TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender-specific preferences in global performance management
T2 - An empirical study of male and female managers in a multinational context
AU - Festing, Marion
AU - Knappert, Lena
AU - Kornau, Angela
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - This study investigates gender-specific preferences in one important human resource management (HRM) practice-namely, global performance management (GPM). GPM has major consequences for the career advancement of women and can therefore also represent a barrier if it is rooted in traditional male corporate cultures. As prior research suggests that the underrepresentation of women in top management positions is a worldwide phenomenon with only minor national variations, empirical data were collected in five countries belonging to various cultural clusters: China, France, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. For all countries, the results show that preferences vary significantly between male and female managers for crucial parts of the GPM system (actors' roles, evaluation methods, feedback procedures, and GPM purposes). This study confirms that the preferences of female managers do not match more male-oriented GPM practices, indicating that female managers are less satisfied with existing GPM procedures. It was particularly surprising to find that these gender differences do not vary according to cultural background, but rather display the same pattern in all investigated countries. These findings not only have the potential to explain the often-limited career advancement of women, but also have major implications for multinational companies aiming to retain talented women.
AB - This study investigates gender-specific preferences in one important human resource management (HRM) practice-namely, global performance management (GPM). GPM has major consequences for the career advancement of women and can therefore also represent a barrier if it is rooted in traditional male corporate cultures. As prior research suggests that the underrepresentation of women in top management positions is a worldwide phenomenon with only minor national variations, empirical data were collected in five countries belonging to various cultural clusters: China, France, Germany, South Africa, and the United States. For all countries, the results show that preferences vary significantly between male and female managers for crucial parts of the GPM system (actors' roles, evaluation methods, feedback procedures, and GPM purposes). This study confirms that the preferences of female managers do not match more male-oriented GPM practices, indicating that female managers are less satisfied with existing GPM procedures. It was particularly surprising to find that these gender differences do not vary according to cultural background, but rather display the same pattern in all investigated countries. These findings not only have the potential to explain the often-limited career advancement of women, but also have major implications for multinational companies aiming to retain talented women.
KW - Gender diversity
KW - International HRM
KW - Performance management
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U2 - 10.1002/hrm.21609
DO - 10.1002/hrm.21609
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84921751399
VL - 54
SP - 55
EP - 79
JO - Human Resource Management
JF - Human Resource Management
SN - 0090-4848
IS - 1
ER -