LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review

Literature Review

Article 1; Asymmetric Reactions to Work Group Sex Diversity among Men and Women" Written By Jennifer A. Chatman and Charles A. O'reilly

Introduction

The article explores how work group sex composition influences men and women and how this affects firm performance. Past researches indicated that demographic similarities yielded improved financial performance (Byrne, 1971) yet the recent findings estimate that women expressed a greater likelihood of gender diversity than men.

Theory/Hypotheses

The theories of Status expectations and Similarity-attraction underpin the study's hypotheses. Kanter's (1977) idea that men and women will be similarly affected by being underrepresented is adapted to hypothesize that both sexes will prefer membership in higher-status work groups. However, they also identified that the likelihood of transferring from current work group is greater by women in female-dominated groups than by men in male-dominated groups. This directed them to think which factors indicate the presence/absence of gender diversity. On the basis of a categorization scheme, four categories were made - Homogeneous, Same Sex Dominates, Balanced and Other Sex dominates. In this manner, they hypothesized that factors like Work group cooperation, Positive affect and Normative commitment to the organization drew out different results in each category.

Methodology:

The research uses reliable, high-quality, primary data collected through survey of employees to capture their preferences. The researchers use a "quantitative approach in empirical testing using statistical techniques" (Martins, et. al., 1999); however a qualitative strategy is adopted for deriving Dependent Variables by selecting the extent to which the respondents agreed with each statement. They used Caldwell, Chatman, and O'Reilly's (1990) eight-item scale to assess Normative commitment, measured Positive affect using the ten-item scale from the PANAS and constructed a five item scale to measure Work group cooperation. Causality shows presence/absence of gender diversity in groups as the dependent variable measured against the independent variables. They use a cross-sectional, longitudinal design, few dummy variables and time-lagged some variables, such as respondent's age, to avoid reverse causality and retain internal validity. A positivist epistemological approach is followed as deductive procedures check the relationship between variables as done in natural sciences. They use theory to form hypotheses, submitting these to empirical inspection (Bryman and Bell, 2007). However the nature of these variables is dependent on several factors controlling the individual make-up of firms therefore the suitability of this strategy is questionable. An objectivist ontological position is illustrated in the use of standardized procedures that quantify and establish correlations between the numerically controlled variables. The assumption that these "approaches produce reliable results" is questionable yet step-by-step outlining of the use of mean measures showing correlations between variables in a representative sample "renders external validity to the study" (Jackson & Ruderman, 1995).

Results:

The hypothesis that factors like Work group cooperation, Positive affect and Normative commitment to the organization drew out different results in each category has been proven to a certain limit. Due to this defeat in the above calculations, the researchers used the Allmendinger and Hackman's (1995) phenomenon to re-categorize the groups and reran the ...