THE EFFECTS OF EMPLOYEE GENDER, PERFORMANCE LEVEL, AND DECISION-MAKER'S DOGMATISM ON CAUSAL ATTRIBUTIONS AND PERSONNEL DECISIONS

This study investigated causal attributions and personnel decisions for a male and female employee working in a male-dominated occupation, and how those perceptions and decisions are affected by a decision-maker's dogmatism. One-hundred sixty-five graduate students reviewed a personnel file of either a male or female petroleum engineer who had either high or low performance ratings. Subjects then indicated the causes of the bogus employee's performance on a locus and stability of causality dimension, provided a promotability rating, and recommended a salary increase. Rokeach's Form E Dogmatism Scale was administered to assess the subjects' dogmatism.; Results revealed that subjects did not differentially perceive the locus and stability of the employee's performance as an interactive function of the employee's gender and performance level. Furthermore, the subjects' dogmatism had no effect on their perceptions of the locus and stability of causality. However, it was found that high performance was perceived as more internally caused and stable than low performance. These results question the validity of Weiner's (1979) theoretical framework on the dimensions of causal attributions. Results for the recommended salary increase revealed only that high performance employees were recommended higher salary increases than low performance employees. Analyses of the promotability ratings revealed an employee gender by performance level interaction such that the female was seen as more promotable than the male when their performance was high, and less promotable than the male when their performance was low. Finally, a significant employee gender by dogmatism interaction on promotability ratings revealed that the male's promotability rating increased as the subjects' dogmatism increased. Unexpectedly, the female's promotability rating remained unchanged across subjects' dogmatism. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for career advancement for men and women and directions for future research.