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Organization Science
Vol. 26, No. 2, MarchApril 2015, pp. 334355
ISSN 1047-7039 (print) ISSN 1526-5455 (online) http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2014.0941
2015 INFORMS
Cross-Boundary Projects
Michele Williams
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, mw326@cornell.edu
Evan Polman
University of WisconsinMadison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, epolman@bus.wisc.edu
his paper investigates how professional workers willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is influenced by
T the gender and power of their interaction partners. We call into question the idea that mixed-gender interactions
involve more interpersonal sensitivity than all-male interactions primarily because women demonstrate more interpersonal
sensitivity than do men. Rather, we argue that the social category women can evoke more sensitive behavior from others
such that men as well as women contribute to an increase in sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions. We further argue
that the presence of women may trigger increased sensitivity such that men can also be the recipients of more sensitivity
when one or more women are present on a team. In a study of 202 management consultants, we found that the willingness
to act with interpersonal sensitivity increased in interactions with women. Moreover, this effect was greater in interactions
with women who had low reward poweri.e., females who better fit the expectations associated with the social category
women. We also found team-level effects. Professionals working with mixed-gender versus all-male client teams reported
a greater willingness to act with interpersonally sensitive behavior toward male client team members. Our findings show
that the willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is context dependent and shed light on the importance of studying
interaction partner-level and team-level effects on willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity.
Keywords: gender; gender composition; interpersonal sensitivity; power; benevolent sexism; relationships
History: Published online in Articles in Advance December 26, 2014.
demonstrate more interpersonal sensitivity than do males examined as recipients of hostility and backlash (Cuddy
(e.g., Kennedy 2003, LePine et al. 2002). Rather, we et al. 2011, Lim and Cortina 2005, Rudman and Glick
investigate a complementary mechanismi.e., that the 1999, Rudman and Phelan 2008), we reason that benevo-
behavior of both males and females increases in inter- lent or interpersonally sensitive treatment may extend to
personal sensitivity in response to the presence of female women who are in nontraditional roles in organizations
interaction partners. when these women have traditional interaction patterns
Thus, instead of looking solely at the effect of indi- with otherse.g., they are in need of expert help and/or
viduals own gender, emotions, or relational predisposi- are engaging in a communal rather than a competitive
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We investigate the willingness to act with interper- et al. 2001, Pearson and Porath 2009, Porath and Erez
sonal sensitivity rather than interpersonally sensitive 2009). However, civility and incivility may have asym-
behavior itself because we are interested in how interper- metric effects. Whereas uncivil behaviors always lack
sonal context influences this motivation. By investigating interpersonal sensitivity, civil behaviors may or may not
the construct of willingness to act with interpersonal sen- be interpersonally sensitive in terms of showing gen-
sitivity, we are able to avoid two important drawbacks uine respect for others and equality (Calhoun 2000).
associated with measuring behavior: (1) individuals may This distinction does not affect studies of incivility, but
be emotionally unskilled and therefore unable to accu- when examining civility, socially acceptable norms for
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rately translate their intentions into sensitive behavior, civility are not static. By this we mean that norms for
and (2) recipients may be biased by their past experi- civility change over time and may or may not move
ences and misinterpret an actors behavior. In both of closer to genuine respect. For example, in the United
these cases, measures of behavior would not capture States, social norms or conventions for the civil treat-
an actors intentions accurately. Measuring willingness ment of racial minorities, immigrants, and people with
also enables us to uncover motives that are consistent handicapping conditions have changed greatly over the
and inconsistent with related phenomena such as benev- last 200 years. Our definition of willingness to act with
olent sexism. interpersonal sensitivity is most closely aligned with the
idea of genuine civility (i.e., genuine respect and equal-
Interpersonal Sensitivity and Related Constructs ity for others; see Calhoun 2000, Porath 2012). Using
By integrating the definitions of interpersonal sensitivity this definition allows us to investigate contextual factors
used in the literatures on interactional justice and ethics that influence the willingness to engage in interpersonal
to develop our definition of willingness to act with inter- sensitivity in ways that are consistent with genuine civil-
personal sensitivity (e.g., Colquitt et al. 2001, Cropan- ity and, alternatively, in ways that are consistent with
zano and Wright 2003, Greenberg 1993, Hodson 2004, convention-bound civility but inconsistent with genuine
Molinsky and Margolis 2006), we accomplish two goals. civility and equality.
First, we are able to emphasize both care and respect
in our definition of willingness to act with interpersonal Interpersonal Sensitivity and Professionals
sensitivity. Second, we can more precisely differenti- Own Gender
ate our main construct from related constructs. In this We recognize that in addition to interpersonal context,
section, we differentiate our construct from three con- a professionals own gender is likely to have a simul-
structs that are central to scholars who focus on issues taneous influence on his or her willingness to act with
of care and respect in organizations: trust, compassion, interpersonal sensitivity. Scholars studying gender-role
and civility. In the trust literature, care and benevolence, socialization, for example, argue that gender differences
which are consistent with showing sensitive behavior, can result from contrasting societal expectations for men
are theoretically viewed as antecedents of trust and have and women (Eagly 1987, Eagly and Wood 1999, Ely
been found to be empirically distinct from trust (Colquitt and Meyerson 2010, Ely and Padavic 2007). Individ-
et al. 2007; for a review, see Mayer and Davis 1999). uals internalize these expectations and develop differ-
Similarly, in the justice literature, interpersonal sensitiv- ent skills, attitudes, and behaviors according to gender
ity has been investigated as a distinct correlate of trust (Valian 1998). For instance, womenor, more precisely,
(Colquitt et al. 2001). young girlsare typically socialized to be more empa-
Compassionate behavior and interpersonal sensitivity thetic and concerned with relationships and equal status
are also closely related because compassionate behav- than are young boys (Gilligan 1982). Kennedy (2003)
ior is almost always interpersonally sensitive. How- found that women were more likely than men to be
ever, interpersonally sensitive behavior may or may motivated by altruistic concerns during a group decision-
not be driven by feelings of compassion and empathic making task. Even as leaders, women often remain con-
concernin other words, people can display interper- cerned with relationships (Bartunek et al. 2000, Eagly
sonally sensitive behavior without feeling compassion- and Johnson 1990). In addition, women consistently out-
ate or empathetic. Lilius et al. (2008) noted this point perform men on experimental tasks related to interper-
when they mention that citizenship behaviors and other sonal perceptual accuracy (Hall and Schmid Mast 2008)
interpersonally sensitive actions only constitute compas- and are also more accurate in judging the meaning of
sionate actions when they are prompted by feelings of nonverbal cues conveyed by others and recalling those
concern for others. cues (Hall 1978, Hall and Schmid Mast 2008, Hojat et al.
Finally, civility differs from the concepts of compas- 2002, Salovey and Mayer 1990, Woolley et al. 2010).
sion and trust in that most of the work on civility in There is also some evidence that women demon-
organizations has focused on incivility (e.g., Porath and strate more concern for others in organizational set-
Erez 2009). This work has demonstrated important per- tings (Fletcher 1998, Kennedy 2003). In one example,
sonal and performance implications of incivility (Cortina Fletcher (1998) found that female engineers engaged in
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 337
a variety of relationship-oriented interpersonal actions, favorable, chivalrous ideology that offers protection 0 0 0 to
even when their actions went unrewarded. In another women who embrace conventional roles (Glick and
example, female physicians were found to be more Fiske 2001, p. 109). Benevolent sexism includes inter-
empathetic than male physicians (Hojat et al. 2002). personally sensitive, kind, helpful behavior, but it also
The associations between gender and psychological pro- includes behaviors such as the use of endearing, overly
cesses such as empathic concern, relational and altruistic intimate references such as honey or sweetheart
attitudes, interpersonal perceptual accuracy, and under- and patronizing language that conveys beliefs about the
standing nonverbal cues are important because these pro- weakness of women. For example, Good and Rudman
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cesses undergird ones willingness and ability to act (2010, p. 485) noted the benevolently sexist language in
with interpersonal sensitivity (i.e., behave with care and the following description of job requirements told to a
respect). These associations suggest that gender will female job applicant: But that [part of the job] can be a
influence individuals willingness to act with interper- little dangerousthe guys would probably be happy to
sonal sensitivity. help a nice young lady like you do whatever you need,
A greater willingness to act with interpersonally sen- though. Such actions are considered sexist because they
sitive behavior is also consistent with the communal inhibit gender equality and reward women for conform-
norms for action that are associated with stereotypical ing to a patriarchal status quo (Glick and Fiske 2001).
female behavior (Eagly and Wood 1999, Heilman and The existence of benevolently sexist attitudes in both
Chen 2005, Ridgeway and Correll 2004) and inconsis- men and women has been confirmed across 19 nations
tent with the highly assertive behavior acceptable for (Cuddy et al. 2009). However, within organizational set-
males, particularly males in high-power positions (e.g., tings using samples of women in nontraditional work
Pierce 1995). Moreover, intentions for displaying inter- roles, such as female leaders and scientists, hostile forms
personal sensitivity can be driven both by the internal- of sexism and backlash against women have been more
ized preferences of women themselves and by womens often investigated and found (e.g., Cuddy et al. 2011,
efforts to avoid social sanctions for using assertive, Lim and Cortina 2005, Rudman and Glick 1999, Rud-
counterstereotypical behaviors (Bowles et al. 2007, Heil- man and Phelan 2008).
man and Chen 2005, Ridgeway 2001). In contrast, our study builds on the nascent body
of experimental work looking at mens and womens
Hypothesis 1 (H1). Female professionals will be use of benevolent sexism in the treatment of current
more willing to act with interpersonally sensitive behav- and prospective organizational stakeholdersi.e., cus-
ior than will male professionals. tomers, job applicants, and employees seeking chal-
Hypothesis 1 forms a backdrop for our theory and lenging developmental experiences (Good and Rudman
hypotheses that are designed to articulate a missing side 2010, Hebl et al. 2007, King et al. 2012). Consistent
of mixed-gender interactions, i.e., how the gender of with social content theories of categorization (Fiske et al.
an interaction partner evokes different behavioral inten- 2002), we argue that social categorization processes
tions. We recognize that gender-related preferences and may play an important role in peoples willingness to
relational propensities, such as preferences for develop- treat women versus men with interpersonal sensitivity.
ing close emotional bonds with others, may be operating To date, investigating whether social categorization pro-
simultaneously. We will argue that the social category cesses influence professionals willingness to act with
women can evoke more sensitive behavior from others sensitive treatment toward women who are in nontra-
even after taking into account the impact of a profes- ditional roles (e.g., career women in the upper levels
sionals own gender and his or her relational propensity of their organizations) has not received much research
for forming close emotional bonds with others. attention.
Interpersonal Sensitivity and Social Categorization.
Interpersonal Sensitivity and the Gender of Ones In their theory of social categorization, Tajfel and Turner
Interaction Partner (1986) described how people automatically group (i.e.,
Although previous psychological research on interper- categorize) other people based on commonalities such
sonal sensitivity and its correlates has investigated as gender, age, race, or political affiliation. Moreover,
whether males or females are more interpersonally sensi- the groups or categories that people use represent spe-
tive (e.g., Hojat et al. 2002, Kennedy 2003), this research cific patterns of thoughts, behaviors, motives, and values
on interpersonal sensitivity has not investigated whether that people attribute to members within those categories
peoples willingness to act with interpersonally sensi- (Fiske and Taylor 1991), such as beliefs that women are
tive behavior is associated with the gender of individuals warm, communal, and nurturing (Fiske et al. 2002, Glick
with whom they are interacting. In contrast, research on and Fiske 1996). Because gender is associated with pre-
benevolent sexism has directly examined kind, paternal- scriptive attributessuch as how women should and
istic behavior toward women. Whereas hostile sexism should not behave (Broverman et al. 1972)the percep-
is often aggressive, benevolent sexism is a subjectively tion that women differ from men is a persistently held
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
338 Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS
belief that influences how women are ultimately treated These findings about the social and economic reprisals
(Eagly and Karau 2002, Heilman 1983, Prentice and experienced by assertive women and powerful women in
Carranza 2002, Ragins and Winkel 2011). In particular, nontraditional roles stand in contrast to the more general
Rudman and Phelan (2008, p. 63) argued that category- finding that people tend to pay more attention to and
based beliefs associated with gender remain extremely behave more kindly toward people who are more pow-
powerful because (a) they are evoked by highly vis- erful (Chen et al. 2004, de Kwaadsteniet and van Dijk
ible, biological characteristics and (b) they are based 2010, Fiske 1993). Despite this contradiction, there is
on selective information and myth acquired throughout a growing body of evidence showing that more social
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peoples lives 0 0 0 . Moreover, people in general tend to rewards are accrued by women who behave in more def-
believe and act on their belief that gender differences in erential, less powerful, more category-consistent ways
social behavior and emotion exist, irrespective of scien- than by women who behave in dominant, powerful,
tific evidence (Eagly 1987, Prentice and Miller 2006). less category-consistent ways (Bowles et al. 2007, Glick
Category-based beliefs that women are more likely to et al. 1988, Heilman 1983, Rudman and Phelan 2008;
be warm, communal, and nurturing (Fiske et al. 2002, for a review, see Thomas-Hunt and Phillips 2004).
Glick and Fiske 1996) instead of tough and aggressive Extrapolating from this research on consistency with
(Eagly and Mladinic 1994) are therefore likely to influ- gender expectations, we argue that women may not
ence the behavior of both men and women. When these experience the increased interpersonally sensitive treat-
beliefs and social categorization processes guide behav- ment that typically accompanies power (Fiske 1993).
ior, explicitly or implicitly, individuals may be moti- We hypothesize that, similar to women who behave less
vated to treat female colleagues in a more interperson- assertively, women with lower levels of organization-
ally sensitive manner. Controlling for the professionals ally relevant sources of power should better fit both the
own gender and felt emotional bonds, we predict the stereotype and lower status expectations associated with
following. the social category women.
Although low-status social categories and low power
Hypothesis 2 (H2). Both male and female profes- are expected to coincide, status and power are not inex-
sionals will show more willingness to act with interper- orably linked (e.g., Blader and Chen 2012). Status,
sonally sensitive behavior when interacting with female which we have discussed in association with the social
clients than when interacting with male clients. category women, refers more generally to the amount
of social esteem and respect accorded by others. Power,
Interaction Partner Gender, Interaction Partner in contrast, refers to the amount of resources an indi-
Power, and Interpersonal Sensitivity vidual controls (see Magee and Galinsky 2008 for a
We have argued that female interaction partners are review). Reward power, for example, which refers to
likely to elicit more interpersonally sensitive behavior the ability to distribute valued resources (French and
than male interaction partners. However, our argument Raven 1959), is particularly important in cross-boundary
fails to consider variations in how well an individual relationships because those relationships are often less
woman fits the category expectations or stereotype hierarchical in nature. Although status and power often
for women. Women with characteristics that are consis- overlap, women, who typically have a lower social sta-
tent with the beliefs about their social category will fit tus than men and are expected to have less power than
the expectations better and thus evoke more category- men, may have organizational roles with high levels of
consistent treatment from others than will women with reward power. Similarly, men, who typically have higher
inconsistent characteristics (Becker et al. 2011, Cejka social status than women and are expected to have more
and Eagly 1999, Cuddy et al. 2004, Fiske and Taylor power than they do, may have organizational roles with
1991, Glick et al. 1995, Heilman 1983, Thomas-Hunt little reward power.
and Phillips 2004). We argue that when female colleagues have low
For instance, the social category women is associ- reward power, which is consistent with social category
ated with less status than the social category men (Ely expectations for women, others will report a greater will-
and Padavic 2007, Fiske 1993, Jackman 1994, Ragins ingness to show those female colleagues interpersonal
and Winkel 2011, Ridgeway 2001). In other words, it is sensitivity than when female colleagues have higher
associated with less prestige, social esteem, and social reward power. Thus, if the status expectations tied to
worth than the category men (Duguid et al. 2012). gender can be sufficiently disentangled from organiza-
Moreover, women are expected to behave in ways reflec- tionally relevant sources of power, men and women
tive of lower status and to structurally have access to with similarly low levels of power, for example, should
fewer organizational resources (Ridgeway and Erickson evoke from others different levels of willingness to act
2000). When women do not behave consistently with with interpersonal sensitivity. Controlling for the profes-
category-based beliefs, they face social and economic sionals own gender and felt emotional bonds, we predict
reprisals (Rudman and Phelan 2008, Hebl et al. 2007). the following.
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 339
Hypothesis 3 (H3). The reward power of profession- jury changed how white jurors privately thought about a
als clients will moderate the professionals willingness case with a black defendant before group deliberations
to act with interpersonally sensitive behavior toward (Sommers 2006). If similar processes apply to the qual-
those individuals. In particular, professionals will be ity of interpersonal interactions in mixed-gender teams,
willing to act with the most interpersonally sensitive knowing that one will be in a mixed-gender group may
behavior when interacting with female clients with low change group members expectations for the interper-
reward power. sonal norms that are likely to emerge in the group and,
in doing so, influence both their own actions and the
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Hypothesis 4 (H4). Male professionals working with related to each dyad were independent from one another.
a mixed-gender team will show more willingness to act Thus, 202 consultants (10% of whom were women) pro-
with interpersonally sensitive behavior toward a male vided data on 202 clients; 11% of those clients were
client than will male professionals with an all-male women.
client team. Our consultantclient project management teams
reflected the collaborative decision-making unit for the
project. They included the lead consultant from the firm
Methods and the decision makers from the client organization
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and without teams that included more than five mem- Phase 2: Measure Pretest (Sample 1)
bers. Our results remained consistent in magnitude and The six-item measure was pretested on a sample of
significance levels across these analyses. 442 MBA students from a private northeastern business
Last, we collected data about the focal lead consul- school; 426 participants had no missing data on any of
tant and one focal member of his or her client team, the interpersonal sensitivity items. Of these, 83% were
i.e., the first person named on the name generator, and men, and 17% were women. The interpersonal sensitiv-
together these individuals made up the focal consultant ity items were embedded in a larger survey that all par-
ticipants took as a program requirement. All participants
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Phase 42 Multirater Survey. We gained data from a ( 2 4175 = 10069, p = 0087). The disattentuated correla-
multirater survey of consultants that provided clients tion between consultants perceptions of their own will-
perceptions of our consultants interpersonal sensitivity. ingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity and average
Because of the time constraints on client raters and the client-rated perceptions of those consultants interper-
need for parsimony, we added a version of our mea- sonal sensitivity was 0.41 (p < 0005). This significant
sure that adapted the first three items listed above under positive relationship suggests that ones willingness to
Phase 1: Item Development to the format of a propri- act with interpersonal sensitivity is an important driver
etary Internet-based, multirater tool developed and used of others perceptions of ones interpersonal sensitivity.
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by our research site for professional development. A Phase 42 Further Analyses. We also examined the
client-rater version of this survey was sent to the clients relationship between willingness to act with interper-
of the consultant sample. sonal sensitivity and trustworthiness because trust is a
Phase 42 Data Collection. We received survey data correlate of interpersonal sensitivity that has been exam-
from 98 consultants for a 78% response rate of consul- ined in previous research on organizational justice (see
tants who asked for and received feedback from their Colquitt et al. 2001 for a review). Using SEM, we found
that consultants perceptions of their own willingness
clients. These 98 consultants and more than 300 of their
to act with interpersonal sensitivity were positively and
clients formed the sample for this exploratory analysis.
significantly related to clients perceptions of their con-
Eighty-nine of these consultantclient combinations had
sultants trustworthiness ( = 0034, p < 0005, control-
no missing data on control variables, and consultants had
ling for the average relationship duration with clients;
an average of 3.24 client responses. Consultants received
the following nonsignificant control variables were not
a confidential feedback report with anonymous, aggre-
included: the number of client raters and the consultants
gated quantitative and qualitative feedback from their gender, tenure, and division).
clients.
Phase 42 Reliability of Three-Item Scale. Our three- Measures
item measure of self-reported interpersonal sensitivity Unless otherwise indicated, we captured responses to
had sufficient reliability for the self-report data ( = measures using a seven-point Likert scale, ranging from
0073). The factor loadings were all significant at p < 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
0005, with an average estimate of 0.70. We next looked
at the three items as reported by the client raters. The Interpersonal Sensitivity Toward a Specific
factor loadings on a random sample of one client per Focal Client
consultant were all significant at p < 0005, with an aver- As described above in Phase 3 in the scale development
age estimate of 0.80. The average internal consistency of section, we employed a person-specific six-item scale
the scale for client raters was 0.80 (across three nonover- that measures the willingness to act with interpersonal
lapping samples of one client per consultant). The intra- sensitivity. All consultants reported on their willingness
class correlation across a random sample of three client to act with interpersonally sensitive behavior toward one
raters per consultant was 0.28 (p < 0001), indicating that specific client.
averaging across client raters was appropriate. The rWG
statistics for the scale items had means ranging from Gender of Focal Consultant and Focal Client
0.70 to 0.71, and each had a median of 0.83. Gender was reported by the focal consultant. The gender
of the focal consultant and the focal client were coded
Phase 42 Results. In this phase we investigated as separate dummy variables with 0 for male and 1 for
whether an individuals self-reported willingness to act female.
with interpersonally sensitive behavior relates to other
peoples perceptions of their interpersonal sensitivity. Reward Power of Specific Focal Client
Our findings demonstrate a positive correlation: consul- French and Raven (1959) defined reward power as
tants self-reported willingness to act with interpersonal the ability to distribute valued resources. Raven et al.
sensitivity was significantly related to average client per- (1998) created a three-item measure with a Lik-
ceptions of the consultants interpersonal sensitivity (r = ert response scale for measuring reward power in
0030, p < 0001, N = 94). supervisorsubordinate relationships. However, because
Using a fully disaggregated structural equation model, our research focuses on the reward power of a client
we ran a measurement model (i.e., CFA) that included from a partner organization, which differs in content
indicators for consultants self-rated willingness to act from that of internal organizational power, we created
with interpersonal sensitivity, clients ratings of con- a four-item measure that similarly captures each con-
sultants sensitivity, and clients ratings of consul- sultants perception of the reward power of his or her
tants trustworthiness. Our measurement model fit well focal client, who was a senior-level consulting client.
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 343
Consistent with French and Ravens original definition, they feel emotionally close and the likelihood of feel-
our scale measures a clients ability to distribute career- ing compassion or empathic concern for them (Goetz
related rewards to the participating consultant. et al. 2010). Because the tendency to feel empathic
We initially developed a six-item face-valid measure concern and value for others increases considerate,
of reward power in the consulting context. We exam- prosocial behaviors, including interpersonal sensitivity
ined this measure using two subsamples from the data (Batson 2011), emotional closeness should be positively
for this study (i.e., data collected from the first four and related to ones willingness to act with interpersonal
last four survey administrations). We used the first sub- sensitivity.
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sample to refine our measure to a four-item measure Emotional closeness may also be correlated with gen-
that was internally consistent. We then conducted a CFA der. To the extent that women are more nurturing or con-
using a second nonoverlapping subsample and demon- cerned with relationships than men (e.g., Bartunek et al.
strated internal consistency using that second subsample 2000, Eagly and Johnson 1990), they may develop more
( = 0072 for the first subsample, n = 77; = 0074 for emotionally close relationships than men develop. More
the second subsample, n = 130). The CFA fit the data than men, women are concerned with being connected
reasonably well. The factor loadings were all signifi- to others and place a greater emphasis on emotional
cant at p < 0005, with an average estimate of 0.66. The sharing (Gilligan 1982). Therefore, it may be emotional
CFI was 0.98, the RMSEA was 0.11, and the 2 value closeness rather than gender per se that prompts women
was nonsignificant, 4.51 (p = 0011) with 2 degrees of to be more willing to act with interpersonally sensi-
freedom. tive behavior. Thus, we not only expect that emotional
The final scale included the following items ( = closeness will influence individuals willingness to act
0071) that tap into French and Ravens (1959) definition with interpersonally sensitivity behavior but also include
and the Raven et al. (1998) operationalization of reward emotional closeness as a substantive control variable for
power, especially the facilitating a promotion content the gender of the focal consultant.
area: This persons recommendation for an extension
Duration of Interpersonal Relationship with Specific
will have a significant impact on my future, A refer-
Client. The duration of the interpersonal relationship
ral from this person would lead to future opportunities,
between each participating consultant and his or her
Retaining this client will have important benefits for
client was reported by the consultant in years. Relation-
the firm, and Praise from this client would be highly ship duration is a substantive control variable because
valued by partners (in my firm). emotional closeness often develops over time and can
influence prosocial behaviors (McAllister 1995).
Mixed-Gender vs. All-Male Client Teams
Team gender composition was coded with a dummy Other Control Variables
variable, 0 for all-male team of clients and 1 for mixed- We controlled for consultants age, firm tenure, division
gender team of clients. The average size of the client membership, and project size. Consultants were asked
project management team was 3.5 people; 69% of the to report all variables. Age was operationalized in years.
teams were all male, and 31% were mixed gender. Firm tenure was reported in years. A categorical variable
The mixed-gender client teams had one or more female was constructed for the division for which each consul-
members, with most of these teams having only one tant worked: 1 for a large division, 2 for a small division,
female member. Our team-level analysis (for both male and 3 for a very small division. Project size/cost was
and female consultants) was limited to consultants work- measured using the number of full-time equivalents the
ing with two or more clients in charge of the high-level consulting firm had working on the project. We did not
decision making for the project and those without miss- control for the survey session because 10 dummy vari-
ing gender information for the five or fewer client team ables for survey sessions 211 (0 indicating not this ses-
members reported on the name-generator portion of the sion and 1 indicating this session), with the first session
survey (N = 187). as the referent session, yielded nonsignificant results.
Substantive Control Variables
Emotional Closeness. Emotional bonds refer to an
Analyses
experience of feeling joined, as seen and felt, known, Confirmatory Factor Analyses
and not alone (Kahn 1998, p. 39). Emotional close- We used SEM to perform a CFA on our scales. We con-
ness, a proxy for emotional bonds, was captured with a ducted the CFA using a partially disaggregated approach
two-item measure: I like this person and I feel emo- and LISREL 8.8 software (Jreskog and Srbom 1997).
tionally close to this person ( = 0080). Partial disaggregation refers to testing a model using two
Emotional closeness increases the degree to which or more composite indicators, or parcels (Bagozzi and
individuals care about the welfare of those to whom Edwards 1998). A parcel is achieved using the linear
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
344 Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS
composites of a set of homogeneous items (in our case, analyses. The reliability coefficients for our multi-item
the average of two items from the same scale), and each measures range from 0.71 to 0.80, exceeding the 0.70
parcel is treated as a continuous indicator. Kline (2005) criterion suggested by Nunnally (1978).
pointed out that the score reliability of parcels tends Hypothesis 1, which predicted that female consultants
to be greater than that for individual items. Parcels are would be more willing to act with interpersonally sen-
recommended for SEM because they reduce measure- sitive behavior than would male consultants, was not
ment error, the effects of nonnormality, and the mini- supported (b = 0012, n.s.; see Table 2, Model 2).
mum sample size required for the analyses (Bagozzi and Hypothesis 2, which proposed that consultants would
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Results
Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, correla- Reward power of target client
tions, and reliability estimates for all variables in the Note. See formula in the Results section.
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 345
Variable Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
5. Emotional Closeness to Client 5043 0089 0030 0008 0004 0029 0080
6. Consultants Perpective Taking 5006 0072 0039 0003 0007 0028 0016 0076
7. Relationship Duration 2034 3004 0020 0006 0013 0010 0040 0008
8. Consultants Age 39071 7061 0024 0003 0001 0005 0011 0022 0032
9. Consultants Firm Tenure 6093 4000 0005 0010 0003 0003 0004 0003 0021 0000
10. Project Size (firm full-time equivalents) 16070 31038 0012 0004 0001 0006 0004 0018 0000 0012 0014
11. Consultants Division
(1 = large, 2 = small, 3 = very small) 1039 0057 0029 0012 0001 0000 0020 0019 0035 0039 0029 0.27
12. Client Team Size 3053 1025 0006 0006 0007 0032 0011 0002 0001 0015 0012 0.16 0027
13. Mixed-Gender Client Team
(0 = all male, 1 = mixed gender) 0031 0046 0029 0003 0052 0010 0007 0009 0004 0000 0003 0.15 0012 0.08
H1, H2 H3 H4a
Consultants Gender (0 = male, 1 = female) (H1) 0012 0002
Clients Gender (0 = male, 1 = female) (H2) 0038 0049
Clients Gender Mean-Centered Reward Power (H3) 0058
Emotional Closeness to Client (control) 0020 0019 0018 0016
Reward Power of Client (mean-centered) 0009 0008 0011 0008
Relationship Duration 0000 0001 0000 0001
Consultants Age 0001 0001 0002 0001
Consultants Firm Tenure 0001 0000 0000 0000
Project Size (firm full-time equivalents) 0000 0000 0000 0000
Consultants Division (1 = large; 2 = small, 3 = very small) 0036 0023 0025 0014
Client Team Size 0004
Mixed-Gender Client Team (0 = all male, 1 = mixed) (H4) 0032
R2 0017 0020 0022 0033
N 202 202 202 162
a
Male consultants interpersonal sensitivity willingness toward male client.
p < 0010; p < 0005; p < 0001.
women to maintain the original scaling of the dependent willingness to treat them with interpersonal sensitivity
variable when centering the reward power variable): (0.73 versus 0.67, p = 0034). In contrast, when com-
pared with male clients, female clients with lower reward
IS_increase = 0(centered)
power elicited from consultants a significantly greater
+ 0011Centered_Reward_Powerhigh/low + 0049if_female_client willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity toward
them than did male clients (1.55 versus 0.52, p < 0001).
0058 Centered_Reward_Powerhigh/low,if_female_client 0
In H4, we predicted that male consultants working
The increase in the willingness to act with interper- with a mixed-gender team of clients would show more
sonally sensitive behavior when interacting with female willingness to act with interpersonally sensitive behav-
clients with lower reward power was 1.55. These find- ior toward a male client than would consultants working
ings suggest that for women, having higher reward with an all-male team of clients. Hypothesis 4 was sup-
power is detrimental in terms of eliciting others will- ported (b = 0032, p < 0005; see Table 2, Model 4).
ingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity (0.67 versus
1.55). In contrast, for men, having higher reward power Additional Results
was beneficial in terms of eliciting this willingness from Emotional closeness was included in our analyses as a
others (0.73 versus 0.52). substantive control variable. We expected that consultants
Interestingly, male and female clients with higher would be more willing to act with interpersonally sen-
reward power elicited a similar change in consultants sitive behavior toward a client when they felt they had
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
346 Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS
a stronger (more emotionally close) relationship to him the increased willingness to act with interpersonal sensi-
or her. This expectation was supported (b = 0019, p < tivity toward male clients when working with a mixed-
0005; see Table 2, Model 2). However, female consul- gender team held for the full sample of male and female
tants did not report having relationships that were more consultants combined (b = 0041, p < 0001).
emotionally close than did male consultants (r = 0008, Moreover, whereas both male consultants and female
p = 0012). We also did not find a correlation between consultants were significantly more willing to act with
clients gender and perceptions of their power (r = 0007, interpersonal sensitivity when working with a mixed-
p = 0016) or closeness to them (r = 0004, p = 0027). gender versus an all-male team of clients, the increase in
Downloaded from informs.org by [58.108.231.1] on 26 April 2016, at 00:41 . For personal use only, all rights reserved.
These findings suggest that our results are not influenced willingness to act with sensitivity for female consultants
by differences in perceptions of the power of, or emo- was significantly greater than that for male consultants
tional closeness to, female versus male clients. (Genderfemale Mixed-genderclientteam ; b = 0076, p <
We also tested our direct gender effects using SEM. 0005), suggesting that the female consultants in our study
The model fit well ( 2 4275 = 30057, p = 0029) and were more sensitive to team demography than were our
male consultants (see Figure 3). Thus, interpersonal con-
yielded equivalent results for H1 and H2 and emotional
text may be critical for interpreting our null results for
closeness (see Figure 2).
H1 and understanding when women are likely to be
Finally, to ascertain whether outliers with extremely
more willing to act with interpersonal sensitivity than
high reward power were driving our interaction effect men and when they are not.
with client gender, we eliminated the consultants with Second, although our analyses above provide some
clients who were rated within the top 10% of our data on insight into our finding that female consultants were,
this measure. The interaction effect remained significant in general, not more willing to act with interperson-
and almost equal in magnitude in this truncated sample ally sensitive behavior than were male consultants, we
(b = 0055, p < 0005). also investigated this relationship in two additional sam-
ples. Using sample 1 from our scale development section
Supplemental Analyses (N = 361, with 17% women, Nwomen = 61), we found
We present three different supplemental analyses. First, that gender and willingness to act with interpersonal sen-
with respect to H4, which focused on male consultants, sitivity were not significantly correlated after control-
#ONSULTANTS GENDER
MALE
FEMALE
4ARGET CLIENTS GENDER
MALE
FEMALE
#ONSULTANTS
INTERPERSONAL
n SENSITIVITY TOWARD
2EWARD POWER OF
CLIENT WILLINGNESS
TARGET CLIENT
#ONSULTANTS
EMOTIONAL
CLOSENESS TO CLIENT
#ONSULTANTS
DIVISION
Figure 3 Change in Interpersonal Sensitivity (IS Willingness) Third, our strong result for the influence of emotional
by Male and Female Consultants Working with closeness, a substantive control variable, on the willing-
All-Male vs. Mixed-Gender Client Teams ness to act with interpersonal sensitivity was notable.
0.80 To better isolate the nomological net of willingness to
Mixed-gender client team act with interpersonal sensitivity, we further investigated
All-male client team
0.60 the effect of close emotional bonds from the perspec-
tive of relationship investments. For instance, in addition
Change in consultants interpersonal
0.40
sensitivity (willingness)
Our research calls into question the assumption that found for individuals interacting with women with high
the greater sensitivity in mixed-gender interactions is reward power. Thus, the effect of organizationally rel-
primarily the result of women behaving in a more sen- evant sources of power on interactions with male and
sitive manner and investigates the complementary per- female clients was not uniform but gender and stereo-
spective that both men and women may be more will- type dependent.
ing to act with interpersonally sensitive behavior when It is important to note that we did not find a back-
interacting with women. Consistent with this view, we lash against womendefined as more negative treat-
found that professionals were more willing to act with ment of women with counterstereotypically high levels
Downloaded from informs.org by [58.108.231.1] on 26 April 2016, at 00:41 . For personal use only, all rights reserved.
sensitive behavior when interacting with a female col- of power. Individuals interacting with men and women
league or with a mixed-gender (versus all-male) team with high reward power demonstrated equal levels of
of clients. Our findings were robust despite the small willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity, suggest-
number of women at the top level of our firm. More- ing that it might be the trajectory that differs as men and
over, we believe that this increased willingness to act women move from low to high power rather than the
with sensitive behavior when interacting with female absolute level of sensitivity others are willing to show
colleagues and on mixed-gender teams is likely to have a them when they have high power. The experience of
real impact because of our finding that individuals self- this negative trajectory in interpersonal sensitivity may
reported willingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity be experienced by women as a social reprisal or back-
was correlated with others perceptions of their interper- lash. Thus, this negative trajectory for women with high
sonal sensitivity and trustworthiness (see Phase 4 in the reward power may be a double-edged sword. Women
scale development section). themselves may perceive social reprisal while at the
Furthermore, we sought to disentangle the social cat- same time avoid the negative perceptions of low com-
egory expectations associated with an individuals gen- petence that are often associated with women receiving
der from his or her level of reward power. Thus, we high levels of help and sensitivity (Barreto et al. 2010,
refined our investigation of social categorization pro- Dardenne et al. 2007, Good and Rudman 2010).
cesses by examining how the fit (or lack of fit) between Finally, our findings related to H1 that women were
the customary low-status social category expectations not more willing to act with interpersonally sensitive
for women and their level of organizationally relevant behavior than men was surprising. We found similar
power influenced other individuals willingness to treat results in two other samples of individuals who were cur-
women with interpersonal sensitivity. We found that rently working or had recently worked in a wide variety
reward power had an effect consistent with category- of organizational settings. Thus, this result may in fact
based expectations for women. The interaction between be an accurate reflection of the small gender differences
gender and reward power showed that individuals will- in professional mens and womens willingness to act
ingness to act with interpersonal sensitivity was high- with interpersonal sensitivity, especially when context is
est when interacting with women with low reward not taken into account.
powerthat is, female colleagues whose level of reward Our supplemental analyses were consistent with re-
power was more consistent with the social category and search that demonstrates that interpersonal and orga-
lower status expectations for the category women. Our nizational contexts influence the behavior of women
findings are consistent with work demonstrating that within organizations (e.g., Ashford et al. 1998, Bowles
social rewards accrue to women who behave in less et al. 2007, Dutton et al. 2002, Ely and Padavic 2007)
powerful, more category-consistent ways (Okimoto and and with Croson and Gneezys (2009) conclusion that
Brescoll 2010, Rudman and Phelan 2008). However, we women are often more responsive to social cues than are
extend this work from investigating women who dis- men. Mixed-gender versus all-male teams, for example,
play category-consistent behavior to women who hold may provide social cues that signal that greater willing-
category-consistent levels of reward power. ness to act with interpersonal sensitivity is appropriate
In contrast, the social category male interacted with cues such as more equalitarian behavior (Konrad et al.
reward power such that individuals willingness to treat 1992) or more empowerment (Bartunek et al. 2000).
male clients with interpersonal sensitivity increased as Although we cannot determine why the women in our
the reward power of those men increased. This is con- sample were more responsive to the context of mixed-
sistent with arguments asserting that individuals must gender teams, these women may have perceived mixed-
be more cautious around people who have either more gender teams within a male-dominated industry as a
social status or more power than they do (Chen et al. less masculine environment. Alternatively, mixed-gender
2004, de Kwaadsteniet and van Dijk 2010, Fiske 1993, client teams may have provided female consultants with
Van Vugt et al. 2008) and with research suggesting freedom from being solo tokens. Importantly, these
people are more polite to those with power over them suggestive results underscore our main finding that inter-
(Ambady et al. 1996, Brown et al. 1987, Morand 1996). personal context is an important driver of ones willing-
However, it reflects a trend opposite of the one that we ness to act with interpersonally sensitive behavior.
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 349
Contributions and Future Directions in Research the altered behavioral tendencies of male team mem-
This paper adds to our understanding of interper- bers in the presence of women. Moreover, our results
sonal sensitivity by investigating contextual factors suggest a mechanism that can explain Chatman and
that influence an individuals willingness to act with OReillys (2004) finding that men in male-dominated
interpersonally sensitive behavior. Because a variety of groups showed the highest levels of positive affect and
organizationally relevant behaviors can be categorized as viewed their groups as most cooperative when com-
interpersonally sensitive (e.g., social support, affiliative pared with men on either all-male or female-dominated
citizenship, relationship repair), our findings suggest that teams. The men on these teams may have been willing
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a promising direction for future research would result to treat each other with greater interpersonal sensitivity
from investigating how interpersonal context influences than men on all-male teams.
these processes. The fact that men in interdependent team settings face
It is noteworthy that this study contributes to the lit- social demands for sensitivity when interacting in the
erature on gender differences at work by suggesting presence of female colleagues has received little attention
that relational differences in mixed-gender interactions until recently (but see Barclay 2010, Hardy and Van Vugt
may stem from the dyad-level features of the interaction 2006, Van Vugt and Iredale 2013). And the fact that in
itselfsuch as whether an individual is interacting with interdependent contexts it may only take one woman on
a male partner or with a female partner with low or high a mixed-gender team to change these demands for social
power. In the context of gender differences, many stud- sensitivity suggests a fruitful direction for research. For
ies have investigated whether men or women demon- example, future research could investigate the relation-
strate more interpersonal sensitivity and/or sensitivity to ship between mens increased willingness to act with
nonverbal social cues. Some researchers reported that interpersonally sensitive behavior in mixed-gender teams
women are more sensitive than men are (e.g., Hall 1978, and group-level behaviors such as more equality in con-
Hall and Schmid Mast 2008, Hojat et al. 2002, Salovey versational turn takingi.e., group behaviors that are
and Mayer 1990, Woolley et al. 2010), whereas other positively related to group collective intelligence and per-
formance (Woolley et al. 2010).
researchers reported no differences between men and
Moreover, our findings suggest that benevolent sexism
women (e.g., Betancourt 1990, Block 1976, Maccoby
can be directed toward women in nontraditional roles
and Jacklin 1974). Although there is some doubt about
(career women) and high-level positions. These find-
whether women demonstrate more interpersonal sensi-
ings build on and contribute to the nascent literature on
tivity than men, our research suggests that the inter-
benevolent sexism toward working women, job appli-
personal contextin particular, the gender of interac-
cants, and customers (Good and Rudman 2010, Hebl
tion partnersis an important variable that influences
et al. 2007, King et al. 2012). Additional research is
womens willingness to act with interpersonal sensitiv- needed to determine how organizationally relevant forms
ity. Thus, examining interaction partner-level effects may of power, such as reward power and assertive behavior,
help explain why some studies find women are more as well as task characteristics, such as collaborating ver-
sensitive than men (and why some studies do not). We sus competing, simultaneously influence the likelihood
are reminded of Kurt Lewins famous equation, B = that women in the upper levels of an organization will
f (P, E), which states that behavior is a function of the receive benevolent versus hostile or equal treatment rel-
person and her environment (Lewin 1943). Consistent ative to their male colleagues.
with this equation, we add to the current understand- We also highlight the dark side of gender-motivated
ing of gender dynamics in organizations by finding that interpersonal sensitivity and need for reducing the gen-
increased interpersonal sensitivity is not necessarily the der gap in interpersonal sensitivity. For women, receiv-
result of females increased willingness to act with inter- ing interpersonally sensitive treatment in terms of extra
personally sensitive behaviors relative to males but rather cooperation, help, and time can lead them to doubt their
the result of individuals (male and female) increased own competence (Barreto et al. 2010) or perform worse
willingness to act with these behaviors when interacting (Dardenne et al. 2007) and may be viewed by observers
with female colleagues. as a signal of a womans incompetence (Good and Rud-
Our findings challenge the implicit and sometimes man 2010). For men, receiving low levels of interper-
explicit assumption that in teams with higher propor- sonal sensitivity may preclude the personal, relational,
tions of women, it is the behavior of the female team and team benefits of interpersonal sensitivity that are
members, not the male members, that causes the team to important when work is nonroutine and interdependent
demonstrate more sensitive behaviore.g., make more (Bartel et al. 2012; Bies and Tripp 1996; Greenberg
altruistic decisions (Kennedy 2003) or use fewer overly 1990, 1993, 2006; Levin and Cross 2004; Molinsky and
aggressive decision-making strategies (LePine et al. Margolis 2005; Tyler 1993).
2002). Our findings suggest that the dynamic in mixed- Finally, this study highlights situations in which con-
gender teams may well result at least in part from ventional rules for civil behavior may collide with civil
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
350 Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS
behavior defined as sensitive, helpful behavior and with main sample, a small effect size; Cohen 1992). Despite
civil behavior defined as respectful, equality-based treat- our sample size and the possibility of range restriction,
ment. For example, our finding that consultants were we can still conclude that the effect of participants gen-
most willing to act with sensitive behavior toward female der is much less a factor in increasing their willingness
clients with low power is consistent with benevolent to act with interpersonal sensitivity than the gender of
sexism and with social conventions for civility (Cal- their interaction partners and the gender composition of
houn 2000). In contrast, our finding that consultants their teams, which are statistically significant and robust
were equally willing to act with interpersonally sensi- despite the same possibility of being subject to the range
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tive behavior toward male and female clients with high restriction and a similar number of women consultants
power is consistent with gender equity. Our findings and clients.
thus have implications for understanding the relation- Third, on interorganizational projects, such as those
ships among interpersonal sensitivity, benevolent sexism, that we studied, individuals may be more likely to
backlash and different conceptualizations of civility act with interpersonal sensitivity than those in tradi-
e.g., convention-bound civility (Calhoun 2000), legal tional hierarchical relationships within a firm. Relation-
statutes for civility (Whitman 2000), and genuine civility ship building, for instance, is not only critical for task
(Calhoun 2000, Porath 2012). performance in professional services but is also associ-
Because research on civility in organizations has ated with career rewards (Maister 1997). Our consultants
focused primarily on incivility, which is always insen- were also dependent on their clients contributions of
sitive (e.g., Porath and Erez 2009), organizational unique skills and knowledge. This interdependence may
researchers have not paid a great deal of attention to have made interpersonally sensitive treatment a preferred
behaviors that are civil but disrespectful or sexist in strategy for maintaining cooperation. Future research
terms of signaling an underlying assumption of inequal- should directly investigate the contextual influences of
ity between members of different groups (e.g., holding task interdependence and cross-boundary relationships
the door for women) and, conversely, behaviors that are on interpersonal sensitivity.
less civil than social conventions would require (e.g.,
not giving up ones seat for an older woman) yet more Implications for Practice
respectful than conventions permit because they signal Organizations are faced with growing levels of insen-
equality among members of different groups. We provide sitive disrespectful behavior (Pearson and Porath 2009,
a springboard for future research into the intersection of Pearson et al. 2001, Porath et al. 2008) and the con-
civility, interpersonal sensitivity, and benevolent sexism. comitant detrimental effects of this behavior such as
conflict, reduced performance, and employees negative
Strengths and Limitations emotions (e.g., Bies and Tripp 1996, Jehn 1995, Porath
The studys findings should be considered in light of its and Erez 2009). In contrast, interpersonal sensitivity
strengths and limitations. First, in this study, our inde- may have quantifiable benefits because it can promote
pendent variables of interest, gender and gender compo- employee thriving, organizational identification, and the
sition, were calculated from observed demographic vari- acceptance of unfavorable decisions as well as reduce
ables so that common method bias should not affect our levels of stress and support safe behavior in dangerous
findings (Spector 2006). Moreover, our gender results work contexts (e.g., Bartel et al. 2012; Ely and Meyer-
remained equally strong when the perceptual control son 2010; Greenberg 1990, 1993, 2006; Molinsky and
variables were removed from the model. Margolis 2005; Spreitzer et al. 2005, 2012).
Second, we consider issues of range restriction, scale Researchers at the U.S. Veterans Administration, a
coarseness, and sample size. We did not find a significant healthcare provider with 243,000 full-time employees
relationship between the gender of the consultants in our and a budget of more than $112 billion (Belton 2012),
main study and their willingness to act with interper- found that compared with units with low levels of inter-
sonal sensitivity, nor did we find a significant correlation personal sensitivity, units with high levels of sensitivity
in two other samples. Because our scale of interpersonal saved an average of $61,000 per workgroup per year on
sensitivity had low variance, there exists the possibility Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints
that range restriction (from organization selection prac- and $250 per full-time employee per year in sick leave
tices) or scale coarseness (i.e., lack of measure accuracy usage (Osatuke et al. 2010, 2012).
inherent when using a Likert scale to capture a continu- Our study suggests that interpersonal context vari-
ous variable) could have attenuated the true correlation ables, such as interaction partners gender and power,
between consultants gender and their willingness to act influence individuals motivation to act with interperson-
with interpersonal sensitivity (Aguinis et al. 2009). We ally sensitive behavior. Thus, when forming teams, man-
cannot eliminate this possibility. We also cannot elimi- agers may first assess whether relational aspects of team
nate the possibility that there is a small effect size asso- interactions such as interpersonal sensitivity are impor-
ciated with gender that would only be statistically signif- tant for team performance and use this information to
icant in a larger sample of women (Cohens d = 0018 for inform how they select the gender mix of teams.
Williams and Polman: Gender and Interpersonal Sensitivity
Organization Science 26(2), pp. 334355, 2015 INFORMS 351
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Batson CD (2011) Altruism in Humans (Oxford University Press,
factors that motivate the willingness to engage in inter-
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Batson CD, Turk CL, Shaw LL, Klein TR (1995) Information function
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Acknowledgments J. Personality Soc. Psych. 68(2):300313.
The authors thank Pam Tolbert, Marya Besharov, Arturs Becker JC, Glick P, Ilic M, Bohner G (2011) Damned if she does,
Kalnins, Tanya Menon, Ileen Devault, and the Cornell Writing damned if she doesnt: Consequences of accepting versus con-
Group for comments on earlier versions of this paper. They fronting patronizing help for the female target and male actor.
also thank Nancy Rothbard and the anonymous reviewers at Eur. J. Soc. Psych. 41(6):76177.
Organization Science for helpful feedback and suggestions. Belton LB (2012) CREW (Civility, Respect, and Engagement in the
Workplace). Presentation at the 3rd Annual Finger Lakes Dialog
Endnotes on Relational Workplaces, June 23, Watkins Glen, NY.
1
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2 Bies RJ, Moag JS (1986) Interactional justice: Communication cri-
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3 246260.
The sample size reported here is smaller than the pretest sam-
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Whitman JQ (2000) Enforcing civility and respect: Three societies. Yale Michele Williams is assistant professor of organizational
Law J. 109(6):12791398. behavior at Cornell University. She received her Ph.D. from
Williams M (2007) Building genuine trust through interpersonal emotion the University of Michigan. Her research concentrates on gen-
management: A threat regulation model of trust and collaboration der and on the influences of interpersonal processes such as
across boundaries. Acad. Management Rev. 32(2):595621. trust, emotion, perspective taking, and interpersonal sensitivity
Williams M (2012) Perspective taking: Building positive interper- on how cooperative relationships evolve, especially on projects
sonal connections and trustworthiness one interaction at a time. involving people from multiple organizations or groups within
Cameron K, Spreitzer G, eds. Handbook of Positive Organizational an organization.
Scholarship (Oxford University Press, New York), 462473.
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