Are there gender differences in TSRs seeking supervisory promotions?

Are there gender differences between females and males seeking supervisory promotions in the telemarketing industry?

In general, existing research on gender differences applies to employees already in managerial jobs, especially as male and female managers atttempt to move up the managerial hierarchy. This type of research has received considerable attention during the last two decades. Women have made gains of 30 and 40 percent in 1980 and 1990, respectively, of the managerial, executive and administrative jobs classified by th Census Bureau.

Existing research has revealed both similarities and differences between females and males currently holding managerial jobs. Female managers were found to have similar needs, values and chances at potential developmental jobs and intentions to leave their organizations compared to their counterpart male managers. However, there were gender differences in managerial motivation, actual turnover rates, salary progression and actual geographic mobility, leadership styles, and a number of determinants of intentions to leave and actual turnover from organizations.

The bId In Research

We lack information, however, from a gender perspective, on what motivates employees to seek to move into - or avoid moving from their nonsupervisory jobs into - first-level supervisory jobs. Therefore, we explored the gender difference issue of a study we conducted on the general tendencies of TSRs to seek supervisory positions (reported in the August 1997 issue of Telemarketing(R) & Call Center Solutions(TM)).

Career Vs Job Change

A career change is often referred to as movement to a new occupation that is not part of a typical career progression, while a job change is movement to a different job or to a job that is part of a normal career path. For many employees, especially females in a female-dominated industry such as telemarketing, a supervisory promotion may well represent both a job change and a career change. These employees may view their initial TSR job as just a job, but the chance to move into the telemarketing management hierarchy may change their perception of the telemarketing industry as providing a career opportunity. These situations and motivations may apply equally as well to male TSRs. For whatever reason, career change and career development theory (especially managerial career pathing) have surpassed job change theory in explaining supervisory promotions. However, both theories are used in this study because they contain common predictors of supervisory promotions.

Job-Change Motivations

Job-change theory suggests the major reasons TSRs want to be promoted into supervision is that they have a high degree of job dissatisfaction as a TSR and they perceive they will experience greater job and reward satisfaction in the alternative supervisory position. Alternatively, the job-change literature suggests the major reason employees may not change jobs is because few better alternative jobs are available, either inside the organization or outside in other organizations. Some TSRs may not want the added responsibility and hours of a supervisory position and since few other alternative job situations are similar to their current job situations, they stay in their jobs.

Career Advancement Theory

Career development theory suggests one of the major reasons for TSRs wanting to receive a supervisory promotion is that a supervisory job represents more status, responsibility, challenge and/or financial rewards. Movement into supervision represents the first job in a managerial career progression, thus, TSRs interested in a managerial career would seek this type of job. A lack of skills, abilities and/or training in handling the roles and responsibilities of supervision could be important reasons for avoiding a supervisory promotion.

Effects Of TSR Job Perception

Clearly, there are other reasons for employees wanting supervisory promotions. The perspective taken in this study is to examine 12 factors that reflect telemarketing sales agents' perceptions of their current TSR job environment, personal factors and a trilogy of job-search factors. The three job-search factors can influence supervisory promotions directly or interact with alternative job opportunities to influence supervisory promotions. These factors, based upon past research on intent to change jobs, are expected to influence both sexes similarly and in the same direction as they consider leaving their current TSR job for a supervisory promotion.

Figure 1 illustrates the noncausal relationships between these factors and supervisory promotional interest. The six current job environment variables include routine, role overload, role conflict, job involvement, group cohesion and distributive justice. All of these variables indicate the perceptions of employees currently holding TSR jobs. The motivation to change jobs would generally be strongest when TSRs faced a job environment containing high routine, high role conflict and role overload, little psychological job involvement and little group cohesion, and rewarded in a perceived unfair manner.

The two personal factors indicated in Figure 1 are age and tenure with the telemarketing organization. Normally, TSRs who are younger and have the shortest tenure are expected to have the highest interest in supervisory promotion.

The trilogy of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave affect job change and job search. Furthermore, alternative job opportunities interact with this trilogy of variables. Alternative job opportunities centers on whether employees perceive there are other TSR jobs in other organizations. If TSRs perceive they cannot find other TSR jobs elsewhere, then they may be motivated to try to move within their present organization and/or to remain in their current TSR job.

While the linkage between this trilogy of variables remains unclear, these variables are individually expected to directly influence an employee's motivation for supervisory promotion. If TSRs view their current job with a great deal of dissatisfaction, they are more likely to be motivated to make a change, in this case, into management. To physically demonstrate organizational commitment means staying with the organization, investing in it, and describing oneself as an employee of the organization. Shifting to managerial jobs may increase an employee's organizational commitment and be a personal and professional demonstration of that commitment. If employees reveal signs of a strong desire to leave their organization, then it seems highly improbable that the organization would offer these TSRs a supervisory promotion.

In summary, and irrespective of gender, TSRs seeking a supervisory promotion (hereafter called supervisory seekers), when compared to TSRs not seeking a supervisory promotion (hereafter called supervisory avoiders) will have:

* Higher TSR job routine,

* Higher TSR role conflict and role overload,

* Lower TSR job involvement,

* Lower TSR group cohesion,

* Lower distributive justice (feel TSR job rewards are unfair),

* Younger age and less tenure with the organization, Continued...

* Fewer alternative TSR job opportunities,

* Lower TSR job satisfaction,

* Higher organizational commitment,

* Lower intent to leave the organization.

Study Methodology

The study included 133 female TSRs and 95 male TSRs from eight different U.S. locations of the same national telemarketing company. The actual number of females who were supervisor seekers was 53 and the supervisory avoiders was 80. The respective numbers for male supervisory seekers and avoiders were 51 and 44. The average age of the female sample was 28 years, with less than 3 months average tenure. The average age of the male sample was 26 years, with also less than 3 months average tenure. A survey containing measures of the 12 factors affecting interest in supervisory promotion was administered to TSRs over their lunch hour and their responses were mailed back to the research team.

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed for each of the two respective gender samples to determine if the 12 factors significantly accounted for differences between supervisory seekers and avoiders. MANOVA was also used to test the interaction effects of alternative job opportunities and job satisfaction and intent to leave on supervisory promotional interest. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results were used to confirm the expected individual relationships between each of the twelve factors and supervisory promotion interest. Finally, the more conservative Scheffe method of multiple comparisons was used to contrast the means of the groups.

Female Results

The MANOVA test was statistically significant for the female sample, thus indicating that there were real differences between female supervisory seekers and female supervisory avoiders. The two interaction effects were not significant. The ANOVA results supported mean differences between female supervisory seekers and avoiders on seven of the twelve factors. These seven factors included tenure, routine, role overload, job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave the organization. The more conservative Scheffe tests supported mean differences between the two female groups on eight of the twelve factors. Female supervisory seekers, compared to female nonseekers, were found to have higher TSR job routine, lower TSR role overload, higher TSR job involvement, higher group cohesion, lower tenure, higher TSR job satisfaction, higher organizational commitment and lower intent to leave the organization. There were no significant Scheffe mean score differences between the two female groups on age, role conflict, distributive justice and alternative job opportunities.

Male Results

For the male sample, the MANOVA test was also statistically significant, thus indicating that there were real differences between male supervisory seekers and male supervisory avoiders. However, the two interaction effects were not significant. ANOVA and the more conservative Sheffe results supported significant mean score differences between the two groups on five of the twelve factors. Male supervisory seekers were found to have higher TSR job routine, higher TSR job involvement, higher TSR job satisfaction, higher organizational commitment and less intent to leave their organization than male supervisory avoiders. There were no differences between the two male groups regarding age, tenure, role conflict, role overload, group cohesion, distributive justice and alternative job opportunities.

Summary Of Analysis

All of the significant factors influencing supervisory promotion interest for both female and male TSRs are presented in Table 1. There are five common factors with the same relationships for both male and female supervisory promotion seekers. Both genders seeking a supervisory promotion had higher TSR job routine, higher TSR job involvement, higher TSR job satisfaction, higher organizational commitment and less intent to leave the organization than supervisory avoiders. Three of these relationships were in the expected direction. It was expected that employees of both genders seeking a supervisory promotion would perceive their current TSR job as highly routine and they would have high organizational commitment for and low intent to leave their telemarketing organization.

It was not expected that supervisory promotion seekers would have higher TSR job involvement and higher TSR job satisfaction compared to supervisory promotion avoiders. These results were the same across both sexes and the reasons for these unexpected results remain speculative. However, beneficial attributes could be attributed to these two unexpected results. Potential supervisors who previously held strong psychological identity with (job involvement) and liked doing (job satisfaction) their old TSR jobs would probably provide a more positive environment for TSRs they become responsible for supervising.

Although both female and male supervisory promotion seekers held similar views on five factors motivating their supervisory interests, the female supervisory promotion seekers held significant views on three additional factors. Female supervisory seekers had lower TSR role overload, higher group cohesion and less tenure than female supervisory avoiders. While the less tenure result was expected, the lower overload and higher cohesion results were not in the expected direction. In total these three results seem to provide beneficial attributes for an employee seeking a supervisory role. Most likely, these females, if promoted into supervision could share their strategies for reducing TSR role overload, helping build group cohesion and providing evidence to other TSRs that the organization can and does promote short-tenured employees.

COnclusions And Implications

The major question asked in this study was whether there are gender differences between females and males seeking supervisory promotions. The major premise, based on past research on intent to change jobs, was that there would be little gender differences. Thus, it was expected that both females and males seeking supervisory promotions would tend to exhibit similar factors. The results from the study partially support this premise in that both sexes perceived a common core of five factors motivating their seeking a supervisory promotion. Even though the five factors were not all in the expected direction, the two unexpected significant factors were essentially beneficial to the potential supervisory candidate, to those TSRs this potential supervisor might supervise, and to the telemarketing organization, in general. Even the additional three factors found for female supervisory seekers could be viewed as a positive situation for all concemed.

The positive attributes that members of both sexes hold of their TSR job and their telemarketing organization as they desire to move up in their organization hold implications for management. First, a supervisory promotion does represent a job change, a change from performing a fairly routine, mechanical TSR job to a highly interactive, interpersonal job. These are different jobs and management needs to provide training and support for employees moving into supervisory positions.

To some, not only does the supervisory promotion represent a job change, but it may represent a career opportunity. Clearly, the telemarketing industry is here to stay and hopefully will continue to grow. Telemarketing organizations need good managers throughout their respective management hierarchies. The basic managerial training position begins at the supervisory level. This study indicates that it is the more positive, affective employees who want the opportunity to move into the management hierarchy, irrespective of gender. Management needs to work diligently to ensure that these affective feelings and thoughts are not dissipated as employees strive to advance themselves in a telemarketing managerial career.

Thomas N. Martin and John C. Hafer are both professors in the Management & Marketing Department at College of Business Administration of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation Apr 1998
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