MYTHS OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH:ASSESSING ETHICAL SENSITIVITY OF MALE AND FEMALE MANAGERS IN THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the corporate world is heavily dominated by male executives. This dominance and continuous decline in ethical standards among business executives have led to the call for more women participation at the top echelons of corporations. The advocates of this call contend that more women participating at the top management level in the corporate world would more likely produce a work environment that is more ethical and moral than the current male dominated one. More so, management literature is replete with theoretical and empirical evidence which suggest that women executives demonstrate higher ethical standards than their male counterpart. Recent corporate scandals that heightened in the collapse of corporations such as Enron and WorldCom, whose executives were majorly males seems to resonate with these researches. However, like most issues in management, gender differences in ethical standard are trailed with a lot of controversies and empirical results have largely remained inconclusive. In essence, the question of whether business conduct will be more ethical and socially responsible in the wake of more women taking decisions at the top management level remains one that must continuously be assessed. The current research work is therefore geared towards assessing gender differences in ethical perception and usefulness of social responsibility as a strategic tool for business success. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from managers in the insurance industry and subjected to multivariate analysis. Results of the study were discussed and managerial implications were pointed out.