How and when need for cognitive closure impacts attitudes towards women managers ( Cómo y cuándo la necesidad de cierre influye en las actitudes hacia las mujeres directivas )

Abstract

In recent decades, a new line of research has found associations between specific individual differences with prejudice against female leaders. In three studies collected in Italy with heterogeneous samples (Total N = 391), we investigated the relationship between self-reported need for cognitive closure (NCC) and attitudes towards women as managers. In Study 1a we used a sample of Italian students and hypothesized that higher NCC is associated with more negative attitudes towards women managers and that this relationship is mediated by benevolence, but not by hostility, towards men. In Study 1b we used a sample of Italian employees and hypothesized that employees with higher NCC had less (vs. more) negative attitudes towards women managers when they had a female (vs. male) superior. In Study 2 we tested the model including both mediators and moderator from the previous two preliminary studies on a sample of Italian employees. The findings support the hypotheses. Our work increases knowledge about the individual-level antecedents of prejudice against women managers, as well as the conditions under which it can be reduced.