Top management gender diversity and organizational attraction: When and why it matters.

Abstract

Because women continue to be a numerical minority in top management, the symbolic value of sex diversity of top management might be particularly important for women. The purpose of the current study is to understand when and why the percentage of women in top management affects women’s and men’s attraction to an organization by manipulating the percentage of women in top management that reflect varying degrees of disparity. We used experimental methods in which adults with full-time jobs evaluated an organization that included information about the percentage of women in top management that reflect varying degrees of disparity (53%, 23%, or 3%). Results showed that women were more attracted than men to an organization with the highest levels of women in top management that represent minimum disparity. The results showed that women perceived more fairness for women than did men for the condition with women representing 53% of management or minimum disparity. Women also perceived less fairness for women than did male participants in the condition of maximum disparity or when women represented 3% of top management. The current research provides important implications that can inform organizations’ efforts to attract women. In particular, the current research suggests that women use information about the sex composition of a company’s top management positions, and that this information influences organizational attraction because they perceive such organizations to be fair for women.

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