Managerial Fit, Gender (In)Congruity, and Performance: Evidence from US Nursing Homes

Abstract

Managerial fit focuses on the congruence between managers’ values, preferences, and goals with their organizational environments. While a wealth of literature finds evidence that managerial characteristics play an important role in organizational performance, there are still characteristics which are underexplored. An important omission from this literature, and the focus of the study, is the impact of gender as a dimension of managerial fit. The sex of the manager is a salient dimension in how subordinates perceive managerial strategies and organizational missions. By using US Nursing Home data, I explore gender differences in two key managerial functions—power sharing and environmental management. Literature from several fields finds differences between men and women in certain behavioral traits and I explore if and how these traits map onto gendered differences in management and their implications for organizational performance. The results suggest that male managers must adopt strategies congruent with the feminine disposition of the organization in order to be successful. Male managers who emphasize power sharing find positive effects on performance while male managers who emphasize environmental management harm performance.