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Group & Organization Management
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Perceptions of Subordinates and Requests for Support

Are Males and Females Perceived Differently When Seeking Help?

Gerri L. Smith

California State University, Sacramento

Sue DeWine

Ohio University

This research was concerned with the consequences of organizational members requesting social support from superiors. Specifically, the effects of biological sex and sex role orientation on the superior's perception of the subordinate's communicative competence, when the subordinate requested support, was examined. Participating in the study were 137 midlevel managers/ administrators. Videotaped vignettes were developed based on subjects'responses to open-ended questions about typical problems they faced at work. Subjects were asked to assume the role of supervisor as they watched both male and female employees request help with a work-related problem and then evaluated the communicative competence of individuals in the vignettes. Monge, Bachman, Dillard, and Eisenberg's competence instrument was used. Subjects also completed the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Ratings of the subordinate's communicative competence were examined in relation to the target's sex and to rater's sex and sex role. The female subordinate, when requesting support from the superior, was perceived as more competent than the male subordinate by both male and female subjects regardless of subjects' psychological gender. Implications of the results are discussed.

Group & Organization Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, 408-427 (1991)
DOI: 10.1177/105960119101600405
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