A research on the attitudes of white collar employees towards women managers

Although women have been working since the beginning of history, in some cases they took part in unpaid labor and sometimes worked for lower wages than their male counterparts. However, in recent years, the social structure in the world has changed rapidly under the influence of various factors such as technological advances, globalization, economic development and economic crises, and as one of the results of this, women have become more numerous and occupy more positions in business life than ever before. In the last century, women's rights have been expanded in many countries, and women's place in society has become recognized in a wider area, rather than being limited only to the home. Although Turkey recognized women's rights earlier than many countries, equality in real terms has still not been achieved today. Women's participation in business life, especially in higher positions as managers, is still not accepted in some segments of society. According to the 2022 data published by TÜİK in 2023, only 28% of women are employed in Turkey. Even if women enter business life, many of them cannot rise to senior management positions. According to the most recent TÜİK (2023) data, it was announced that the proportion of men in senior management positions in 2022 was 79.3%. Therefore, unfortunately, Turkey is at the bottom of the international rankings of female managers. For example, according to a study conducted by the European Union Statistics Office in 2020, in which 34 European countries participated, Turkey ranks 33rd in the rate of female managers. In order for the society to develop as a whole, it is essential that women, who constitute half of the population, should not be neglected and their talents should not be wasted but utilized. This study was conducted to examine attitudes towards female managers in Turkey. It is important to investigate attitudes because individuals' attitudes direct their behavior. Attitudes towards female managers and the behaviors they cause have an impact in the career journeys of female managers. With this research, local and foreign studies researching attitudes towards female managers in the literature were examined, and the factors affecting the relevant attitudes and the consequences of these attitudes were tried to be determined, and a model was established accordingly. In this study, it is aimed to quantitatively test some of the factors in the established model in the context of Istanbul. In this study, it was aimed to determine whether the attitudes of white-collar employees living in Istanbul towards female managers differ according to gender, age, educational status and professional seniority level. It has been researched which demographic structure people have more positive attitudes towards female managers and which characteristics have more negative attitudes. The research population is narrowed down to white-collar workers because it covers a wide range of professions and women widely work in this field. This research aims to draw attention to the subject, contribute to the existing literature and encourage future research on this subject. In the literature part of the research, firstly, the history of women's working life both in the world and in Turkey is explained and how women started to participate in the paid workforce in modern times is described. Then, the management topic was touched upon and Fayol's basic management functions were included. By examining the concept of management, the skills that a manager should have are explained and the roles that a manager should undertake as defined by Mintzberg are mentioned. Additionally, a statistical comparison was made by giving the rates of female managers in the world and in Turkey. Finally, the concept of attitude was researched. The attitude was defined and two types of attitude, explicit and implicit, were explained. Basic features and three elements of attitude, classified as cognitive, emotional and behavioral, are mentioned. By using Google Scholar, studies investigating attitudes towards female managers were found, and important studies were included under two separate headings which are researchs conducted abroad and in Turkey. With the information obtained by reviewing the articles found, a research model was established that shows the factors affecting attitudes towards female managers and the results of these attitudes. According to the model; demographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status, education level, professional seniority, the country's culture and legal regulations on female employees, as well as organizational culture and policies, gender, patriarchy level, stereotypes, the proportion of women in the workforce, experience of working with female managers. and having a female mentor in the past or present are factors that significantly affect attitudes towards female managers. Some of the elements included in this model (gender, age, education level and professional seniority) were tested quantitatively in this study. In addition, it is seen that attitudes towards female managers affect the psychology of female managers and increase or decrease their motivational level and performance level as a result. The level of positivity or negativity of attitudes towards female managers is an important criterion that determines the quality of career opportunities and the extent of career obstacles not only for managers but for all female employees. Therefore, it is important that attitudes towards female managers are the subject of research. In a country or organization where attitudes are more positive, female employees work with more motivation and their performance increases. In addition, female employees are offered broader career development opportunities and career obstacles are reduced. In this research, survey method was used to collect research data. The first part of the survey used in the study consisted of the Attitude Scale Towards Women Managers (KYKTÖ) developed by Aycan, Bayazit, Berkman and Boratav in 2012, while the second part consisted of questions about the demographic characteristics of the participants such as gender, age, educational status and professional seniority. The scale is a 7-point Likert type with answers ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The relevant survey was created with the Google Forms application and sent to participants working in Istanbul. The answers were collected anonymously, ensuring data confidentiality in order for the participants to answer correctly, and finally, 253 answers were sent. The survey was answered by 146 women and 107 men. Most of the participants are young people and bachelor's degree graduates. Quantitative data were analyzed on a computer using the IBM SPSS Statistics 22 program. During the data entry process, the negative items in the scale were coded in reverse. Reliability analysis was conducted using Cronbach's Alpha coefficient to measure the consistency of the data. The reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as .898, and since this result is in the range of 0.80 ≤ α < 1.00, the scale has a high reliability level. The Kolmogorov - Smirnov test was applied to check whether the data was normally distributed or not, and since the value was calculated as .18 (p > 0.05), it was determined that the data was normally distributed. Mean, standard deviation and variance values of both scale sub-dimensions and individual scale items were also used in the analysis. The standard deviation of the scale was calculated as 1.44, the variance was 2.12 and the mean was 5.11. It means that the participants mostly selected the "somewhat agree" option, which indicates a generally positive attitude. Additionally, since there was a normal distribution, parametric methods were used in data analysis and Independent Sample T Test and One-Way ANOVA tests were applied for the hypotheses. In order to determine whether the attitudes of the participants towards female managers differ according to the gender or not, the independent sample t-test was applied. As a result, it was found that gender is statistically significant and women are found to have more positive attitudes towards women managers in comparison to men. One-Way ANOVA Test was conducted to measure whether the age of the employee is effective in the attitudes of white-collar employees towards female managers. According to the results of this test, age factor creates a significant difference on the attitudes of the participants at the 95% confidence level (F=13.642; p < 0.05). The smaller the age range, the more positive the attitudes participants have, while the older the age, the more negative attitudes towards women managers. The results of the One-Way ANOVA Test conducted to measure whether the level of education has a statistically significant effect on the attitudes of the participants towards female managers shows that the level of education does not make a significant difference on the attitudes at the 95% confidence interval (t=4.103; p > 0.05). When the effect of the professional seniority of the employees on their attitudes towards the female managers was analyzed with the ANOVA test, it was concluded that the seniority had a statistically significant effect (F=5.713; p < 0.05). It has been observed that the attitudes of people with less seniority are more positive towards female managers, while the attitudes of employees with higher years of seniority are more negative. As a result, it has been observed that the attitudes of white-collar employees working in Istanbul towards female managers are generally positive. However, there are differences in the level of positivity. The study showed that women have a more positive attitude towards women managers than men. It was concluded that the attitudes of older people were more negative. Consistent with this result, it was determined that the attitudes of participants with fewer years of professional seniority towards female managers were more positive. It was determined that the employee's education level did not make a statistically significant difference on the attitude. In the light of these findings, some solution suggestions are presented to improve attitudes towards female managers. Although changing attitudes is quite difficult, it is not impossible. Supporting the participation of more women in the workforce, regulating national and organizational policies in an egalitarian and inclusive manner, and raising people's awareness on the issue can be steps that can be taken to improve attitudes towards female managers and thus more women can rise to senior managerial positions. Key Words: Female Manager, Female Workforce, White Collar Employees, Attitude