Just Like a Woman? Effects of Gender-Biased Perceptions of Friendship Network Brokerage on Attributions and Performance

Abstract

D o women face bias in the social realm in which they are purported to excel? Across two different studies (one organizational and one comprising MBA teams), we examined whether the friendship networks around women tend to be systematically misperceived and whether there were effects of these misperceptions on the women themselves and their teammates. Thus, we investigated the possibility (hitherto neglected in the network literature) that biases in friendship networks are triggered not just by the complexity of social relationships but also by the gender of those being perceived. Study 1 showed that, after controlling for actual network positions, men, relative to women, were perceived to occupy agentic brokerage roles in the friendship network-those roles involving less constraint and higher betweenness and outdegree centrality. Study 2 showed that if a team member misperceived a woman to occupy such roles, the woman was seen as competent but not warm. Furthermore, to the extent that gender stereotypes were endorsed by many individuals in the team, women performed worse on their individual tasks. But teams in which members fell back on well-rehearsed perceptions of gender roles (men rather than women misperceived as brokers) performed better than teams in which members tended toward misperceiving women occupying agentic brokerage roles. Taken together, these results contribute to unlocking the mechanisms by which social networks affect women's progress in organizations.

Gender, Brokerage, and Performance: A Construal Approach

“…We focus our account on a key dimension on which men's and women's construal of brokerage is likely to differ: the perceived potential for being negatively evaluated on the basis of one's gender. Building on previous research that suggests that open networks have masculine associations (Brands & Kilduff, 2013;Brands et al, 2015), we posit (and empirically establish) the existence of a negative stereotype about women's performance as brokers in friendship networks. We further suggest that awareness of this stereotype triggers in women, but not in men, anxiety about task performance and negative social evaluations, which serves to undermine women's ability to fully capitalize on the informational benefits of their networks.…”

“…Brokerage positions in friendship networks have been shown to enhance the performance of individuals in organizations (Mehra, Kilduff, & Brass, 2001), but there is also evidence suggesting that they benefit men more than women. For example, a study of managers in a leading hightechnology firm found that social networks rich in structural holes led to early promotions for men but delayed promotions for women (Burt, 1992: 145-166); and a different study of student teams in a MBA program showed that gendered stereotypes about brokerage in friendship networks damaged the reputation of women who were seen to occupy these roles (Brands & Kilduff, 2013).…”

“…If men and women think and behave similarly when they are in brokerage positions, then it seems to follow that gender-based differences in returns to brokerage must derive from the reactions of others. One version of this audience-centered argument highlights that broker networks are stereotypically masculine, thus women who are seen to have broker networks provoke the ire of others, as evidenced by the reputational penalties they incur (Brands & Kilduff, 2013;Brands, Menges, & Kilduff, 2015). A related line of reasoning points to the fact that women suffer from a deficit of legitimacy in the workplace and this lack of insider status hampers the ability of women brokers to capitalize on the potential benefits of brokerage positions (Burt, 1998).…”

“…Our study focuses on friendship ties between individuals rather than on exclusively instrumental ties, such as work-related advice. Research has found that brokerage is positively related to performance in both friendship (e.g., Mehra et al, 2001) and advice networks (e.g., Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001), but it is brokerage in friendship networks that is most likely to invoke gender stereotypes (Brands & Kilduff, 2013). Women who violate the gender-stereotyped expectations of their friendship network by being seen to occupy broker roles are subject to reputational penalties (Brands & Kilduff, 2013).…”

“…Research has found that brokerage is positively related to performance in both friendship (e.g., Mehra et al, 2001) and advice networks (e.g., Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001), but it is brokerage in friendship networks that is most likely to invoke gender stereotypes (Brands & Kilduff, 2013). Women who violate the gender-stereotyped expectations of their friendship network by being seen to occupy broker roles are subject to reputational penalties (Brands & Kilduff, 2013). Diverging from the expectations of friends is a major source of emotional tension in organizations (Krackhardt, 1992), especially for women who tend to define themselves in terms of their relationships to close others (Cross & Madson, 1997).…”