Effects of employee's sex and threatening versus pleading appeals on managerial evaluations of grievances

Abstract

Studied the influence of appellant's sex and type of appeal on managers' evaluations of grievances in a simulation administered to 73 male and 28 female bank managers. 2 grievances, each written in 4 forms so as to manipulate appellant's sex and type of appeal, were embedded in an in-basket simulation. When the appellant was male, a polite, pleading appeal was very favorably received, and an aggressive, threatening appeal was fairly well received. When the appellant was female, an aggressive, threatening appeal was quite favorably received, but a polite, pleading appeal was much less well received. It appears that women who employ a deferent approach may be victimized by their own sex role stereotypes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)