Support for quotas for women in leadership: The influence of gender stereotypes

• Author: Magdalena Bekk,Prisca Brosi,Isabell M. Welpe,Sophie Mölders,Matthias Spörrle
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21882
• Date: 01 July 2018

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Support for quotas for women in leadership: The influence

of gender stereotypes

Sophie Mölders

1

| Prisca Brosi

1

| Magdalena Bekk

2

| Matthias Spörrle

3,4

|

Isabell M. Welpe

1,5

1

TUM School of Management, Technical

University of Munich, Germany

2

University of Cologne, Germany

3

University Seeburg Castle (USC), Wallersee,

Austria

4

University of Applied Management, Erding,

Germany

5

Bavarian State Institute for Higher Education

Research and Planning, Munich, Germany

Correspondence

Sophie Mölders, TUM School of Management,

Technical University of Munich, Arcisstrasse

21, 80333 München, Germany.

E-mail: sophie.moelders@tum.de

This study examines support for quotas for women in leadership, a currently highly debated

topic in management research and practice. Using a sample of German working adults

(N= 761), our results suggest that stereotypes about women (n= 380) are significantly related

to support for quotas for women in leadership. Ascriptions of agency to typical women, that is,

the extent to which women are generally seen as assertive, active, and strong, were positively

related to participants' support for quotas for women in leadership in male-gendered industries

and high hierarchical positions, whereas ascriptions of communality to typical women, that is,

the extent to which women are seen as understanding, supportive, and caring, were generally

positively related. This pattern emerged for both male and female participants. Unexpectedly,

gender-stereotypic ascriptions to men (n= 381) were also related to support for quotas for

women in leadership—with a positive relationship with agency in male-gendered industries and

a general negative relationship with communality, although these results were less pronounced.

Implications for organizations are derived from these results, highlighting how the introduction

of quotas for women in leadership can be smoothed by addressing how employees see women

in terms of agency and communality.

KEYWORDS

agency, communality, gender, quotas for women in leadership, stereotypes

1|INTRODUCTION

Many countries and organizations are currently exploring the intro-

duction of quotas for women in leadership (Krook, 2016). Such

quotas refer to the legal enforcement of a predefined proportion of

women (Sojo, Wood, Wood, & Wheeler, 2016). They are sometimes

described as part of affirmative actions aiming to support women in

organizations (Unzueta, Gutiérrez, & Ghavami, 2010). At the country

level, quotas can be imposed upon organizations as a political means

of legally mandating the advancement of women in leadership posi-

tions (Sojo et al., 2016). Consequently, many organizations face the

requirement of meeting a preset quota for women in leadership. In

addition, some organizations voluntarily establish quotas.

Although the number of countries and organizations that have

introduced quotas for women in leadership has been continually ris-

ing (Terjesen & Sealy, 2016), quotas remain a highly disputed topic

(Sojo et al., 2016). On the one hand, quotas are justified by argu-

ments that they are necessary to effectively leverage female talent

and to ensure justice in equal gender representation (Terjesen &

Sealy, 2016). Particularly against the background of stagnating per-

centages of women represented in top management despite women's

high levels of education (Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development [OECD], 2016), equal participation in the overall work-

force (European Commission, 2012; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,

2016), and increased representation in lower level leadership posi-

tions (Catalyst, 2016; Holst & Busch, 2010), quotas are often argued

to be the last resort against seemingly insurmountable barriers. On

the other hand, the introduction of quotas is contested through argu-

ments that quotas are against liberal principles, that they illegitimately

favor women and thereby hinder competition, and that they under-

mine women's achievements (Kakabadse et al., 2015). Because

quotas for women in leadership challenge the status quo of

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21882

Hum Resour Manage. 2018;57:869–882. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 869