The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics among college students

The relationship between sex role stereotypes and characteristics perceived as necessary for management success was examined among male and female undergraduate management students and compared with results of managers today as well as with those of managers studied 15 years ago. Male management students, similar to their managerial counterparts in the 1980s and 1970s, still adhere to the male managerial stereotype and perceive that successful middle managers possess characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general. Female management students, similar to today's female managers, no longer sex type the managerial job, a change from the female managers of the 1970s. Implications of these outcomes for undergraduate management education are discussed.Portions of this research were funded by a Gettysburg College Institutional Self Renewal Grant.