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1 – 10 of 323H. Kent Baker and Gary E. Powell
This study aims to survey managers of dividend‐paying firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) to learn their views about the factors influencing dividend policy…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to survey managers of dividend‐paying firms listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) to learn their views about the factors influencing dividend policy, dividend issues, and explanations for paying dividends. The study also aims to focus on Indonesia, the largest national economy in Southeast Asia, because relatively few studies examine why Indonesian firms pay dividends.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary means of gathering data is a mail survey. The two‐page survey instrument consists of three main sections: 22 factors for determining a firm's dividend policy; six questions that provide background information about the respondents and their firms; and 27 statements about dividend policy in general. Of the 163 firms surveyed, 52 firms responded, resulting in a response rate of 31.9 per cent.
Findings
The evidence shows that managers view the most important determinants of dividends as the stability of earnings and the level of current and expected future earnings. They also believe that the effects of dividends on stock prices and needs of current shareholders are important determinants. The evidence shows that managers of Indonesian firms perceive that dividend policy affects firm value. Managers seem to agree that multiple theories including signaling, catering, and life cycle explanations help to explain why their firms pay dividends.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on a limited number of factors and issues involving dividend policy. While non‐response bias could potentially limit making generalizations to the population of IDX firms, statistical tests show no significant differences between respondents and non‐respondents on various firm characteristics.
Practical implications
The evidence suggests that no universal set of factors is likely to be applicable to all firms when setting dividend policy.
Originality/value
This study presents new evidence on the perceptions of managers of dividend‐paying IDX‐listed firms about the factors influencing dividend policy, dividend issues, and explanations for paying dividends.
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H. Kent Baker and Gary E. Powell
We survey top managers of Fortune 1000 companies to learn if industry practitioners agree with the findings of academic research on specific corporate governance issues. We focus…
Abstract
We survey top managers of Fortune 1000 companies to learn if industry practitioners agree with the findings of academic research on specific corporate governance issues. We focus on board composition and size, executive/director compensation and ownership, firm performance, and other issues. The results suggest that the views of responding managers appear at odds with other empirical evidence provided in the literature on the majority of the issues examined. In addition, respondents are often unable to offer an opinion about whether they agree or disagree with specific corporate governance issues.
Gary N. Powell, D. Anthony Butterfield and Xueting Jiang
The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of the “Ideal President” (IP) and presidential candidates in the 2016 US presidential election in relation to gender…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptions of the “Ideal President” (IP) and presidential candidates in the 2016 US presidential election in relation to gender stereotypes and leader prototypes.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 378 business students assessed perceptions of either the IP or a particular candidate on measures of masculinity and femininity. Androgyny (balance of masculinity and femininity) and hypermasculinity (extremely high masculinity) scores were calculated from these measures.
Findings
The IP was perceived as higher in masculinity than femininity, but less similar to the male (Donald Trump) than the female (Hillary Clinton) candidate. IP perceptions were more androgynous than in the 2008 US presidential election. Respondents’ political preferences were related to their IP perceptions on hypermasculinity, which in turn were consistent with perceptions of their preferred candidate.
Social implications
Trump’s high hypermasculinity scores may explain why he won the electoral college vote, whereas Clinton’s being perceived as more similar to the IP, and IP perceptions’ becoming more androgynous over time, may explain why she won the popular vote.
Originality/value
The study extends the literature on the linkages between gender stereotypes and leader prototypes in two respects. Contrary to the general assumption of a shared leader prototype, it demonstrates the existence of different leader prototypes according to political preference. The hypermasculinity construct, which was introduced to interpret leader prototypes in light of Trump’s candidacy and election, represents a valuable addition to the literature with potentially greater explanatory power than masculinity in some situations.
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Gary N. Powell, D. Anthony Butterfield and Xueting Jiang
The purpose of this paper is to examine stability and change in the linkage between gender and managerial stereotypes over a five-decade period.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine stability and change in the linkage between gender and managerial stereotypes over a five-decade period.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples from two populations (n = 2347) described a “good manager” on an instrument that assessed masculinity and femininity during each of the past five decades.
Findings
Good-manager descriptions exhibited a decreasing emphasis on masculinity and increasing emphasis on femininity over time, culminating in an androgynous profile, or a balance of masculine and feminine traits, for each population in the most recently collected data.
Practical implications
Although women face systemic barriers in the managerial ranks of organizations, a change in managerial stereotypes to an androgynous rather than masculine profile would represent one less barrier for them to overcome.
Social implications
If managers come to be held to an androgynous standard in their behavior regardless of their gender, there would be a more level playing field for candidates for open managerial positions, rather than one tilted in favor of men.
Originality/value
The analysis of data from samples of the same population types using the same measures systematically over five decades, and the provocative finding of an androgynous profile of a good manager in the most recently collected data, are original contributions to the literature.
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Gary N. Powell, D. Anthony Butterfield and Xueting Jiang
The purpose of this study was to explore issues of gender and diversity raised by the 2020 US presidential election.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore issues of gender and diversity raised by the 2020 US presidential election.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples from two populations (n = 667) described either an ideal president or one of the major-party candidates for president (Donald Trump and Joe Biden) or vice president (Mike Pence and Kamala Harris) on an instrument that assessed self-ascribed masculinity and femininity. Androgyny was calculated as the difference between masculinity and femininity; the closer the score to zero, the more androgynous the candidate.
Findings
The ideal president was viewed as androgynous (i.e. balanced in masculine and feminine traits) rather than masculine as in previous studies of presidential leadership. Compared to the White male candidates, Harris, a woman of color, displayed the most androgynous profile. The Democratic ticket represented a “balanced” team, with one candidate (Biden) higher on femininity and the other (Harris) higher on masculinity; in essence, an androgynous ticket. In contrast, the Republican ticket (Trump and Pence) represented a decidedly masculine ticket. Ideal president profiles differed according to respondents’ gender and preferred president.
Practical implications
The Democrats winning the election with an androgynous ticket suggests that a more level playing field for female vis-à-vis male candidates for political leader roles may be arriving.
Originality/value
The finding of an ideal president as androgynous rather than masculine is an original contribution to the literature on presidential leadership.
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Gary N. Powell and D. Anthony Butterfield
The purpose of this study is to examine linkages of gender and gender-related variables to aspirations to top management over a period spanning five decades.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine linkages of gender and gender-related variables to aspirations to top management over a period spanning five decades.
Design/methodology/approach
During each of the past five decades, samples from two early-career populations (n = 2131), undergraduate business students and part-time (evening) MBAs, completed an aspirations to top management measure and described themselves on an instrument that assessed self-ascribed masculinity and femininity.
Findings
Aspirations to top management were predicted by respondent gender for undergraduates, with women’s aspirations lower than those of men, and by masculinity for both populations. Suggesting a shifting role of gender, undergraduate women’s aspirations to top management declined during the 21st century, whereas undergraduate men’s aspirations did not.
Practical implications
Any decline in early-career women’s aspirations to top management over a sustained period may contribute in the long run to perpetuating the under-representation of women in top management.
Originality/value
The finding of a striking decline in women’s aspirations to top management during the 21st century in an early-career population is an original contribution to the gender in management literature.
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Gary N. Powell and D. Anthony Butterfield
This study aims to examine factors that may explain the status of women in management by exploring the linkages between leader anti-prototypes and prototypes to gender stereotypes.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine factors that may explain the status of women in management by exploring the linkages between leader anti-prototypes and prototypes to gender stereotypes.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples from two populations described either a “bad manager” (representing leader anti-prototypes) or a “good manager” (representing leader prototypes) on two instruments that assessed masculinity and femininity.
Findings
On each instrument, masculinity was endorsed more than femininity in both leader prototypes and anti-prototypes. Both masculinity and femininity were endorsed more in leader prototypes than leader anti-prototypes but only when the purpose of the instrument was disguised rather than transparent.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of a single data collection method, the nature of the samples and a newly designed scale for purposes of the study are acknowledged. Further attention to the linkages of leader anti-prototypes and prototypes to gender stereotypes and the outcomes of these linkages is recommended.
Practical implications
Individuals who make managerial selection and promotion decisions may devote more attention to the presence or absence of masculine traits in candidates than to the presence or absence of feminine traits, thereby leading to female candidates being passed over and male candidates receiving greater scrutiny in determining who gets ahead.
Social implications
The study suggests cognitive mechanisms that may influence the status of women in management.
Originality/value
The study incorporates leader anti-prototypes and leader prototypes to explain the low status of women in management.
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The purpose of this paper is to consider the implications of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for future research on the intersection of gender, work and family.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to consider the implications of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic for future research on the intersection of gender, work and family.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper offers personal reflections on needed research in a post-pandemic future.
Findings
This paper identifies several promising areas for future research on the intersection of gender, work and family.
Research limitations/implications
The paper offers numerous recommendations for a post-pandemic research agenda, including future research on essential workers, virtual workers, workers with enhanced family demands, single employed parents, social supports and issues of gender associated with these populations and topics.
Social implications
The paper reinforces the value of social supports at the individual, family, organizational, community and societal levels.
Originality/value
The paper discusses implications for future research of an original event, the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is still transpiring.
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Gary N. Powell and D. Anthony Butterfield
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of psychological androgyny, a construct that represents a combination of masculinity and femininity, in explaining changes in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of psychological androgyny, a construct that represents a combination of masculinity and femininity, in explaining changes in descriptions of a good manager over time.
Design/methodology/approach
Samples of the same two populations were surveyed at four different points in time spanning four decades (N = 1,818).
Findings
Good-manager descriptions became increasingly similar in masculinity and femininity over time, or increasingly androgynous according to the balance conceptualization of androgyny. However, both good-manager masculinity and good-manager femininity declined over time, with masculinity declining to a greater extent, which accounted for the greater similarity in these scores. As a result, according to the high masculinity/high femininity conceptualization of androgyny, good-manager descriptions actually became decreasingly androgynous and more “undifferentiated”. Overall, the trend in leader prototypes over time was toward less emphasis on traits associated with members of either sex.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of two alternative methods of analyses and the survey instrument are acknowledged. What constituted a good manager may have depended on the context. Further scholarly attention to the concept of an undifferentiated leadership style is recommended.
Practical implications
People may be moving beyond leader prototypes based on the simple application of gender stereotypes. Changes in leader prototypes over the past four decades may contribute to enhancements in women’s societal status.
Social implications
Leader prototypes may disadvantage women less than in the past.
Originality/value
Results suggest that the role of androgyny in leader prototypes is declining according to the high masculinity/high femininity conceptualization.
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