national study, Hofstede identifies four measures of culture: 1) Power Distance, 2) Individualism, 3) Masculinity and 4) Uncertainty Avoidance. Two of these are relevant to the topic of gender differences in leadership roles:

• 1. Power Distance is defined as the extent to which a culture accepts that power in organizations is distributed unequally.

  2. Masculinity is defined as the degree to which a culture values achievement, assertiveness and material success over nurturing, relationships and quality of life.

Hofstede created a numerical index for each cultural measure and assigned a score for each of 50 countries and 3 regions. He noted that national scores tended to cluster into several groups. For example, the Anglo countries ( Great Britain, US, Canada, Australia, etc.) had similar scores for all four measures. Similarly, the Scandinavian countries, the Germanic countries and the Latin American countries tended to cluster respectively into cultural groups. The Anglo cluster measured low in Power Distance and moderate in masculinity. The Latin American cluster measured high in Power Distance and high in Masculinity, but with some variation among nations. Among the current members of NAFTA, The US and Canada are very close in Power Distance and Masculinity. Mexico is much higher in Power Distance and moderately higher in Masculinity. Mexico has, in fact, the most masculine culture of the Latin American cluster, and is among the highest Power Distance cultures. In contrast, Costa Rica measures low in Power Distance and Masculinity. For purposes of this study, the US, Mexico and Costa Rica were chosen for a comparison of differences in cultural attitudes towards women in leadership roles. Canada was omitted because of its similarity to the US in the Hofstede measures. As a NAFTA member, Mexico was included; but because Mexico is quite high in both Power Distance and Masculinity, Costa Rica, which measures very low in both, was also included to test for differences within the Latin American cluster.

Method

Subjects. University students in Costa Rica, Mexico and the United were surveyed regarding their experiences with and attitudes toward male and female managers. Thirty-two graduate business students, consisting of 10 males and 22 females, in a private university in San Jose, Costa Rica were surveyed. The surveys were distributed and collected during a class period. Fourteen undergraduate business students, consisting of 4 males and 10 females, from a private university in Chihuahua, Mexico were surveyed during a school function. Ten undergraduate business students, consisting of 5 males and 5 females, from a public university in New Mexico were surveyed during a class period.

Materials. The survey consisted of a total of 21 questions (see attachment 1). The survey asked respondents to indicate by circling the appropriate number on a 5-point Likert scale their desire to: be in management, work for a company outside their home country, and supervise males or females. The survey also asked respondents to use a 5-point scale to indicate the amount of benefit or risk to a company who has a woman in a position of leadership and to indicate the amount of risk for a woman in a position of leadership. Demographic information included the sex, country of birth, fluency in more than one language and experience with both male and female supervisors and subordinates. Surveys were translated into Spanish for respondents in Costa Rica and Mexico.

Results

Results indicate that in comparison to females, males reported a greater desire to be supervised by a woman (see figure 1), but perceived there to be fewer benefits to a company that has a woman in a position of leadership (see figure 2). There were no overall differences between respondents of different countries. When asked to assess the risks for a woman who is in a position of leadership, Mexican males reported a very low amount of risk while Mexican females reported a high amount of risk (see figure 3).

Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze responses on the 5-point Likert scales. Respondents who indicated they were born outside of the country in which they were being studied were omitted from the analysis. This left 8 male and 19 female Costa Ricans, 4 male and 10 female Mexicans and 5 male and 4 female Americans. On the question assessing the respondents’ desire to be supervised by a female, there was no significant effect of country [F(2,44) = 2.19, p > .1], a significant effect of sex [F(1,44) = 5.18, p < .05] and no significant Country X Sex interaction [F(2,44) < 1.0]. When asked to assess the benefit to companies when there is a woman in a position of leadership, there was no significant effect of Country [F(2,44) < 1.0], a significant effect of Sex [F(1,44) = 5.67, p < ,05] and no significant Country X Sex interaction [F(2,44) = 2.01, p > .1]. On the issue of the perceived risks for a woman who is in a position of leadership within a company, there was no significant effect of Country [F(2,44) < 1.0], no significant effect of Sex [F(1,44) = 2.3, p > .1] and a marginally significant interaction between Country and Sex [F(2,44) = 2.9, p < .1]. Costa Ricans reported a significantly greater desire to work outside of the country than either Americans or Mexicans [F(2,44) = 4.59, p < .05] but there was no significant effect of Sex [F(1,44) < 1.0] and no significant Sex X Country interaction [F(2,44) = 1.01, p > .1]. No other questions resulted in any significant findings.

Discussion

Overall, the results suggest that the country of the respondents was not a powerful influence on the attitudes of the respondents. However, on the question assessing the perceived risks that a woman faces when in a position of leadership there was an effect. There was a difference between male and female responders only among the Mexican students. The men felt women faced low risks while the women reported higher risks. One possible explanation for this finding is that among Mexican women there is a greater fear of losing some personal success with professional success. In contrast, it may be that Mexican men lack awareness of the possible social consequences for power in women. The greater masculinity found in Mexican culture may exact a higher price for success among women. The greater power distance observed by Hofstede (1983) in Mexico may also mean a bigger hurdle for women to achieve the status and respect needed in positions of leadership. Further research on this issue will hopefully clarify this.

Another area of difference between countries was found on the desire to work outside of the country. Costa Ricans reported a greater desire to work outside of the country than either the Mexicans or the Americans. Unfortunately, the Costa Rican students were graduate business administration students while the other two sets of students were undergraduates. It is therefore difficult to know if the desire to work outside of the country is influenced by the greater mobility of Costa Ricans or the greater maturity and experience of the Costa Rican sample.

Gender differences were found for the desire to be supervised by a woman. Men preferred to be supervised by a woman more than women did. However, women reported greater benefits to the organization from having a woman in a position of leadership than men did. Further research will hopefully examine the role that prior work experience and power distance may play in enhancing the desire of men to be supervised by a woman. There are reports of Mexican factories (maquiladoras) that do not promote women into management positions because of the negative reactions of the men (Peña, 1997).

The findings of this study have several implications for NAFTA organizations which employ a multicultural staff. American organizations should be aware of the perceived risk of their female Mexican employees of occupying leadership positions and provide some means of reducing it. Mexican organizations doing business in the US or who employ American women managers must also be aware of a higher level of confidence and assertiveness among their female American employees. Perhaps the assignment of female, Mexican managers as mentors to female, American employees (and vice versa) would aid in this process. Of course the organizational solution to intra-organizational, cross-cultural differences is selection and training in order to create an organizational culture strong enough to transcend national cultural differences.

References

Eagly, A. H., Karau, S. J. & Makhijani, M. G. (1995). Gender and the effectiveness of leaders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 117(1), 125-145.

Gardiner, M. & Tiggermann, M. (1999). Gender differences in leadership style, job stress and mental health in male- and female-dominated industries. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 72(3), 301-315.

Hofstede, G. (1980). Cultures’ consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

Horner, M. (1969). Fail: Bright women. Psychology Today, 36-38, 62.

Lips, H. (2000). College student’s visions of power and possibility as moderated by gender. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24(1), 39-43.

Luthar, H. K. (1996). Gender differences in evaluation of performance and leadership ability: Autocratic vs. democratic managers. Sex Roles, 35(5-6), 337-361.

Maier, M. (1993). Revisiting (and resolving?) the androgyny/masculinity debate in management. Journal of Men’s Studies, 2(2), 157-171.

Marongiu, S. & Ekehammar, Go (1999). Internal and external influences on women’s and men’s entry into management. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 14(5-6), 421-433.

Paludi, M. A. (1984). Psychometric properties and underlying assumptions of four objective measures of fear of success. Sex Roles, 10, 765-781.

Peña, D. G. (1997). The terror of the machine: Technology, work, gender , and ecology on the U.S.–Mexico Border. Austin, Texas: CMAS Books.

Thompson, M. D. (2000). Gender, leadership orientation, and effectiveness: Testing the theoretical models of Bolman & Deal and Quinn. Sex Roles,42(11-12), 969-992.

Yoder, J. D. & Schleicher, T. L. (1996). Undergraduates regard deviation from occupational gender stereotypes as costly for women. Sex Roles, 34, 171-188.

Figure Captions

Figure 1. Mean rating of the desire of the respondents to be supervised by a woman.

Figure 2. Mean rating of the benefits to a company when it has a woman in a position of leadership.

Figure 3. Mean rating of the risks to a woman when she is in a position of leadership.