Perception of Women as Managers. The Difference of Attitudes between Employees and Non-Employees

The phenomenon "Think manager - think male", which entails the correspondence between male characteristics and managerial positions, is a global one, especially among men. Taking into consideration this frame of thinking, the present paper researches into the attitudes towards female mangers, from the perspective of three samples of subjects; these samples consist in employees and non-employees (students): 46 employees working in a multinational company, 116 students studying management, and 131 students studying other domains. The results show that male employees and non-employees have less favorable attitudes towards the idea of female managers than women do. As for women, the female students studying management differ from the female employees, as well as from the female students in the control research population, and this difference consists in a more positive perception of women as managers. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.