Workers' attitudes toward women managers: evidence from Vietnam

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to investigate personality-related antecedents of Vietnamese workers' attitudes toward female managers, which subsequently predicted workers' judgments of them.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a factorial experiment to examine participants' general attitudes toward women's rights and roles and their particular attitudes toward female managers in the workplace. Vietnamese workers (N = 159) were randomly assigned to experimental conditions of manager performance and completed a post-test questionnaire. This study also qualitatively explored participants' observations of any gender stereotypes in the workplace.FindingsFindings demonstrated that participants' gender, general attitudes toward women's social rights and roles, and internal work locus of control positively predicted their attitudes toward female managers. Qualitative findings showed perceived gender-based egalitarianism in the workplace, but women's leadership qualities were barely recognized.Originality/valueThis study is the first to utilize a mixed-method approach to assess Vietnamese workers' attitudes, contributing to the literature on attitudes toward both women in general and women in management in Asia generally and in Vietnam in particular.