Project info
Work package
- Work
Sustainability threat
- External Shocks
Challenge
- Reshaping organizational forms
Study info
Description of Study
Support at work is an important factor in shaping employees’ career-related outcomes. Despite this, relatively little is known about gender differences in the structure of support networks and in the benefits they offer. Drawing on status characteristics theory and gender role theory, this chapter argues that gender differences in informal networks at work are shaped by characteristics of the specific work context, such as the gender composition. Previous studies have primarily examined informal networks in male-dominated workplaces, whereas less is known about support networks in female-dominated workplaces. This chapter addresses this gap by investigating the characteristics and returns of support networks in a Dutch healthcare organization with a predominantly female staff. Using survey data from 286 employees, we constructed ego-network measures of career and emotional support (size, gender and status composition, and number of strong ties) and analyzed their associations with two aspects of subjective career success, namely perceived career success and job satisfaction, through regression models. We found similarities between men and women in the size of career and emotional support networks, but also differences: women’s emotional support networks contained more strong ties, and both their career and emotional support networks showed higher gender homophily. We also found some evidence for gendered network returns, as career support network size, the percentage of men, and having a supervisor in the career support network were associated with perceived career success for men only, and the percentage of same-gender contacts was associated with job satisfaction for men but not for women.
Study research question
How do male and female employees differ in the characteristics of their career and emotional support networks and in the returns they derive from these networks within a female-dominated workplace?
Collection provenance
- External data
- -
Collection methods
- Questionaire
Personal data
-
External Source
Source description
Sustainable Workplace Survey
—
File formats
Data types
- Structured
Languages
Coverage start
Coverage end
Spatial coverage
Netherlands
Collection period start
01/01/2024
Collection period end
31/12/2026
Variables
Unit
Unit description
Sample size
Sampling method
Individuals
Employees working in a Dutch health care organization.
286
—
Hypothesis
Theory
H1: Women, on average, have smaller career support and larger emotional support networks than men.
Gendered access to informal work networks; gender roles and stereotypes; work-related support
H2: Women have more same-gender contacts in their career and emotional support networks than men in a female-dominated workplace.
Gendered access to informal work networks; gender roles and stereotypes; homophily
H3: Women, on average, have more strong ties in their career and emotional support networks than men in a female-dominated workplace.
Gender norms, network composition
H4: In comparison to men, women more often have a supervisor in their career support networks in a female-dominated workplace.
Workplace composition; Status characteristics theory; homophily
Variable type
Variable name
Variable description
Other
career and emotional support networs
Information on respondents’ career and emotional support networks was collected using two separate name-generator questions: ‘Who at work supports your advancement in your career and fosters your progress?’ (career support) and ‘With whom at work do you discuss matters important to you?’ (emotional support; see Appendix C). To balance thorough data collection and respondent burden, we limited the answer to five support contacts per question. Each nominated contact was then followed up with name interpreter questions, which gathered additional information on the support contact’s gender, the emotional closeness, and their formal relationship (supervisor, coworker, subordinate). This information formed the basis for constructing the network characteristics measures: size, gender composition, number of strong ties, and status composition.
Independent variable
Network size
Sum of all mentioned names per support network, measured on a 0 to 5 scale.
Independent variable
Percentage of same-gender
For women, this variable shows the percentage of women and for men the percentage of men.
Independent variable
Percentage of men
Percentage of men in the support networks for both men and women.
Independent variable
Number of strong ties
Count of support contacts rated as emotionally close or very close, measured on a 0 to 5 scale, with higher scores indicating more strong ties.
Independent variable
Supervisor present
Dummy variable indicating whether at least one supervisor was included in the support network.
Dependent variable
Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction measured on a 10-point Likert scale.
Dependent variable
Perceived career success
Average score across four items, measured on a 1 to 5 scale. How successful has your career been up to now? Compared to your coworkers, how successful is your career? How successful do your significant others in your life feel your career has been? Given your age, to what extent is your career successful?
Independent variable
Gender
Indicates whether respondent is male or female.
Control variable
Age
In years.
Control variable
Education
Education as an ordinal scale ranging from 1 (lower-level secondary education) to 6 (doctoral degree).
Discipline-specific operationalizations
Conflict of interest
Data packages
Publications
Documents
Filename
Description
Date
Ethics
Ethical assessment
Yes
Ethical committee
Faculty Ethics Review Board - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University