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1 – 10 of 20Joel Rudin, Tejinder Billing, Andrea Farro and Yang Yang
This paper aims to test penis panic theory, which predicts that trans women will face more discrimination than trans men in some but not all situations.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test penis panic theory, which predicts that trans women will face more discrimination than trans men in some but not all situations.
Design/methodology/approach
Respondents were 262 American college students who were all enrolled in the same undergraduate course. They were presented with a case about coworker resistance to transgender employees' use of the workplace restrooms of their choice. Four versions of a case were randomly distributed as follows: trans woman, restroom with one toilet; trans woman, restroom with three toilets; trans man, restroom with one toilet and trans man, restroom with three toilets.
Findings
The authors observed greater discrimination against trans women compared to trans men when there was one toilet but not when there were three toilets. This supports penis panic theory.
Research limitations/implications
The chief limitation was the use of American college students as respondents. The results may not generalize to practicing managers especially in other countries. Future researchers should develop a scale to measure situational discrimination against trans women. This study should be replicated in other contexts to deepen the understanding of discrimination against trans men and trans women with disabilities, as well as discrimination against nonbinary individuals who identify as neither trans men nor trans women.
Practical implications
Employers need to search for situations in which trans women face greater discrimination than trans men, because they can be resolved in ways that protect the rights of transgender employees no matter how transphobic their coworkers may be. Also, employers need a nuanced approach to combat discrimination that recognizes the unique perspectives of trans men, trans women and other members of the transgender community.
Originality/value
This is the first quantitative study of penis panic theory, and it illuminates the understanding of discrimination against transgender individuals.
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Joel Rudin, Tejinder Billing, Andrea Farro and Yang Yang
This study aims to test bigenderism, a universalistic theory that purports to explain why trans men employees enjoy greater organizational acceptance and superior economic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test bigenderism, a universalistic theory that purports to explain why trans men employees enjoy greater organizational acceptance and superior economic outcomes compared to trans women employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Respondents were presented with one of two case studies in which they had to choose whether or not to respect the right of a trans employee to use the restroom of their choice at work. The only difference between the two case studies was the gender of the trans employee. In one case, the employee was a trans man and in the other case, the employee was a trans woman.
Findings
The gender of the trans employee had no impact on the choices of the respondents.
Research limitations/implications
The chief research implication is that heightened discrimination against trans men may better be explained by situational theories of transphobia rather than the universalistic theory that was tested in this paper. The primary research limitation was the use of American undergraduate business students as respondents.
Practical implications
Organizations need to be especially vigilant in protecting the restroom rights of their transgender employees, which may entail eliminating gender-segregated restrooms.
Originality/value
This paper is original in that it uses an experimental design to test the theory of bigenderism. It adds value by encouraging experimental research that examines situational theories of transphobia.
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Tejinder K. Billing, Rabi S. Bhagat and Emin Babakus
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of the emphasis placed by individuals on scheduling of activities on the relationship between task structure and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of the emphasis placed by individuals on scheduling of activities on the relationship between task structure and work outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction and job involvement).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using surveys from 387 employees working in US‐based organizations. Regression analyses were used to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
The results of the study show that for individuals who place high emphasis on scheduling of work and non‐work activities, the negative impact of highly structured tasks was weaker than for individuals who do not emphasize scheduling of activities. The results also provide support for the hypotheses concerning the direct relationships between task structure and work outcomes.
Originality/value
Past research has largely ignored the role of individual differences in examining task structure. By providing empirical support for the moderating role of emphasis on scheduling on the task structure outcome relationships, this study not only paves the way for future studies but also emphasizes the importance of incorporating the role of time in examining task structure.
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Tejinder K. Billing and Pamela Steverson
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of Type A/Type B personality on job stress-work and non-work outcomes. While research on the etiology of this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of Type A/Type B personality on job stress-work and non-work outcomes. While research on the etiology of this predisposition has become important in recent years, there seems to be a lack of agreement regarding its exact moderating effects on important work and non-work outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected from US-based organizations were analyzed using moderated regression analyses.
Findings
The results of the study reveal that Type A personality moderates the relationships between job stress and job satisfaction, job involvement and personal life satisfaction. Findings indicate that individuals with Type A personalities do not necessarily experience concomitant decreases in these outcome measures when organizational stress increases.
Originality/value
Although there has been an increased interest on the significance of Type A/Type B personality in the area of human stress and cognition, there is no consensus in the literature as to how it might act as a moderator or buffer of the effects of work stress on organizationally and personally valued outcomes. By examining the moderating role of these personality dispositions, our study provides important insights for organizational stress literature.
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Debmalya Mukherjee, Somnath Lahiri, Deepraj Mukherjee and Tejinder K. Billing
The purpose of this paper is to propose a research framework that identifies crucial leadership capabilities pertaining to the different lifecycle stages of a virtual team (VT)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a research framework that identifies crucial leadership capabilities pertaining to the different lifecycle stages of a virtual team (VT). More specifically, the framework seeks to identify and explain the role of social, cognitive, and behavioral capabilities as important determinants of effective VT leadership and success.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides an overview of literature on VT leadership, categorizes leadership capabilities, and relates the capabilities to various stages of VT life‐cycle. A research analysis is undertaken to depict the proposed relationships.
Findings
The propositions demonstrate that for effective VT leadership to happen it is important to understand the specific set of capabilities that contributes to successful management of a particular VT stage.
Social implications
VT leaders' application of appropriate capabilities may result in the development of greater levels of tolerance toward cultural, temporal and geographic diversity that exists among VT members and leaders. Such tolerance may actually help improve worker satisfaction, cohesiveness among team members, and promote better work‐life balance – outcomes that are beneficial to society. In addition, more effective and successful VT leadership will lead to better VT performance and organizational success – suggesting positive social impact.
Originality/value
Research relating to VT leadership has been limited. With the usage of VTs predicted to gain more importance in the future there is a greater need to understand how specific leadership capabilities contribute to the successful management and development of VTs. This study fills the void in the extant literature by exploring the specific leadership capabilities and by analyzing their relative influence and relationships with VT lifecycle stages.
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Joel Rudin, Sinead Ruane, Linda Ross, Andrea Farro and Tejinder Billing
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of employers’ responses to the restroom requests of transgender employees, and to assess the ability as educators to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of employers’ responses to the restroom requests of transgender employees, and to assess the ability as educators to reduce transphobia in the students.
Design/methodology/approach
Subjects were 194 undergraduate business students at a medium-sized public university in the northeastern USA who were enrolled in an undergraduate course in organizational behavior. During class, they read a brief case which asked the students to play the role of a CEO in Little Rock, Arkansas, receiving a complaint from a female employee about using the same restroom as a coworker who is transitioning from male to female.
Findings
The most inclusive response was also the rarest, with only 27 percent of students recommending unisex bathrooms. Hostile actions, forcing the transitioning employee to use the men's restroom, were recommended by 38 percent of those who correctly realized that an employee would be unprotected by sexual orientation discrimination law in this case and by 30 percent of those who thought that she could sue for that type of discrimination in that jurisdiction.
Research limitations/implications
It would be interesting to replicate this with non-student samples such as human resource managers and executives. The use of a US sample and of a text-based case can also be viewed as weaknesses. Because gender identity is embodied, self-constructed, and socially constructed, no single research study can capture the totality of work life for transgender employees.
Practical implications
Transphobia is so powerful that a substantial percentage of the students recommended courses of action that they believed to be illegal even though the study was designed to discourage a hostile response. Employers that are concerned about transgender rights will need to do a lot more than just grafting the word “transgender” onto their extant set of policies.
Social implications
Since today's business students are tomorrow's business leaders, the authors could eventually make the business world more tolerant if the authors could identify a message that resonates with the students and causes them to re-evaluate their homophobia and transphobia.
Originality/value
Empirical studies of transgender issues have been dominated by the qualitative approach, so there is a need for more quantitative research on this topic. The hostile responses usually indicated greater acceptance of transgender employees who have completed gender reassignment surgery. This seems difficult to reconcile with a conception of transphobia as a generalized distaste towards all those who transgress gender norms.
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Rabi S. Bhagat, Harry C. Triandis, B. Ram Baliga, Tejinder K. Billing and Charlotte A. Davis
The schematic diagram shown in Fig. 1 suggests that a global mindset evolves in the cultural context of industry-specific, organization-specific, and person-specific antecedents…
Abstract
The schematic diagram shown in Fig. 1 suggests that a global mindset evolves in the cultural context of industry-specific, organization-specific, and person-specific antecedents that are salient in the context of the global manager and the environment in which he or she functions. Taken clockwise, we discuss the relevance of various factors that comprise these three important domains and how these domains interact with the overarching cultural contexts salient in the domestic as well as in the international business environment. In Table 1, we present the various factors in industry-specific, organization-specific, and person-specific domains that either facilitate (provide opportunities) or hinder (act as constraints) the development of global mindset and global managers.
Rabi S. Bhagat, Balaji Krishnan, Terry A. Nelson, Karen Moustafa Leonard, David L. Ford and Tejinder K. Billing
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and psychological strain in six national contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The objective of the research is to examine the relative predictive efficacies of three theory specific moderators in six countries which differ on the cultural dimension of individualism‐collectivism. The data are analyzed using moderated regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that problem‐focused coping is a better moderator in the individualistic countries and that emotion‐focused coping is a better moderator in the collectivistic contexts. None of the three moderators moderate the relationships in Germany and South Africa – the two countries which had scores in the mid‐range of the individualism‐collectivism continuum. Findings are discussed for their significance into the interplay of cultural variations and coping with work stress in predicting psychological strain or distress on the job.
Practical implications
Practical implications for managing human resources in various subsidiaries of multinational and global organizations are discussed.
Originality/value
This paper confirms existing theories and expands the authors’ understanding of role stress and psychological strain in different cultural contexts.
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Tejinder K. Billing, Debmalya Mukherjee, Ben L. Kedia and Somnath Lahiri
The purpose of this paper is to explore the immediate antecedents of top executives' international expertise commitment. More specifically, the study focuses on the impact of top…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the immediate antecedents of top executives' international expertise commitment. More specifically, the study focuses on the impact of top management characteristics and the international business performance of firms on top management's commitment to developing international expertise in their workforce.
Design/methodology/approach
Primary data were collected targeting the top executives of Fortune 500 and INC 500 firms. The final dataset contained responses from 111 top executives.
Findings
The results of the study show that top executives' international experience, perceived importance of international business in career progression, and past, present, and future business performance are positively related to international expertise commitment.
Practical implications
The findings provide implications for top management hiring decisions. Organizations embarking on the creation of a workforce with international expertise should consider hiring top executives who possess considerable international experience and who perceive international business as an important component in their career progression.
Originality/value
Organizational researchers have devoted very little research attention to exploring what drives top managers to remain committed to developing/acquiring international expertise. This study attempts to fill the void in the extant literature by exploring the immediate predictors and their relative influence on top executives' international expertise commitment.
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