Managerial Fit, Gender (In)Congruity, and Performance: Evidence from US Nursing Homes
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Date
2018-08-15
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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.
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Keywords
Public Management, Gender, Organizational Performance