Member Article

Men more trusting at work

Women feel less trusting in their relationships at work than men, according to research from the University of Bath.

Dr Simon Pervan interviewed 400 senior men and women marketing managers about their relationships with people from other companies in the advertising and marketing sector. He found that women are less likely than men to feel that clients and other people they deal with in other companies are acting honestly with them.

48% of women agreed with the statement: “We are honest with each other about the problems that arise,” compared to 67% of men. 45% of women agreed with the statement that, in their relationship, “parties were willing to exchange fairly, communicate problems and make up for harm done,” compared with 55% of men.

“These findings show that women are less likely to feel that the relationship they have with people from other companies is honest or reciprocal,” said Dr Pervan. “It could be that women, being more empathic, are better able to see that the relationships at work are not honest or reciprocal, whereas men wrongly assume they are. “A cynical interpretation of the results is that men are more likely to blissfully continue in what they perceive, wrongly or rightly, as a good business relationship.”

In a separate but related study, Dr Pervan found that men were twice as likely to have low levels of empathy – 88% – compared to 44% of women. This means that where women do encounter reciprocity from others, they are better able to use it to form a positive relationship because they are more empathic. Those employees who scored highly for reciprocal behaviour had higher self-esteem and morale.

“This study suggests that promoting reciprocal behaviour within an organisation may improve employees’ self-esteem, sense of life balance and expectation, while also providing long-term benefits to the firm through strengthened commercial relationships, improved morale and retention.” commented Dr Pervan.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .