Receptivity to Mediation: The Role of 'Benevolent' Sexism
18 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2004
Date Written: February 14, 2004
Abstract
This study employed a laboratory method to examine the role of "benevolent sexism" in a negotiator's receptivity to a mediator. Benevolent sexism refers to attitudes and beliefs about women that the perceiver subjectively considers positive (Glick & Fiske, 1996; 2001). The participants were 45 female students, placed in the role of negotiator, and their opponent was a male. They were then asked to evaluate a mediator who was either male or female. Earlier, their attitudes on the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) were assessed. A correlation analysis indicated that a benevolently sexist viewpoint was positively associated with greater receptivity (satisfaction, acceptance, and trust) to the male mediator. In other words, women who held the beliefs that women ought to be protected from harm, that women ought to be put on a pedestal, etc., anticipated better treatment when the mediator was a male. Moreover, women who endorsed hostile sexist viewpoints were less receptive to a female mediator. This study represents the first demonstration that attitudes associated with benevolent sexism may have an important impact on a negotiator's receptivity to a mediator. The implication is that mediator training programs might benefit by educating mediators to be aware of resistance that simply stems from the gender context of the mediation.
Keywords: mediation, gender, sexism
JEL Classification: D74, J52
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation