Gender portrayals revisited: searching for explicit and implicit stereotypes in Cypriot magazine advertisements

The study pursues a line of inquiry into contemporary gender stereotypes drawn from print advertisements in Cyprus. The investigation of implicit modes of stereotyping suggested by Goffman across explicit gender roles yield novel and interesting insights that broaden existing knowledge on male and female advertising depictions. Through a content analysis of 3.729 characters, the study reveals the existence of gender clichés in Cypriot magazine advertisements. Neither male nor female evolving roles are adequately reflected in advertisements, as men tend to be portrayed in traditional masculine stereotypes while women lean towards decorative portrayals. Implicit stereotyping is more likely to suggest the subordination and lower status of women compared to men. The study indicates that advertising in Cyprus reinforces the diffusion of hostile sexism by the underrepresentation of professional women and their commonplace portrayal in body revealing attires. At the same time, the high proportion of women's implicit subordination signifies benevolent sexism. The distorted representation of both genders raises key public policy concerns, as diminishing portrayals hold sway upon men's and women's psychological well-being and professional development.     

How consumers' values influence responses to male and female gender role stereotyping in advertising

ABSTRACT

The present study aims to explore the moderating effect of culture-related values on responses to male and female gender role stereotyping in advertising. Based on an experiment in Sweden (n = 507) and Germany (n = 506), we test the impact of respondents' masculinity, power distance, assertiveness values and feminine role orientation on ad attitudes and brand attitudes. The results show that, in general, perceived stereotyping contributes positively to ad and brand attitude, and this effect is enhanced for more masculine, more power distant, more assertive and less feminine-role oriented individuals. In addition, consumers respond more negatively to perceived female stereotyping compared to male stereotyping, and this is especially true for more power distant and more assertive individuals.     

Gender,Social Networks,and Entrepreneurial Outcomes in Tanzania

This article presents results of a study that investigates egocentric network differences between female and male entrepreneurs and their entrepreneurial outcomes in Tanzania. Based on a random sample of 272 micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises, the study reveals that female and male entrepreneurs have diverse networks. However, when compared to their male counterparts, female entrepreneurs' strong ties included more kin members. No significant gender difference in the composition of weaker ties was observed, suggesting gender differences in the choice of individuals with whom to have strong ties but not with whom to have weak ties. A significant gender difference in entrepreneurial outcomes at both start up and at the time of research was found, suggesting an antecedent networking behavior influence on performance.     

Gender factors and female entrepreneurship: International evidence and policy implications

Nowadays, the transformations taking place in female entrepreneurship at the national and international levels and the importance of such entrepreneurship for economic growth and poverty alleviation underscore the need for more global and diversified analysis of female entrepreneurial activities. The literature however regarding international comparisons of female entrepreneurship practices remains limited and becomes even more limited when exploring such practices beyond the developed countries context. To this end, this paper examined the impact of five gender-related variables on the extent of female entrepreneurial activities in 44 developed and developing countries. Among its five focused variables, the paper found female education, extent of female economic activities, female earnings ratio, and fertility rate to be significant in all estimations with two different dependent variables representing female entrepreneurial activities. The remaining focus variable related to gender empowerment was found to be significant with one of the two dependent variables. Among its contributions, the paper explored gender entrepreneurship from an international perspective and extended the analysis of the topic beyond the main stream Anglo-Saxon context. It also highlighted the variations in results with regards to developed and developing countries environment. Understanding factors that could influence the development of female entrepreneurial activities and exploring their potential variability across stages of economic development could also be useful for policy makers exploring effective incentive structure to promote gender entrepreneurship in their respective countries.     

Caring for her: the influence of presumed influence on female consumers’ attitudes towards advertising featuring gender-stereotyped portrayals

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how presumed influence on others affects women's evaluations of advertising featuring gender stereotypes. Previous research has largely overlooked the social context of the reactions to gender stereotypes. Addressing that gap, this study draws on the influence of presumed influence model to proposed that female consumers believe that other women are negatively affected by advertising that contains gender-stereotyped portrayals. This perception is hypothesized to influence ad and brand attitudes as consumers ‘punish’ the brand for hurting others. The results of two experimental studies featuring stereotyped and non-stereotyped advertising portrayals indicate that the hypothesis holds for two types of stereotype components (physical characteristics and role behaviour). This new theoretical perspective to the literature on gender stereotypes in advertising, one that helps to explain why many women dislike gender stereotypes in advertising even though those stereotypes often have limited impact on them personally.     

The role of gender identity in explaining sex differences in business owners' career satisfier preferences

This study examines how gender identity explains what male and female business owners look for from their careers. Results suggest that gender identity, represented by the dimensions of masculinity and femininity, serves as a cognitive mechanism that contributes to sex differences in business owners' career satisfier preferences. Masculinity mediates the relationship between sex and preferences for status-based satisfiers. Femininity mediates the relationships between sex and preferences for employee relationship satisfiers and contribution to society satisfiers. These results support the view that entrepreneurship is a gendered process and that incorporation of a feminine perspective into entrepreneurial theories and research is needed.     

Leadership styles and corporate social responsibility management: Analysis from a gender perspective

Companies' perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been only partially analyzed from an individual perspective that focuses on personal characteristics and professional backgrounds. However, a gap exists in the research on manager leadership styles and CSR perceptions from a gender perspective. Therefore, this article analyzes differences in attitudes toward various dimensions of CSR by focusing on the leadership styles—transformational, dominance, and dual perspectives—of male and female managers in Spain. A total of 391 respondents in top management positions in Spain were surveyed. The findings revealed similarities and differences between genders with respect to leadership styles and CSR perceptions by dimension using a univariate analysis. A causal model that employed structural equation modeling was also estimated. The findings suggest that for transformational and dual leadership styles, Spanish women may be more adaptable and effective at pursuing company sustainability than Spanish men. However, dominance leadership was found to be the worst leadership style for deploying a CSR strategy. A number of conclusions for business management can be drawn, and some directions for future research are provided.     

The Media Impact of Board Member Appointments in Spanish-Listed Companies: A Gender Perspective

Recent corporate governance literature on gender diversity within boards has linked the effect of an increase in gender diversity to the firm’s corporate reputation. This paper analyzes the media impact of appointing new directors of Spanish companies at a particularly significant moment, during the period from 2007 to 2010, just a year before and 3 years after the Gender Equality Act was passed. By analyzing female and male board nominations in Spanish IBEX-35 companies, the paper examines whether appointing a female does have greater visibility than appointing a male, and thus a potential signaling effect for corporate stakeholders and an effect on the firm’s reputation. Results indicate that the effect on press visibility of appointing a female versus a male is negligible, although there is significant media visibility for new executive directors, in particular for the case of the only woman nominated as an executive director during the period. The paper contributes to the existing literature on gender diversity in corporate governance, specifically its effect on corporate reputation. The paper also offers information relevant to policy making and in particular to the current debate over quotas for women on boards.     

Linking family-to-business enrichment and support to entrepreneurial success: Do female and male entrepreneurs experience different outcomes?

This study used survey data from 253 entrepreneurs who founded small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to examine how experiences in their family domain may benefit their experiences in their business domain. Specifically, it hypothesized that affective family-to-business enrichment, instrumental family-to-business enrichment, and family-to-business support would be positively related to entrepreneurial success and that each relationship would be more positive for female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial success was assessed by economic measures (business performance, growth in employment) and measures of satisfaction with the entrepreneurial experience (satisfaction with status, satisfaction with employee relationships). Results offered substantial support for the notion that female entrepreneurs benefit from the linkages of family-to-business enrichment and support to entrepreneurial success, whereas they offered no support for the notion that male entrepreneurs benefit from these linkages. Female entrepreneurs may experience such benefits because of their relative lack of access to other resources such as human, social, and financial capital and because the female gender role encourages them to pursue work–family synergies. In contrast, male entrepreneurs may fail to experience such benefits because of the relative abundance of other resources available to them and because the male gender role discourages them from pursuing work–family synergies.     

Gender Roles and Humor in Advertising: The Occurrence of Stereotyping in Humorous and Nonhumorous Advertising and Its Consequences for Advertising Effectiveness

The advertising literature includes extensive research on the occurrence and effects of gender-role portrayals in advertising. None of these studies has examined the ways in which humor affects depictions and the advertising effectiveness of these portrayals. This article reports the results of content-analytic and experimental studies that investigate the occurrence and effectiveness of gender stereotyping in humorous and nonhumorous advertising. The findings from these studies are in line with the assumptions of information processing theories. They indicate that the way women and men are stereotyped in advertising is dependent on humor; in particular, traditional male stereotypes are more prevalent in humorous ads, whereas traditional female stereotypes are more prevalent in nonhumorous ads. With respect to the influence of these stereotypes, humor improves consumers’ attitudes, particularly if nontraditional stereotyping is utilized instead of traditional stereotyping. Furthermore, humor in stereotyped advertising influences women more than men. Women evaluate gender portrayals more favorably and as more credible in humorous ads than in nonhumorous ads, particularly when nontraditional stereotyping instead of traditional stereotypes are used. These findings provide implications for gender-role and humor research in advertising and for practitioners who wish to increase the effectiveness of ads that use stereotypes.     

Failure or voluntary exit? Reassessing the female underperformance hypothesis

We reevaluate the female underperformance hypothesis by challenging the assumption that female-owned ventures are more likely to fail. Instead of equating exit with failure, we draw on exit literature and feminist theories to argue that female entrepreneurs are actually more likely than males to exit voluntarily. We argue for further gender differences by using an even more fine-grained conceptualization of entrepreneurial exit (failure, exit for personal reasons, and exit for other professional/financial opportunities). Post-hoc analyses also point to within-gender heterogeneity depending on family status. A sample probe of 219 Spanish entrepreneurs who had exited their business supports our overall reasoning.     

Gender stereotypes in advertising: a review of current research

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the historical context of gender stereotypes in advertising and then examine the scholarship related to gender stereotypes. Gender portrayals in advertising have been examined extensively in the last five decades and still remain an important topic. Changing role structure in the family and in the labor force has brought significant variation in both male and female roles and subsequently how it is reflected in advertising. It has been noted that there is a culture lag. Sexes for a long period of time were depicted in advertising in more traditional roles. Women were presented in an inferior manner relative to their potential and capabilities, while at the same the data indicated a shift towards more positive role portrayals. The changing role of men is the area that has seen the greatest interest in the past few years. Men are depicted in advertising in ‘softer’ roles, while interacting with their children. Men are also shown in more egalitarian roles. The paper finally attempts to outline the future research direction of gender portrayals in advertising. First, research should focus on examining gender portrayals in online platforms, and find ways to modify current coding schemes to digital formats. Second, companies and the media are beginning to pay attention to a once largely ignored segment the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) consumer. Third, recent advertising has focused on the ‘empowered’ women called femvertising.     

社会性别视角下大学生就业意识的性别差异——以武汉地区高校为例

本文从社会性别的视角,采用问卷调查法对武汉地区6所高校的在校本科生进行就业意识性别差异调查,研究发现总体上当代大学生在就业中的主体意识增强,但就业意识较重视个人价值的实现,忽视社会责任。与男大学生对比,女大学生职业价值观的功利性突显;女大学生及其家庭在就业问题上心理压力更大;女大学生社会性别意识模糊,对于未来在职业与家庭间的定位较为迷茫;男、女大学生在职场存在不同的性别利益。因此,国家在制定与执行就业政策时,应考虑就业政策对两性的差异化的影响,避免政策层面的性别歧视或性别偏向。高校应将社会性别意识纳入就业促进工作,针对当前女大学生就业意识存在的问题进行干预。     

An entrepreneurial cognition perspective on the internationalization of SMEs

Drawing from entrepreneurship, cognition, and international business theory, this paper develops a model integrating individual-level and firm-level characteristics to provide an entrepreneurial cognition perspective on the internationalization of small and medium size ventures. The model is tested on a sample of Spanish ventures using structural equation modeling techniques (partial least squares). Support is found for the central role of cognition and risk perception of CEOs in explaining the implementation of international expansion strategies for their firms.     

Bank loan officers' perceptions of the characteristics of men,women, and successful entrepreneurs

Much anecdotal evidence suggests that women, compared to similarly situated men, have great difficulty securing financing for entrepreneurial endeavors. In addition, a mounting body of evidence illustrates how women in managerial roles are perceived in terms of sex stereotypes rather than in terms of their accomplishments. The present study extends this line of research to investigate whether female entrepreneurs are also viewed in terms of sex stereotypes.One hundred and six bank loan officers evaluated either men, women, or successful entrepreneurs on scales assessing nine attributes of successful entrepreneurs.² The nine entrepreneurial qualities were leadership, autonomy, propensity to take risks, readiness for change, endurance, lack of emotionalism, low need for support, low conformity and persuasiveness. It was hypothesized that sex stereotypes influenced perceptions that women, compared to men, did not possess the characteristics necessary for successful entrepreneurship.Results confirmed the hypothesis that characteristics attributed to successful entrepreneurs were more commonly ascribed to men than to women. On the dimensions of leadership, autonomy, risk taking, readiness for change, endurance, lack of emotionalism and low need for support, bank loan officers rated women as significantly less like successful entrepreneurs compared to men. While gender differences on the remaining three dimensions failed to reach statistical significance, women were never rated as closer to successful entrepreneurs than were men. These results are consistent with anecdotal evidence of the difficulties female entrepreneurs encounter in securing working capital. The results are also consistent with past research examining commonly held sex stereotypes of male and female managers and executives.These findings raise questions regarding the degree to which loan officers are influenced by sex stereotypes in considering loan applications from male and female aspiring entrepreneurs. From a bank's perspective, it may be important to train loan officers to avoid falling back on sex stereotypes in evaluating proposals for new businesses. Similarly, it may be important to alert female entrepreneurs to the need to dispel traditional sex stereotypes in the context of loan application interviews.     

Gender and climate change: A sustainable tourism perspective

The aim of this article is to examine whether female tourism entrepreneurs are more interested in climate change than male entrepreneurs are as part of their focus on sustainable entrepreneurial endeavors. A qualitative study of female tourism entrepreneurs is examined that focuses on three main climate change strategies: conservative, compliant, and proactive. The findings suggest that female tourism entrepreneurs are more influenced by their social circle and general interest in environmental issues that lead them to focus on climate change actions. The results of this study will help tourism providers, businesses, government, and the community better understand the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship. Climate change is a topic of immense interest in society particularly for those in the tourism industry. Sustainable tourism entrepreneurs often focus on climate change action as a way to compete in the global marketplace and to derive a competitive advantage. Less well understood is the role of gender in sustainable tourism entrepreneurship particularly in terms of perceptions around climate change action.     

品牌性别如何影响品牌时尚——一个跨行业多品牌实证研究

可从品牌管理语境审视社会学、文化学领域关于时尚与性别关系的规范性价值判断,引入消费者性别和品牌类别两个调节变量,借鉴荣格原型梦验证方法,利用多行业、多类别品牌调查数据考查时尚品牌性别气质。结果发现,时尚在所有品牌特征变量中表现最为鲜明,具有原型特征和意义;品牌女性和中性气质对品牌时尚性的正向影响远高于品牌男性气质的影响,消费者生理性别对此无调节效应,消费者气质性别仅对品牌女性和男性气质有较弱调节效应,对品牌中性气质无调节效应,显示了品牌性别对品牌时尚作用模式的稳定性;品牌类别调节效应显著,与新品牌相比,老字号时尚性较弱,且受品牌女性和男性气质影响较大,品牌中性气质同样不受调节,因此老字号提升时尚感宜弱化其传统、严肃的男性历史印象,增加品牌女性和中性气质。性别气质的复杂性、生物进化的雌性选择理论可以解释这一商业现象的生物和社会学基础,即为何品牌女性和中性气质对品牌时尚性的影响高于品牌男性气质。这为品牌时尚管理提供了一个性别视角,即营造时尚不仅要在品牌图形、字体、发音、代言人等可见层面进行性别调整,更要全面发挥和协同女性智慧,而这不仅需要女性管理者更多参与,而且需要男性管理者借鉴吸收女性智慧和思维。     

Complexity absorption: a processual strategic approach to corporate entrepreneurship strategy

In contrast to traditional strategic approaches that are based on complexity reduction, this paper aims to develop an alternative way of understanding entrepreneurial strategy and managing complexity from a processual perspective. The new perspective is developed from a processual perspective integrating insights from an understanding of complexity to engage with philosophical accounts of Chinese processual thought particularly as it is applied to entrepreneurial strategy. The new theoretical framework is empirically investigated through case studies of 30 entrepreneurial organizations in China. The findings confirm that timing and action, context/situation, and efficacy are the three key components in complexity absorption as preferred entrepreneurial strategic approaches.     

Sex business in the toy store: A narrative analysis of a teaching case

This article is a narrative analysis of an entrepreneurship case performed from a post-structuralist feminist perspective. Acknowledging the social construction of reality, gender is conceptualized as performed rather than as an essential quality attached to male and female bodies. The analysis finds that the case reproduces discriminatory gender relations. While using such cases in entrepreneurship training may teach pragmatic lessons, they also teach women that there is no place for them in business. Suggestions for improvement include cases with female protagonists, gender-inclusive language, stories that challenge received entrepreneurship ideas, and the introduction of narrative analysis to enrich students' learning opportunities.     

Making the most of group relationships: The role of gender and boundary effects in microcredit groups

Relationships and networks are important for a range of entrepreneurial outcomes. However, gender scholars' efforts to compare networks across genders rarely extend to provide empirical evidence for the link between networks and performance. Building on expectation states theory and network perspectives, we examine between- and within-gender differences in the network size–performance relationship, highlighting the conditions under which some females leverage their relationships for firm performance better than others. Using data collected from microcredit entrepreneurs in Kenya, we find that the number of within-group ties positively influences firm performance but more positively for male entrepreneurs. For female entrepreneurs, this relationship is contingent on both their individual and their group's characteristics. We discuss implications and future research directions for the gender, networks, and microcredit literatures.