Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T23:19:37.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Subtle sexism: Re-informing intergroup bias and regulating emotion in an Australian police organization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Alberto R. Melgoza  and
Julie Wolfram Cox
Alberto R. Melgoza
Affiliation:
The University of Queensland, St Lucia QLD, Australia
Julie Wolfram Cox
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Burwood VIC, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

From a liberal feminist perspective, we argue that gender can both inform, and should continue to be informed by, social identity studies in efforts to understand and manage subtle sexism in contemporary workplaces. We investigated the presence of a form of subtle sexism, affective aversive sexism, in an Australian male-dominated organization: a police force. To do this we surveyed 159 policemen and examined relationships between individual emotional experience, emotional intensity and emotion regulation. Results indicated that, in a subtle display of intergroup bias, policemen experienced both higher positive and higher negative emotions in the presence of other policemen than of policewomen who, we argue, may be less central in the men's identities and relationships at work. Implications for research, training, and emotion management in the workplace are discussed and it is suggested that liberal feminist research can contribute much to understanding the dynamics that reproduce structural segregation in the workplace.

Keywords

genderaversive sexismemotional experienceemotional regulation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 15 , Issue 5 , November 2009 , pp. 652 - 666
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001) Census of population and housing.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006) Census of population and housing.Google Scholar
Australian Government – Productivity Commission (2006).Google Scholar
Averill, J. (1982) Anger and aggression: An essay on emotion, New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1986) Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Barnum, P., Liden, R. C. & DiTomaso, N. (1995) Double jeopardy for women and minorities: Pay differences with age, Academy of Management Journal, 38: 863–880.Google Scholar
Baron, R. M. & Kenny, D. A. (1986) The moderator–mediator distinction in social psychological research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53: 237–248.Google Scholar
Boyce, L. A. & Heard, A. M. (2003) The relationship between gender roles stereotypes and requisite military leadership characteristics, Sex Roles, 49: 365–378.Google Scholar
Brehm, J. W. (1999) The intensity of emotion, Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3: 2–22.Google Scholar
Brewer, M. B. (1979) In-group bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational analysis, Psychological Bulletin, 86: 307–324.Google Scholar
Brewer, M. B. (1996) In-group favouritism: The subtle side of intergroup discrimination, in: Messick, D. M. and Tenbrunsel, A. E. (Eds) Codes ofconduct, behavioural research into business ethics, pp. 160–170, New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Burke, M. (2004) Radicalising liberal feminism by playing the games that men play, Australian Feminist Studies, 19: 169–184.Google Scholar
Dovidio, J. F. & Gaertner, S. L. (2000) Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999, Psychological Science, 11: 319–323.Google Scholar
Dovidio, J. F. & Gaertner, S. L. (2004) Aversive racism, in: Zanna, M. P. (ed), Advances in experimental social psychology, pp. 1–52, San Diego CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Drew, J., Carless, S. A. & Thompson, B. M. (2008) Predicting turnover of police officers using the sixteen personality factor questionnaire, Journal of Criminal Justice, 36: 326–331.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N. & Fabes, R. A. (1999) Emotion, emotion-related regulation, and quality of socioemotional functioning, in: Balter, L. & Tamis-LeMonda, C. (eds), Child psychology: A handbook of contemporary issues, pp. 318–335, Philadelphia PA: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A. (2007) Emotion in organizations: A review and theoretical integration, Academy of Management Annals, 1: 371–457.Google Scholar
Francis, J. J. (1997) Self-discrepancy and emotion in the workplace: An exploration of the place of the other in self-discrepancy theory, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Melbourne.Google Scholar
Gaertner, S. L. & Dovidio, J. F. (1986) The aversive form of racism, in: Dovidio, JF and Gaertner, SL (Eds), Prejudice, discrimination, and racism, pp. 61–89, Orlando FL: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Nier, J., Hodson, G. & Houlette, M. A. (2005) Aversive racism: Bias without intention, in: Nelson, R. L. and Nielson, L. B. (eds), Affirmative action: rights and realities, London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Greene, S. (2004) Social identity theory and party identification, Social Science Quarterly, 85: 136–152.Google Scholar
Haslam, S. A., Oakes, P. J., Turner, J. C. & McGarty, C. (1996) Social identity, self-categorization and the perceived homogeneity of ingroups and outgroups: The interaction between social motivation and cognition, in: Sorrentino, R. M. & Higgins, E. T. (eds), Handbook of motivation and cognition: The interpersonal context, vol. 3, pp. 182–222, New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Hewston, M., Rubin, M. & Willis, H. (2002) Intergroup bias, Annual Review of Psychology, 53: 575–604.Google Scholar
Hodson, G., Dovidio, J. F. & Gaertner, S. L. (2004) The aversive form of racism, in: Lau, J. L. (ed), The psychology of prejudice and discrimination, pp. 119–135, Westport CT, Praeger Press.Google Scholar
Hogg, M. A. (1992) The social psychology of group cohesiveness: From attraction to social identity, New York, Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Hogg, M. A. & Terry, D. J. (2000) Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts, Academy of Management Review, 25: 121–140.Google Scholar
Huffman, M. L. (1999) Who's in charge? Organisational influences on women's representation in managerial positions, Social Science Quarterly, 80: 738–757.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. R. & Barsade, S. G. (2001) Mood and emotions in small groups and work teams, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86: 99–130.Google Scholar
Kensinger, L. (1997) (In)Quest of liberal feminism, Hypatia, 12: 178–296.Google Scholar
Kim, H. K. (2002) Women, equality, and fortune: A feminist critique of Ronald Dworkins theory of equality, Political Theory Workshop, University of Chicago, 11 4th.Google Scholar
Lewicki, R. J., Mcallister, D. J. & Bies, R. J. (1998) Trust and distrust: New relationships and realities, Academy of Management Review, 23: 438–458.Google Scholar
Lindell, M. K. & Whitney, D. J. (2001) Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs, Journal of Applied Psychology, 86: 114–121.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, C. (1987) Feminism unmodified: discourses on life and law, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Manstead, A. S. R. & Fischer, A. H. (2000) Emotion regulation in full, Psychological Inquiry, 11: 188–191.Google Scholar
Martinez-Pons, M. (2000) Emotional intelligence as a self-regulatory process: A social cognitive view, Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 19: 331–350.Google Scholar
Matthews, G., Roberts, R. D. & Zeidner, M. (2004) Seven myths about emotional intelligence, Psychological Inquiry, 15: 179–196.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D. & Gaschke, Y. N. (1988) The experience and meta-experience of mood, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63: 199–132.Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D. & Salovey, P. (1997) What is emotional intelligence? in: Salovey, P. & Sluyter, D. (eds), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Educational implications, pp. 3–31, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mcallister, D. J. (1995) Affect and cognition based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations, Academy of Management Journal, 38: 24–59.Google Scholar
Moore, D. (1999) Gender traits and identities in a ‘masculine’ organization: the Israeli police force, Journal of Social Psychology, 139: 49–59.Google Scholar
Pallant, J. (2005) SPSS Survival Manual, 2nd edn, Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., Mackenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y. & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003) Common method biases in behavioural research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies, Journal of Applied Psychology, 88: 879–903.Google Scholar
Porter, D. M. (2001) Gender differences in managers' conceptions and perceptions of commitment to the organization, Sex Roles, 45: 375–398.Google Scholar
Ramirez-Melgoza, A. (2006) Gender, emotion and aggression in the workplace: An investigation on the role of emotional intelligence, Unpublished Masters thesis, RMIT, Budoora VIC.Google Scholar
Salovey, P., Mayer, J. D., Goldman, S., Turvey, C. & Palfai, T. (1995) Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the trait meta-mood scale, in: Pennebaker, J. S. (ed), Emotion, disclosure, and health, pp. 125–154, Washington DC: APA.Google Scholar
Schachter, S. (1971) Emotion, obesity and crime, New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Seta, J. J. & Seta, C. E. (1996) Big fish in small ponds: A social hierarchy analysis of intergroup bias, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71: 1210–1221.Google Scholar
Simpson, R. & Lewis, P. (2005) An investigation of silence and a scrutiny of transparency: Re-examining gender in organization literature through the concepts of voice and visibility, Human Relations, 58: 1253–1275.Google Scholar
Sinclair, R. C. & Mark, M. M. (1992) The influence of mood state on judgement and action: Effects on persuasion, categorization, social justice, person perception, and judgmental accuracy, in Martin, L. L. & Tesser, A. (Eds), The construction of social judgements, pp. 165–193, Marwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sobel, M. E. (1982) Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effect in structural equation models, in: Leinhardt, S (ed), Sociological Methodology 1982, pp. 290–312, Washington DC: American Sociological Association.Google Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G. & Fidell, L. S. (2001) Using Multi-variate Statistics, 4th edn, New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1978) Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations, London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. C. (1986) The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour, in: Worschel, S. & Austin, W. G. (eds), Psychology of intergroup relations, 2nd edn, pp. 7–24, Chicago: Nelson-Hall.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. & Davies, A. (2005) What have the feminists done for us? Feminist theory and organizational resistance, Organization, 12: 711–740.Google Scholar
Thompson, B. M., Kirk, A. & Brown, D. (2006) Sources of stress in policewomen: A three-factor model, International Journal of Stress Management, 13: 309–328.Google Scholar
Tremblay, M. & Roger, A. (1993) Individual, familial, and organizational determinants of career plateau: An empirical study of the determinants of objective and subjective career plateau in a population of Canadian managers, Group & Organisation Management, 18: 411–435.Google Scholar
Trentham, S. & Larwood, S. (1998) Gender discrimination and the workplace: An examination of rational bias theory, Sex Roles, 38: 1–28.Google Scholar
Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oaks, P. J., Reicher, S. D. & Wetherell, M. S. (1987) Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Waddington, P. A. J. (1994) Coercion and accommodation: Policing order after the Public Order Act, The British Journal of Sociology, 45: 367–386.Google Scholar
Wallbott, H. G. & Sherer, K. R. (1989) Assessing emotion by questionnaire, in: Plutchik, R. & Kellerman, H. (eds), The measurement of emotions: Theory, research and experience, pp. 55–482, New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Watson, D. & Tellegen, A. (1985) Toward a consensual structure of mood, Psychological Bulletin, 98: 219–35.Google Scholar
Wendell, S. (1987) A (qualified) defense of liberal feminism, Hypatia, 2: 65–93.Google Scholar