The best teacher: Mediating effects of experience with employed women on men managers' responses to subordinates' mistakes

What role does experience with working women play in determining men managers' views of women managers? To investigate this question, we analyzed responses of a small sample of experienced men managers with varying degrees of experience with working women. Of primary concern were men managers' attribution of causes for a woman manager's poor performance and their choice of response to such poor performance. The data confirmed that experience with women managers as colleagues and with employed wives affects the stability of men managers' causal attributions as well as the severity of their responses to a woman manager's poor performance. The implications of these findings are discussed.