Chapter 11.4, Problem 20AYU

Behavior and Gender at Work Researchers wanted to determine whether individuals considered certain employee work behaviors to be required or optional. For each work behavior cited, participants rated the behavior on a scale from 1 (definitely required) to 7 (completely optional). There were a total of 41 individuals who rated the behavior, with 20 individuals rating a female employee and 21 individuals rating a male employee. The following table shows the work behavior, mean, and standard deviation for female and male employees. For example, of the 20 ratings on the female employee, the mean score for resolving conflict between coworkers was 2.50, while the mean of the 21 ratings on male employees for this behavior was 3.52. Although the sample size is small, assume the distribution of the sample mean is approximately normal for all four work behavior ratings. Conduct the appropriate test for all four work behaviors to determine if there is a difference in ratings for female versus male employees. Write a report that presents your conclusions.

Source: Heilman, Madeline and Chen, Julie, “Same Behavior, Different Consequences; Reactions to Men’s and Women’s Altruistic Citizenship Behavior.” Journal of Applied Psychology 2005, Vol. 90, No. 3, 431–441

Work Behavior	Female Employee	Male Employee
Resolving conflict between coworkers	Mean: 2.50 Standard deviation: 0.76	Mean: 3.52 Standard deviation: 0.68
Alerting management to potentially troublesome issues	Mean: 2.40 Standard deviation: 1.00	Mean: 1.57 Standard deviation: 0.60
Working extra hours during busy times	Mean: 3.00 Standard deviation: 0.73	Mean: 2.29 Standard deviation: 1.06
Attending special training sessions	Mean: 4.00 Standard deviation: 0.86	Mean: 4.19 Standard deviation: 1.29