María Fernanda Wagstaff, Adrienne Collela, María del Carmen Triana, Alexis Nicole Smith and Marla Baskerville Watkins
Drawing from social dominance theories and conceptualizations of paternalism, the purpose of this paper is to define and develop a measure of subordinates’ perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing from social dominance theories and conceptualizations of paternalism, the purpose of this paper is to define and develop a measure of subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor paternalism (SPSP).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors assess the validity of the measure using Hinkin’s (1998) scale development steps.
Findings
The authors found evidence of the convergent and discriminant validity of the measure of subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor paternalism drawing from three different samples. Participants in the study were also able to differentiate a low from a high paternalism condition using the measure of paternalism. Finally, as expected, the interaction between a supervisor’s benevolence and control was significantly associated with subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor paternalism.
Research limitations/implications
The authors provide evidence for the validity of a measure of subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor paternalism while controlling for various status signals represented by demographic variables. Results may have been influenced by common method variance. However, there is no theoretical reason to expect any such interactions. Additionally, as the authors limited the data collection to the USA, the authors caution against generalizing beyond that context.
Practical implications
The authors provide validity and reliability evidence for a unidimensional measure that is short and easy to administer in future research to further examine the consequences of perceptions of supervisor paternalism.
Social implications
Defining and measuring subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor paternalism is important to society given the potential adverse consequences of these perceptions. Because paternalistic relationships pervade many supervisor-subordinate interactions, both subordinates and supervisors can become more sensitive to the consequences of such interactions by understanding the conditions under which supervisor paternalism manifests itself.
Originality/value
Conceptually, in this study, the authors build on prior research and define supervisor paternalism from a social dominance perspective. Empirically, the authors contribute a statistically valid and reliable unidimensional measure.
Details
Keywords
Marla Baskerville Watkins and Alexis Nicole Smith
– The aim of this paper is to investigate whether or not political skill helps women working in a male-dominated environment to obtain positions with authority.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether or not political skill helps women working in a male-dominated environment to obtain positions with authority.
Design/methodology/approach
Surveys were emailed to female lawyers working full-time in a variety of law firms across the USA. Participants were 140 lawyers with an average of ten years of practicing law.
Findings
In support of their hypotheses, the authors found that when working in male-dominated organizations, women with high levels of political skill fared better than women with low levels of political skill in terms of obtaining positions with authority.
Research limitations/implications
Because the research design was cross-sectional, direction of causality cannot be established. Second, common method bias may have affected the observed relationships.
Practical implications
Given that women with political skill may be able to recognize and break down the barriers that are especially present in male-dominated organizations, women and managers alike should consider training to help women understand and enhance their political skill.
Social implications
This research highlights the particular challenge of workplace politics for women and presents political skill as a potential solution.
Originality/value
This research is the first to demonstrate the benefit of having political skill for women working in male-dominated organizations.