Attitudes and Company Practices as Predictors of Managers’ Intentions to Hire, Develop, and Promote Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology Professions

Women in professional science, engineering, and technology (SET) are underrepresented in SET organizations, and companies have undertaken a multitude of initiatives to remedy the problem. The outcomes of these efforts have been mixed, and the underrepresentation of women in SET continues. In this study, we examined the correlates of middle managers’ intentions to hire, promote, develop, and retain SET women. The theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) was used to assess and predict managers’ behavioral intentions to engage in women-friendly behaviors (WFB). An elicitation study was first conducted to determine the most salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs with respect to the behaviors of interest. These data guided the development of items for a survey that was distributed through online social networks and completed by 233 middle managers in SET organizations. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the most significant factors associated with SET managers’ intentions to engage in WFB were their Attitudes, Perceived Behavioral Control, Past Behavior, and Affect toward SET women. Furthermore, the manager’s gender moderated the relationship between Subjective Norms and Intentions. Women managers’ intentions were more strongly affected by the Subjective Norms. The combination of theory-derived and exploratory variables (Company Practices, Past Behavior, and Affect) explained 71% of the variance in managers’ intentions toward WFB. Implications for consulting psychologists are discussed.