Workplace decision-making in the trades: Impact of masculine attitudes

Abstract

The majority of existing research on gender in the trades focuses on the personal experiences of women working in the trades. As the trades are still male dominated, the present study investigated tradesmen’s adherence to male role norms in relation to workplace safety behaviours and perceptions of co-worker competence.  Participants were presented with a vignette that depicted a common, yet potentially unsafe, workplace task in which either a male or female hypothetical coworker was available to assist. Next, participants completed questions pertaining to the safety situation outlined in the vignette. Participants also completed questionnaires pertaining to the safety situation outlined in the vignette. Participants also completed questionnaires of adherence to male role norms, neosexist beliefs, perceptions of their actual male and female co-workers' abilities, and attitudes toward workplace safety. Results indicated that participants showed no gender bias when selecting a hypothetical helper in the situation; rather, adherence to safety protocls appeared to take precedence. Further analaysis revealed that for participants assigned to a vignette featuring a hypothetical male co-worker, there was a negative correlation between strength of adherence to male role norms and perceptions of actual female co-workers' general workplace abilities. For participants assigned to a vignette featuring a hypthetical male co-worker, there was a negative correlation between strength of adherence to male role norms and perceptions of actual co-workers' general safety behaviours on a job site. Possible reasons for these findings, limitations of this study, and future research directions are discussed.