Gender differences in ethnocultural empathy and attitudes toward men and women in authority.

The relationship between attitudes toward members of ethnic or cultural minority groups and men and women in authority or leadership positions was examined. The Ethnocultural Empathy Scale and Gender Authority Measure were completed by 317 participants. Results yielded a positive relationship among the attitudinal measures, indicating that individuals who express more empathy toward individuals from diverse ethnic or cultural backgrounds are likely to have positive perceptions of women in authority/leadership positions. Furthermore, gender differences in perceptions suggest that, relative to males, females are more likely to report higher levels of ethnic or cultural empathy and also have higher preference for women in leadership and authority positions.

Keywords: authority; empathy; leadership; attitude; ethnicity; gender

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Diversity in the workforce has received increased attention during the last 20 years, and the reasons behind this interest are clear. In the United States, the last census poll indicated that 1 out of 4 individuals are of an ethnicity other than European American and that the Hispanic population has doubled during this same time period (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). Furthermore, in 1950, European Americans made up 90% of the U.S. population, but now, constitute only 75% of the population; and this proportion is steadily declining. Another important challenge for organizations in recent years is that an increase in number of women are pursuing higher education and are also entering the U.S. workforce in larger numbers. Traditionally women had more domestic roles, which focused on care of the home and family (Eagly & Karau, 2002). However, currently 48% of the workforce is made up of females, and as they advance up the organizational hierarchy, women are expected to have equal access to authority and leadership positions (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2001). These shifts in demographics are changing the composition of the U.S. workforce and affecting the way business is being conducted.

Understanding the impact of these changes on organizations is important, especially when it comes to attitudes toward ethnic minority and female employees and managing leader-subordinate relations. Personal attitudes toward disadvantaged groups are likely to be more positive when there is increased empathy (Nesdale, Griffith, Durkin, & Maass, 2005). Empathy toward diverse groups and cultures is especially important when considering the necessity of being multiculturally competent in today's workforce (Constantine, 2000). Ethnocultural empathy, or understanding feelings of individuals that are ethnically and/or culturally different from one's self, is considered a determinant of social judgment and includes taking into account other peoples' perspectives, accepting cultural differences, and being empathically aware (Wang et al., 2003). Given that the number of ethnic minorities is steadily increasing in the U.S. workplace and occupying more authority or leadership positions, it is important that employees exhibit ethnocultural empathy. To increase the likelihood of positive intergroup relations, employees must be willing to accept and understand culturally diverse individuals.

The concept of gender authority (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000) is related to the research on gender and leadership (Eagly & Karau, 1991), and establishes differences in gender roles as the basis of power differentials between men and women in the workforce. Perceptions of authority take into account dimensions of social influence such as expert, legitimate, reward, referent, and coercive power. Hence, gender authority, "posits that labor divisions within the workplace signify different status expectancies for men and women" (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000, p. 1315). If males are more readily identified with authority than females, females in authority roles may be treated with negative attitudes especially when they utilize social influence tactics. Such reactions toward gender authority are important and may directly influence the amount of time women stay in or attempt to attain such positions (Eagly & Carli, 2007).

These trends of larger numbers of culturally diverse individuals and women applying for and obtaining authority or leadership positions presents companies with the task of preparing their personnel to work in a more egalitarian environment without exhibiting prejudice or practicing discrimination. Managers can examine hiring practices with emphasis on proactively identifying potential employees who are more open to diversity issues, or they could create training programs with the potential to reduce biased thinking through increasing ethnocultural empathy (King, 1995). This would protect a company against potential litigation because of discrimination and would ensure that women and ethnic minorities are given equal opportunities within the workforce.

Because of these major changes in society, with shifting roles for females and the demographic composition, it has now become important to assess how attitudes toward women in authority and perceptions of individuals from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds are related. Increasing our understanding of both these potential sources of bias is likely to help organizations identify and reduce the barriers experienced by these groups, assisting in the creation of a more diversity friendly workforce.

Ethnocultural Empathy

Ethnic or cultural empathy has received increased attention recently in the literature, and it is especially important when intergroup interaction is a challenge and necessity in the work environment (Chi-Ying Chung & Bemak, 2002; Dyche & Zayas, 2001). Empathy, considered to be a stable trait-like construct, is positively related to continuous helping behavior (Crutchfield, Baltimore, Felfeli, & Worth, 2000; Unger & Thumuluri, 1997), and has also been found to be negatively correlated with prejudiced statements (Cowan & Khatchadourian, 2003). In addition, cultural empathy has been found to predict whether someone will be able to work successfully with individuals from other cultures (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000) and has been shown to have a negative association with racism (Spanierman, Poteat, Beer, & Armstrong, 2006).

Empathy toward racial and cultural diversity can be generally extended to a variety of cultures (Chi-Ying Chung & Bemak, 2002) and was found to be predictive of positive attitudes toward disadvantaged groups, such as rape victims (Sakalh-Ugurlu, Yalcin, & Glick, 2007) and domestic violence victims (Jones, 2005). Examining cultural empathy in the workforce is important, as ethnic and cultural minorities are beginning to break their own "glass ceiling" and increase their presence in leadership positions (Zane, 2002).

Gender Authority

Expectations associated with gender roles influence gender-stereotypic attitudes and behavior, affecting perceptions of similar leadership behaviors portrayed by men and women (Eagly & Johannesen-Schmidt, 2001; Eagly & Johnson, 1990). For example, role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) has established that when women display leadership behavior (being assertive), they diverge from expected gender-appropriate behaviors that are socially mandated, such as communal qualities or being nurturing. This increases the chance of women leaders being viewed negatively for displaying behaviors that are not feminine or typical of women.

Being in authority positions increases the possibility of displaying traits that are highly linked to male characteristics, because these are the traits typical or expected of a leadership role (Eagly & Karau, 2002; Lord, Foti, & De Vader, 1984). Therefore, these behaviors go against the established norms of what women are expected to present (Eagly & Karau, 2002). In extending this line of thinking, gender differences in authority positions are a result of socially accepted divisions in employment and systematic biases that lead to cumulative effects (Ridgeway & Correll, 2004). For instance, occupations such as those of doctors or policemen are typically associated with males because of the achievement and status that come with these positions (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000).

Though gender roles are likely to be correlated with the concept of gender authority, the research on gender authority looks specifically at differences in privileges that are extended to males and females in recognized positions of power (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000). It is this privileged thinking that focuses on gender expectations for certain status positions. It is important to note that research on gender inequality in authority positions also posits itself around the fact that there are more men in such positions than women. Gender authority attempts to explain this difference because of expectations related to positions not necessarily because of social roles, which are beginning to change as women are no longer seen solely as homemakers and are positioning themselves in the upper ranks of organizations (Eagly & Carli, 2007). However, because women are still members of a socially stigmatized group, they tend to be identified by social stereotypes. Therefore, it is possible that women may avoid leadership activities, and organizations need to recognize these social stereotypes to encourage women to take on leadership roles (Peters, Kinsey, & Malloy, 2004).

Prejudice against women in these types of positions is socially established and can be measured explicitly, through self-report means, whereas many other types of prejudice are measured more reliably with implicit measures that examine bias by monitoring differences in response times (Garcia-Retamero & Lopez-Zafra, 2006; Rudman & Kilianski, 2000). This could be because of people consciously responding in socially appropriate ways when asked about sensitive topics related to prejudice (Rudman & Ashmore, 2007). When assessing gender authority, however, preferences for males and females in certain authority positions are less likely to incite socially appropriate responses, because gender authority preferences were not found to be related to implicit sexism or female prejudice attitudes (Rudman & Kilianski, 2000). Research has also found that implicit and explicit prejudices tend to be influenced by out-group bias, ethnocentrism, which assists in explaining the relationship between the two response types (Cunningham, Nezlek, & Banaji, 2004). It is important to distinguish between the two types of biased responses, because implicit measures are becoming more popular in research. This study focuses solely on explicit measures because of their ease of use and dissemination to large groups of people, which make them more attractive in organizational settings.

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