The Role of Gender in Government and Nonprofit Workplaces: An Experimental Analysis of Rule Compliance and Supervisor Trust

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Jaclyn Piatak,Jared McDonald,Zachary Mohr
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13469

Research Article:

Race and Gender

Symposium

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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556

Jaclyn Piatak

Jared McDonald

Zachary Mohr

Abstract: The underrepresentation of women in leadership positions persists. Existing research examines barriers

women face in climbing organizational hierarchies, but we know less about women who break past the glass ceiling.

Once women obtain supervisory positions, do they face additional hurdles in managing employees? Specifically, how

does gender, gender congruence, and rule formalization influence employee rule compliance and trust? Using a survey

experiment across both government and nonprofit contexts, we find that both men and women are more likely to

trust men managers, but this gender gap is mitigated when rules are written. Gender congruence plays a role for rule

compliance, where both men and women are more compliant when the supervisor matches their gender, while gender

congruence is only a significant factor for enhancing trust for men. The findings advance role incongruence theory and

have implications for the challenges women leaders face in terms of trust and rule following.

Evidence for Practice

• Men are more compliant and trusting of male leaders compared with female leaders.

• Women are more compliant with the rules of female leaders compared with male leaders, though women do

not appear to trust female leaders more than male leaders.

• Female leaders face additional hurdles of gender bias in gaining employee trust.

• Putting rules in writing can help mitigate gender biases in the workplace.

Women continue to be underrepresented

in leadership positions across sectors.

Despite comprising half of the U.S.

population, and despite the inherent value in public

organizations reflecting the populations they serve

(e.g., Mosher1968; Selden1997), the gender gap in

management in both the government (e.g., Alkadry,

Bishu, and Bruns Ali2019; Hsieh and Winslow2006;

Nelson and Piatak2019; Sabharwal2015; Wynen,

Op de Beeck, and Ruebens2015) and nonprofit

(e.g., Damman, Heyse, and Mills2014; Lee2019;

Sampson and Moore2008; Stewart and Kuenzi2018)

sectors persists. While the issue of gender inequality

endures, government tends to be a leader in workplace

diversity (e.g., Nelson and Piatak2019; Selden

and Selden2001) and women play a predominant

role in the nonprofit sector (e.g., Faulk et al.2013;

Themudo2009). As more women enter the leadership

ranks, do women face additional barriers? While

many factors shape employee rule compliance and

trust (e.g., Borry2017; Borry et al.2018; Borry and

Henderson2019), what role (if any) does gender play?

Based on role incongruence theory, scholars show

that women face difficulties advancing to positions

of authority because of gender stereotypes (Koenig

et al.2011; Kropf et al.2003). Across disciplines,

research finds that men are presumed to excel on

agentic traits, those conveying individualism and

independence, while women are perceived to excel on

“communal traits,” or those conveying the ability to

work collaboratively (Abele2003; Abele et al.2008;

DeHart-Davis et al.2020; Guy2011; Hayes2011,

2005). These stereotypical traits of women do not

match the traditionally desired traits of leaders.

Although communal traits are valued in positions

where teamwork is prioritized, agentic traits are more

often viewed as desirable in leadership roles (e.g.,

Eagly and Karau2002; Huddy and Terkildsen1993;

Ridgeway2011; Schein1975). Women are, therefore,

forced to navigate a double bind, where they must

appear to possess strong leadership skills, but by doing

so are perceived as less feminine (e.g., Guy1995,

2011; Guy and Fenley2014; Jamieson1995; Kelly

and Duerst-Lahti1995; McThomas and Tesler2016).

Moreover, people often build a mental image of

leaders using current leaders as the archetype,

perpetuating the gender gap in leadership positions

(Stivers2002). This not only presents a challenge

for women who hope to move up the organizational

hierarchy but may also influence organizational

dynamics for women managers.

The Role of Gender in Government and Nonprofit

Workplaces: An Experimental Analysis of Rule Compliance

and Supervisor Trust

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Stanford University

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Zachary Mohr is an associate professor

in the Department of Political Science and

Public Administration at the University of

North Carolina at Charlotte. His research

interests are related to cost accounting,

budgeting, and control in government,

including research on rule following

in public organizations. He is also the

director of the POLS Lab at UNC Charlotte

that facilitates experiments for public

administration, political science, and public

policy researchers.

Email: zmohr@uncc.edu

Jared McDonald is a TomKat Center

Postdoctoral Scholar with the Political

Psychology Research Group at Stanford

University. Jared’s research examines how

Americans process political information,

update their preferences, and hold

politicians accountable in the modern

polarized era. Jared previously worked as

a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of

Political Science and Public Administration

at the University of North Carolina

at Charlotte after earning his PhD in

Government and Politics at the University of

Maryland, College Park.

Email: jaredmcd@stanford.edu

Jaclyn Piatak is an associate professor

in the Department of Political Science and

Public Administration at the University

of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her

research interests include public and

nonprofit management, human resource

management, volunteering, and social

policy. Her recent work includes her

coauthored book,

Public Service Motivation

and Public Opinion: Examining Antecedents

and Attitudes

, experiments on rule following

and blame attribution, and research on

diversity and inclusion in government and

nonprofit organizations.

Email: jpiatak@uncc.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 82, Iss. 3, pp. 556–569. © 2022 The

Authors. Public Administration Review

published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on

behalf of American Society for Public

Administration.

DOI:10.1111/puar.13469.