Browsing by Author "Aicher, Thomas Joseph"
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Item How sexism leads to intentions to leave an organization among coaches of women's teams in Division I intercollegiate athletics(2009-05-15) Aicher, Thomas JosephSince the passage of Title IX, there has been a steady decline of women head coaches in intercollegiate athletics. Previous research indicated that perceived treatment and access discrimination may be a plausible cause of the decline; however, research has not identified the antecedents of discrimination. Research indicates that sexism levels are associated with hiring intentions, ascription of attributes to managers, and performance appraisals. This study attempted to identify sexism as one possible antecedent of discrimination. A dyadic study between head and assistant collegiate coaches was utilized to determine the relationship between hostile and benevolent sexism, treatment and access discrimination, and intentions to leave the profession. I sampled 364 head coaches and 163 assistant coaches, creating 71 dyads. Each of the measures was validated in previous research. Results indicated that men possessed higher levels of hostile (M = 2.02, SD = 1.02) and benevolent (M = 2.33, SD = 1.01) sexists beliefs than females (M = 2.00, SD = .97, M = 1.62, SD = 1.00). Additionally, females coaches indicated significantly higher levels of perceived access discrimination (F [1, 384] = 38.05, p < .01), treatment discrimination (F [1,384] = 7.353, p < .01) and intentions to leave (F [1, 384] = 13.146, p < .01) than men. Results indicate that there is a correlation between benevolent sexism and access discrimination (r = .322, p < .001) within the coach dyads. Further, to support previous literature, this study found that 17% of the variance in intentions to leave the profession was explained by perceived treatment and access discrimination. Though the results of this study show only one relationship between sexism and perceived discrimination, the results that sexism is present in intercollegiate athletics and that females perceive higher levels of discrimination and intentions to leave the profession are an interesting finding. Sexism may have an effect on perceived discrimination; however, the relationship may be mediated through other variables such as group identity or organizational citizenship behavior. Ultimately, this study has indicated that sexist beliefs are present in intercollegiate athletics and has negative implications that should be further researched.Item The Impact a Diversity Culture Has on the "Think Manager, Think Male" Stereotype: A Social Identity Theory of Leadership Perspective on Gender Stereotypes in Sport Organizations(2010-10-12) Aicher, Thomas JosephWomen in intercollegiate athletics have faced numerous challenges in breaking through the "glass ceiling." This issue has received a plethora of attention in the literature; however, the impact of culture on leadership stereotypes has yet to be evaluated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the impact a diversity culture may or may not have on gendered leadership stereotypes. Utilizing the social identity theory of leadership and the expectations of gender stereotypes, I predicted men would be considered more prototypical of a sport organization than would women. Moving forward, I argued culture would moderate this relationship. Specifically, women would be considered more prototypical in a proactive culture (diversity viewed as an asset), whereas men would be perceived as more prototypical in compliant cultures (diversity viewed as a liability). Finally, when a leader was determined as prototypical, then (s)he would be rated as more effective than nonprototypical leaders. A 2 (culture: compliant, proactive) by 2 (leader's sex: male, female) design was employed to determine the relationship between culture, sex and leadership prototypicality. Respondents to this research experiment included students participating in activity classes at a major Southwest University (N = 278). Respondents were first asked to read through two scenarios: one describing culture and the other manipulating the leader. Next, they were asked to complete a series of items to measure prototypicality and leadership effectiveness. Results indicated the manipulation in the scenarios was successful. A majority of the respondents correctly identified the leader?s sex (N = 241), and a proactive culture was viewed as supporting diversity when compared to a compliant culture (F [1, 274] = 120.83, p < .001, n2 = .86). The first two hypotheses were not supported. Results indicated women were considered as prototypical as men (F [1,238] = .04, p > .05, n2 =.001), and culture did not affect prototypicality ratings (b = -.04, p greater than .05). However, culture did have a significant positive relationship with leadership effectiveness (b = 21, p less than .01). Prototypicality was significantly positively related to leadership effectiveness (b = .54, p less than .001), thus supporting the third hypothesis.