TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hernandez Bark, Alina S.
A1  - Seliverstova, Kseniya
A1  - Ohly, Sandra
T1  - Getting credit for proactivity? The effects of gender
T2  - Journal of applied social psychology
N2  - With our research, we contribute to the research on proactive work behavior in two ways. First, we examine a person's gender as a boundary condition for proactive behavior at work. Based on social role theory, we argue that women are less likely to receive credit for showing personal initiative (PI) than men. Second, we examine agency and communion as underlying mechanisms that translate PI into a person's evaluation and drive backlash effects. The hypotheses were tested in two complementary experimental studies (Study 1; N = 114, Study 2: N = 163) using simulated job interviews. Our results show that PI relates to better evaluations (likeability, perceived competence, performance evaluations, expected success and hireability) of the job applicant and that these effects are mediated by agency and communion. Further, we find backlash effects for women high in agency and men high in communion on likeability (Study 2). The implications of these results for organizations and future research are discussed.
KW  - backlash effect
KW  - gender role theory
KW  - gender stereotypes
KW  - personal initiative
KW  - proactive work behavior
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/64416
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-644167
SN  - 1559-1816
N1  - Early View: Online Version before inclusion in an issue
VL  - 2021
IS  - online version before inclusion in an issue
SP  - 1
EP  - 16
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Oxford [u.a.]
ER  -