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Managerial religiosity, attitudes towards women as managers and supportive HR practices

Kumar Krishna Biswas (School of Business, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia)
Brendan Boyle (Newcastle Business School, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia)
Sneh Bhardwaj (Federation Business School, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia)
Parth Patel (Department of Human Resource Management and Strategic Management, Australian Institute of Business, Adelaide, Australia)

International Journal of Emerging Markets

ISSN: 1746-8809

Article publication date: 5 August 2022

Issue publication date: 16 January 2024

231

Abstract

Purpose

The authors' study aims to examine to what extent managerial religiosity does influence human resource (HR) managers' attitudes towards women as managers (ATWM), and whether such posi(nega)tive attitudes can facilitate or impede the adoption of supportive HR practices (SHRP).

Design/methodology/approach

This study empirically examines a theoretical model by employing partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using quantitative survey data from 182 HR managers in Bangladesh.

Findings

The authors' findings reveal that individual religiosity may adversely affect HR managers' attitudes towards recognising women as managers, and such stereotyped attitudes, in turn, may attenuate the adoption of supportive HR practices in organisations operating particularly in highly religious socio-culture environments.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of the authors based on self-report, cross-sectional survey data collected from HR managers/equivalent working in the Bangladeshi organisations may unlikely to predict the ATWM held by the top leaders in organisations and other employees in similar socio-cultural settings.

Practical implications

The authors' findings suggest that religiosity cannot be ignored in management development and recruitment processes for HR managers, particularly in a society characterised by relatively weaker formal institutions and people with a higher degree of religiosity.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first attempt explicating how top management's religiosity interacts with the attitudes towards the acceptance of women as managers and how such attitudes can influence the adoption of supportive HR practices.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article: Biswas, K.K., Boyle, B., Bhardwaj, S. and Patel, P. (2022), “Managerial religiosity, attitudes towards women as managers and supportive HR practices”, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-01-2021-0154 mistakenly claimed that Mohammad, J., Quoquab, F., Idris, F., Al-Jabari, M., Hussin, N. and Wishah, R. (2018), “The relationship between Islamic work ethic and workplace outcome: a partial least squares approach”, Personnel Review, Vol. 47 No. 7, pp. 1286-1308 confirmed that: “religious fundamentalism is found to be predictive of prejudice against gay and lesbian people”. The reference has been removed. The authors sincerely apologise to Mohammad et al. for any inconvenience caused.

Funding: This study has been funded by the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Citation

Biswas, K.K., Boyle, B., Bhardwaj, S. and Patel, P. (2024), "Managerial religiosity, attitudes towards women as managers and supportive HR practices", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 154-169. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-01-2021-0154

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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