Gender issues among academics: the role of resources Prof. Dr. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Gender issues among academics: the role of resources

• Prof. Dr. Evangelia Demerouti

Outline

• Research on work environment, well-being &

performance

• Women participation in the academic context
• Results of studies among academics
• Conclusions

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Work environment Well-being Performance

Unique work environment

Workload Emotional Demands Mental Demands Physical Demands Autonomy Social Support Coaching Feedback

Many Dem ands and Resources

Etc. Etc.

Job Dem ands-Resources ( JD-R) Model

Job Resources Job Demands Diminished Health/ Energy Outcomes Motivation

+ +

• +

Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner & Schaufeli (2000, 2001) Bakker, Demerouti et al. (2003ab, 2004ab, 2005ab, 2006, 2007ab, 2008, 2013)

Assum ptions

• Unique work environment for every
• ccupational group
• 2 categories: Job demands and Job

Resources

• 2 processes: Health/Energy and Motivation
• Resources may buffer the impact of job

demands

• Job resources become salient in the context
• f high job demands

Job Resources

Autonomy Self-growth Social Support

Job Demands

Workload Emotional Work-Family conflict

Bakker, Demerouti, & Verbeke (2004)

.79

Hum an Service Prof´ s, N= 1 4 6

Dedication Exhaustion In-role Performance Extra-role Performance

.38

• .35

.30

• .51

.83 .21

• .28

Blue Collar W orkers, N= 2 1 4

Job Resources

Autonomy

• .68

Participation

Job Demands

Workload Changes

Burnout Commitment T2 Absence Duration T2 Absence Frequency

.63 .58 .62 .67 .96 .92 .21

• .20

Bakker, Demerouti, De Boer & Schaufeli (2003)

• Branch
• Trait Personal Resources
• Trait Work Engagement

Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti & Schaufeli, 2009

Greek fast-food restaurants

N= 42 employees x 5 days

Autonomy Coaching Team Climate Self-efficacy Optimism Self-esteem

Work Engagement Financial Turnover (€)

.30

10/24/2013 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 11

Technicians

Xanthopoulou et al., 2009

Work Engagement Model

+ +

Bakker (2010, 2011) Bakker & Demerouti (2008)

Personal Resources Performance

Work Engagement

Job Resources Job Demands + +

Job crafting

Conclusions

• In the work environment are two important

processes :

• job demands  (reduced) health & energy
• job resources  motivation
• Work environment leads to performance

through health and motivation (S-O-R)

• Motivation & health may change over time

the work environment

Women in the academic environment

Academic environment in the Netherlands

• Women are underrepresented in academia (Stichting de

Beauvoir, 2012)

• 15% female full professors
• Last decade, most graduates and PhD’s are women (CBS,

2013)

• Male performance standards

(Ackelsberg et al., 2004)

• competitive, individualistic, long

work hours

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Not only a European phenomenon!

• Study of New Scholars. Gender:

Statistical Report [Universities]. By Cathy A. Trower & Jared L. Bleak. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2004.

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Academic environment at universities (of technology)

• Stereotype threat: fear negative treatment or

devaluation because of gender (Murphy et al. 2007)

• John Henry-ism: minorities actively pursue goal

achievement by redoubling their effort and focus on larger career goals to overcome hurdles (Oyserman et al.,

2007)

• Are there facilitating factors for women’s performance?

Human Performance Management

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Studies among academics

Diary study among academic staff TU/e

N=40 (24 women; 16 men; response 30%)

5 Prof 2 PostDoc 26 Assistant 7 Associate

16 women; 10 men 4 women; 3 men 2 women; 3 men 2 women

Job characteristics

Scales: Range 1 to 5

• No gender differences
• Job resources are rather low!

Men Women Job demand Workload 3.6 3.4 Job resources Autonomy 3.1 3.0 Supervisor coaching 1.8 1.9

Personal resources

Scales: Range 1 to 5

• Women score higher than men
• No differences were found on self-esteem and

self-efficacy.

Men Women Goal commitment 3.6 4.1 Mastery approach 3.7 4.1 Prevention focus 2.9 3.4

Outcomes

*Scales: Range 1 to 5

• Women score better except for self-leadership and

number of publications

Men Women Work engagement* 3.4 3.8 Recovery* 3.2 3.6 Family-work facilitation* 2.8 3.2 Self-rewards* 2.3 1.9 Research time (hrs) 2.2 3.6 N of publications 3.25 5.29

Work engagement

• Performance antecedents for both men and women.

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Work engagement Research Time Gender Research Time Publications a year later

Results

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• Research time  number of publications the following year

Implications

• Create engaging work environment

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The role of the self

Drivining force

• Self-affirmation: focusing on positive aspects of the self

to maintain positive self-image (Steele, 1988). Individual strategies

• Self-regulation: regulates behavior in order to achieve

important goals for individual (Carver & Scheier, 2001)

63 employees (academic and supportive staff) x 5 days

Degree to which spending time on personal activities facilitates functioning at work

Results (1)

Results (2)

• Daily self-work facilitation  daily task performance

Discussion

• Self-domain as resource for self-affirmation
• Self-regulation strategies help especially women
• Offer opportunities to spend time on personal

interests:

• Courses
• Sports
• And distort personal life less!

Evaluation Tenure Track Policies Dutch Universities

Sample 148 tenure trackers from 9 Dutch Universities Male 93 Female 55 Humanities 8 Social Sciences 44 Natural Sciences 59 Applied Sciences 37

General experiences in tenure tracks:

• Clear process and goals (clearer

in case of a permanent contract)

• Not flexible
• High work pressure is the most

important obstacle for good performance Differences between disciplines

• More experienced flexibility in

natural sciences less in social sciences

• Teaching workload is more an
• bstacle in social sciences and

less in natural sciences Female tenure trackers:

• Less satisfied with their tenure track

(>50% not satisfied)

• Less experienced reasonability of

goals (>50% consider research goals not reasonable)

• Less experienced flexibility
• Lower expectation of successful

completion

• Supportive policies more important

(stop-the-clock, mentoring, travel budget, personal leave)

• More experienced obstacles

(teaching workload, insufficient support, insufficient childcare policies)

Findings

Conclusions

Remarkable findings

• Daily job resources seem to be rather low among

academics

• Women have higher scores on important outcomes (e.g.

personal resources, work engagement, recovery, research time)

• Men and women have equal publication numbers.
• Self-regulation helps especially women
• Self-work facilitation beneficial for performance

Conclusions

• Enrich jobs with job resources (e.g. coaching,

feedback, developmental possibilities)

• Strengthen personal resources (e.g. success

experiences, coaching, reflection, interventions)

• Facilitate participation in other life domains (e.g.

personal interests, family)

• Careful design of tenure tracks by considering the

needs of women

• Invest in culture change, disconfirm stereotypes
• Important role of leaders!

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Future

Job &

• rganizational

resources Job demands Proactivity Performance indicators (self- and other-ratings) Wellbeing Personal resources Stereotype threat Gender

• Develop and test a career crafting intervention to stimulate proactivity

Thank you for your attention!

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Contact: e.demerouti@tue.nl